February 4, 2002
4:46 PM   Subscribe

What does Sesame Street and Greta Van Susteren have in common? They both recently received a dramatic facelift.
posted by gazingus (51 comments total)
 
I saw Greta today on FNC and almost didn't recognize her...it's hard to reconcile the "before" and "after" photos of her because they look so different. Dunno if she looks "better" or just "different..."

My firm belief: ELECTIVE surgery is never, never a good thing. Surgery should be done only to save life, limb, or sight!
posted by davidmsc at 4:49 PM on February 4, 2002


It's the Journey to Ernie segment that has me worried.
posted by Kafkaesque at 4:51 PM on February 4, 2002


I thought she looked more attractive before. Now she just looks ... generic.
posted by Potsy at 4:58 PM on February 4, 2002


Yes, me too, Kafkaesque. Blue's Clues as a role model? I put Blue into the category of 'Slap any ol' crap on TV and kids will like it'. Even (shudder) Scooby Doo had better animation.

As for the 'cosmetic' surgery thing...I just can't get behind it. I thought Greta looked great before. I agree, Potsy. She just looks like she was pulled from a mold on the shelf labelled 'Late 20th/early 21st century TV Woman, white'.

Call me old fashioned, but I think it is sinful. Look at Joan Rivers if you want to know why. She looks like pink Saran Wrap pulled taut over a ham hock.
posted by evanizer at 5:09 PM on February 4, 2002


Before:



After:


posted by Neale at 5:11 PM on February 4, 2002


Don't nobody blaspheme Blue on this thread!
posted by davidmsc at 5:17 PM on February 4, 2002


Greta kinda looks like Al Franken now.

I personally don't like the sound of the new Sesame Street, but I don't pretend to know anything about toddlers these days. It kind of alarms me, though, that it panders to kids' short attention spans.
posted by MonkeyMeat at 5:23 PM on February 4, 2002


(whimpers) sorry, davidmsc

I'll give Blue this, he's better than Sagwa...
posted by evanizer at 5:25 PM on February 4, 2002


It kind of alarms me, though, that it panders to kids' short attention spans.

Actually, MonkeyMeat, the new Sesame Street will be less cut-cut-cut than the current version - according to this story (audio) where they talk about the research involved.
posted by owillis at 5:27 PM on February 4, 2002


I thought for Fox News one had to blow-dry one's hair into a faboo bouffant and then superglue it into place.

Oh, wait, no -- that's the men.
posted by dhartung at 5:27 PM on February 4, 2002


I second that, davidmsc!

Neale: thankyou for the before & after pics - I'd never heard of this woman before.

Personally I think part of the dramatic change is the hairstyle, but that eye job - wow. (That's just a wow of the 'curiously awestruck' kind, not the 'wow, I wish I could get that done!' sort.)

It's sad to say that it was probably done in the interest of keeping a place for herself in televised news. Generally speaking, male news achors can get as wrinkly as they please before retiring whenever they're moved to. Women news anchors don't quite have that luxury yet. I can only think of Barbara Walters as far as much older (non-plastic-surgeried) women in TV journalism - but I'm willing to concede if anyone can give some examples!
posted by sammy at 5:27 PM on February 4, 2002


don't worry, thanks to gravity, tobacco smoke, and Bill O'Reilley's mischevious hands, the old Greta will be back in no time.
posted by tsarfan at 5:27 PM on February 4, 2002


wow, she's actually got lips now!
posted by deftone at 5:36 PM on February 4, 2002


I think it's interesting how comfortable you men feel criticising women for having cosmetic surgery.

Every woman I know who has had "work done" has felt much better about herself afterwards. If a woman decides that it's worth it to go under the knife so that she will feel more secure every day for the rest of her life, I support her in that decision. (Men too, but I don't know a single one who's done it.)

Everyday women are judged so harshly, I can't imagine what it's like for a woman in her position, on television every day.

Screw you for judging people. Isn't that what drives them to such extremes in the first place?
posted by palegirl at 5:42 PM on February 4, 2002


"My face is swollen," Van Susteren said of the promos, which she says were shot on Monday. "I regret to tell you it's gone back to normal, only I look a little younger."

I just turned on fox news & she's talking about it right now. She looks a lot more like she used to than she does in those promos. She looks really good & she still looks like herself.
posted by palegirl at 5:45 PM on February 4, 2002


"My face is swollen," Van Susteren said of the promos, which she says were shot on Monday. "I regret to tell you it's gone back to normal, only I look a little younger."

I just turned on fox news & she's talking about it right now. She looks a lot more like she used to than she does in those promos. She looks really good & she still looks like herself.
posted by palegirl at 5:45 PM on February 4, 2002


This is the best book that I know discussing the engineering of Blues Clues and its supposed superiority to Sesame Street. A fascinating book overall.

As for Greta...yikes! The Paula Zahn factor in effect. All that's missing is the zipper sound effect.
posted by treywhit at 5:50 PM on February 4, 2002


Yeah, I watched her segment with Bill O'Reilly too. She is remarkably up-front and candid about the surgery; she did it sort of "on a whim" while she was cooling her heels between CNN benching her and beginning her new gig. More important than her looks, though, was the give-n-take with Bill -- she didn't let him bully her, and she gave as good as she got.
posted by davidmsc at 5:54 PM on February 4, 2002


The Squirrel Nut Zippers were on Sesame Street last week, singing a silly song about a hat. I love it, and so does Jasper, the best kid alive.

