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Eerie Without Fault. Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared Finds Grounding as it Reinvents for Television
The popular web series uses the same formula with more twists and turns
Sesame Street pissed off the wrong people.
The banned Sesame Street episode with the wicked witch from Wizard of Oz horrified the people behind the web series Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared as children. Since then, they sought revenge against Sesame Street and created Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared as payback.
I wish it were how Joseph Pelling and Becky Sloan created the popular web series. Instead, watching creepy UK kids programming from the ’60s and ’70s inspired them. They loved the appeal of those shows and thought, “why not do that themselves?” Their brainstorming sessions brought forth Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared: a web series haunting children and adults since 2011.
In each Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared episode, muppet and Sesame Street-like characters learn lessons in a colorful, kid-friendly setting. Soon, the episode makes a drastic turn as it becomes a bizarro world where the characters eat bloody organ cake and glitter actual hearts. Joseph Pelling and Becky Sloan posted the web series on YouTube, where it garnered millions of views. The love for the web series skyrocketed, and the duo thought a TV show…
