Thread by @NateIsLame

I remember my dad telling me about a special episode of Sesame Street he watched in 1982 called “Big Bird’s Big Surprise.”

It received a month-long promotional campaign and was going to be the first episode to be aired live with an audience.

In Big Bird’s Big Surprise, Big Bird revealed that he was expecting a baby. Discussing pregnancy was incredibly groundbreaking for the era, especially for a children’s series.

The practical effects were also really impressive for the era too. Lots of respect to Henson and crew.

Eventually a huge egg emerged out of Big Bird’s Big Birdussy. Its depiction was grounded, natural, and surprisingly mature for children’s programming.

The audience was quiet, respectful, and showed reverence for the natural beauty of child birth.

Eventually the egg started to crown and Big Bird looked exhausted. He was moaning loud enough that the film crew on the adjacent lot had to pause production for the egg to be laid.

There was no music, no commentary, just Big Bird moaning on air for 11 minutes.

With a sudden pop, the egg left Big Bird’s body and covered the audience with a frothy and sour viscus liquid that crew referred to as “Big Bird Juice.”

The live audience on the lot celebrated and danced in the Big Bird Juice, erupting in joyous laughter.

Big Bird’s bodily fluids even covered many of the other muppets on Sesame Street and some of the cast regulars.

All of Big Bird’s friends celebrated this beautiful achievement with him. The scene was touching in its visceral imagery.

Big Bird heaved and gasped for breath… and then took a stunned and joyful look at the fruits of his labor.

A massive and beautiful egg. The promise of new life, new stories, and new friends.

Big Bird was quietly joyful and soft spoken.

Big Bird then invited the audience to lick the egg and the Big Bird Juice and Big Bird Bits off of a table.

The room filled with a roar of giddy excitement.

Attendees reported that the Big Bird Bits were chewy and got stuck in their teeth very easily.

Sesame Street crew handed out sledge hammers and instructed the audience to smash at the egg shell to free Big Bird’s baby.

Big Bird started to sing a song about the different phases of pregnancy while everyone swung away with their hammers.

The audience’s efforts paid off when 4 minutes later once Big Bird’s song was done, a baby erupted from the shell and began gasping for air.

Big Bird let out a joyous and shrill scream loudly and uninterrupted, almost as if a tape was looping with no time for pauses or breaths.

Big Bird’s Big Surprise was a baby.

In a magical moment in TV history, the child emerged from the egg with a deep yawn, a stretch, and a slow and curious gaze at all the onlookers.

Millions of viewers across the country were glued to their screens all at once.

The moment of joy took a strange turn.

The baby gazed around its room muttering “Buh? Buh? Buh?”

It began to breathe quickly and hyperventilate.

Big Bird covered his face and began to whimper “Not again, not again, please not again.”

Panic overtook the filming lot.

Big Bird’s baby fell over in front of the audience and crew, gasped and wheezed on the studio floor covered in egg shells and Big Bird Bits, and let out a death rattle heard in homes and daycares all at once.

This new life was snuffed out as quickly as it came to be.

In the darkest moment of the episode, Big Bird took his child under his wing and began to ask him “Are you okay?” repeatedly. No answer.

A terrifying quiet overtook the room. Big Bird’s pleas echoed off the walls with only the hum of cameras to cut through their desperation.

The cast and crew behind the scenes were shocked and heartbroken by this new turn of events.

Camera operators’ eyes stung from wiping tears away while they were still covered in Big Bird juice.

Jim Henson famously stepped out of the room and sobbed heavily in the hall outside.

The on-set audience erupted into a choir of sobs and shrieks of mourning and horror.

American suburbs sounded like haunted choirs as families across the nation mourned all at once.

“The only thing that came close to the trauma was 9/11,” one father said in an interview.

The celebrity guest, pop star Hannah Springer, was moved to tears.

She later stated her Grammy winning album “Baby Boots and Big Bird Juice” was inspired solely by the event and the tremendous impact it had on her.

She died of suicide 4 years later on the anniversary of the day

Many of the Muppets and their performers suffered from PTSD following the event.

“Nothing ever prepares you for something like this. My kids had never seen me cry before. Nothing is sacred when something like this can happen on Sesame Street of all places. Oh my god.”

Big Bird’s Big Surprise ended with the child’s flesh dissolving and decomposing rapidly on camera.

The body weighed over 330 pounds and would have come apart if lifted by the arms and legs. The only way to remove it was by construction crane.

What was supposed to be a television special about joy and new life ended with the grim reality that we live in an uncaring and brutal universe.

Moments of true happiness are fleeting and the forces of entropy eventually win out over everything with enough time.

RIP little guy.

I can’t imagine what it was like seeing that all unfold live on the air.

They don’t make kids’ shows like this anymore and I wish filmmakers treated their audiences with more respect.

The real world is rough and it’s important we equip children with the tools they need.

Hug your loved ones a little extra tight after reading this. The world is full of uncertainty and you never know how much time you truly have with the special people in your life.

Sesame Street is a trailblazing and incredible show. What a legendary and deep special episode.