This week’s episode of The MuppetCast is dedicated to all of our brave men & women serving in the US Armed Forces at home and abroad, and to the memory of all those who have fallen while serving our country and preserving our freedom.

Our focus this week is the outreach program created by Sesame Workshop entitled Talk, Listen, Connect. Along with hearing Muppet audio from the video series, I also talk with Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Vice President of Outreach and Educational Practices for Sesame Workshop.

Talk, Listen, Connect is a video program created for military families to assist children in expressing their feelings and understanding how to cope with situations where a parent in the military is deployed and has to leave home for a while. It now also helps children understand what’s going on when a parent comes home and things are “different”, either in the child’s life or when their parent returns injured in some way. The videos feature both the Sesame Street Muppets and real families talking about these situations.

The MuppetCast is proudly sponsored by our friends at Bell, Book and Comic, located online at BellBComic.com. Life should be more fun!

Movie maker Steve Barth makes an appearance on the podcast to discuss his newest project, a documentary on the subject of the Disney online fan community. And I’m opening the floodgates to include Muppet fans too, so check out his website, and let’s represent the Muppets in this exciting new project!

In the news this week:

New Balance shoes will soon be sporting the Muppets from Sesame Street in a new line of shoes.

If you’re flying anywhere with the whole family this summer, you may be able to take advantage of Skeye Inflight Entertainment‘s Sesame videos for the kids.

Sonia Manzano (aka Maria) recently spoke at Northwestern Technological Institute about the “grown-up” messages found in Sesame Street, and about how the political and entertainment landscape has changed over her years on the show.

Fran Brill sent in some answers to listener questions, listen to her comments remembering some events in her extraordinary career!

On the Muppet web:

Listener Brendan Sauer sent a link to this website; create your own Muppet binary images!

Click on the “Center for Puppetry Arts” page on MuppetCast.com this week to see the summer schedule of events at the Center. Amazing people making appearances; I wish I could go! Also check out the Center’s main page at puppet.org.

Gary Friedman is gearing up to teach a course on Puppetry for Television. Check out his webiste for more details.

Matt Sernett sent me the audio from the soundsheet for the Muppet Show Fan Club. Amazing audio, and check out what all you received as a member!

Seth in Kansas found a link to a great Labyrinth poster, and Ben Adler found even more Muppet movie posters (but these are Photoshopped)!

Questions/Comments can be emailed to me@muppetcast.com, or called in to the voicemail line at 614-364-4270. Donations are also always accepted, and can be made at will by clicking the orange “Donate” button on the homepage at MuppetCast.com.

All photos mentioned in the show can be found on The MuppetCast Flickr Page. Almost all online Muppet conversations pertaining to this show can be found on the Muppet Central Forums. Stop in and say hi!

Have a great week, and Frog Bless America!

-Steve

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