R.E.M. singing "Furry Happy Monsters" can not be replaced, though.
posted by adampsyche at 5:56 PM on February 4, 2002


Palegirl: Screw you for judging people. Isn't that what drives them to such extremes in the first place?

If that was directed at me, foul. I don't care about the gender of the person having elective surgery -- I just think that going under the knife unless you NEED to is a risky proposition. Obviously, many people don't believe the same way.

As far as your "screw you" comment -- are you implying that some people are so concerned with how others view them and judge them that they go to "extremes" to alter their appearance? And that is supposed to be the fault of the person doing the judging?
posted by davidmsc at 5:57 PM on February 4, 2002


Bill O'Reilly should give that lawnbag he calls a head a little pull.
Motherfucker looks like my scrotum does when I go to Mexico for a week.
posted by dong_resin at 5:58 PM on February 4, 2002


And right on, palegirl.
I think we tan at the same booth, by the way.
posted by dong_resin at 5:59 PM on February 4, 2002


I'd be rooting for Greta also. But, she's a Scientologist. You'd think she'd have the money to be clear by now.
posted by Real9 at 6:08 PM on February 4, 2002


No no no. I didn't mean to compare Journey to Ernie to Blue's Clues. I meant that it sounds too much like Journey INTO Ernie for my tastes. You can interpret that as either puppet homophobia or an unwillingness to imagine the depths of depravity possible with the advent of Muppet Endoscopy.

The first thing Ernie drilled into me....was Ernie!
posted by Kafkaesque at 6:18 PM on February 4, 2002


owillis- Confound you for making me sit through 15 minutes of interesting programming to get to the Sesame Street Segment!

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the link.
posted by MonkeyMeat at 6:23 PM on February 4, 2002


I can only think of Barbara Walters as far as much older (non-plastic-surgeried) women in TV journalism.

Barbara Walters hasn't had work done?!
Surely, you jest!
posted by CreequeAlley at 6:36 PM on February 4, 2002


Damn, and we had a thread on evolution going.
posted by bittennails at 6:41 PM on February 4, 2002


Screw you for judging people.

And screw you for judging them. And screw me for judging you about judging them. Judging Amy. Judge Reinhold.

The system itself is circular; people think they have to look good to succeed, so they try to make themselves look good, which, if they are successful, increases the likelihood that others will think they have to look good to be successful, and so on.

You seem to be condemning the kind of society that says that people have to go under the knife to feel secure about themselves. They seem to be condemning a symptom of and contributing factor to that problem, which is people who buy into the system. You're both condemning the same issue. Why does one side have to be the bad guy?
posted by Hildago at 6:48 PM on February 4, 2002


Real9, don't you get it? It always takes just a little more money than you actually have.
posted by jjg at 7:00 PM on February 4, 2002


The Sun-Times really hates the new Sesame Street. I'm curious to watch it for a couple minutes just to see how different it is. Not that I agree with it, but could the change in format just be reflective of the change in society? Sesame Street used to be a program that children would watch with their parents, now it's just the kid that's watching the program, while both parents are working?
posted by gramcracker at 7:06 PM on February 4, 2002


Just a question to those of you who think (davidsmc) that elective surgery should not be done....Is your point that the risk of any surgery is too great to go through it unless your life is at stake? If so, I don't think that this is a good argument, for these reasons:

1. A lot of our behavior involves some kind of risk / benefit analysis. For example: Will I drive to the store to get a Coke? (1/100,000 chance I'll get killed on the way). Will I drink the Coke? (1/1,000,000 chance it'll be spoiled and I'll die). Will I play basketball this afternoon? (1/100 chance I'll hurt myself) and will I play in MY neighborhood (1/10 chance I'll get beaten to death by nameless street ruffian)? Will I invest my life savings in Enron stock (1/100,000,000 chance they'll go bankrupt this year)?

My point is that there is nothing magical about surgery that makes its risks inherently different. You might assume that the stakes are very high, but I think that for some surgeries, for some people, some of the time that would be an incorrect assumption.

2. Just because the word "surgery" is on there doesn't mean anything too special. For example: Getting a mole shaved off your arm is surgery. Getting a tooth pulled is surgery. These things are not very dangerous at all.

3. On the idea that cosmetic surgery of any kind is bad: No. If a person has what they consider to be a physical flaw--something that worries them, something they are anxious about, etc....and there is a way they can get it fixed, what's the problem? If you are condemning a society in which people place too much emphasis on personal appearance, I think you're SOL because until people's crotchkins shrivel up and fall off that's just the way it's gonna be. So I think it's mistaken to propose that people should just "deal with it" when there are other, perfectly acceptable options available--options that may make them happier people in a lot of cases.
posted by dr_emory at 7:08 PM on February 4, 2002


Allow me to clarify. I don't like reading posts by men criticising women for having cosmetic surgery. That's about all the arguement I want to defend.
posted by palegirl at 7:10 PM on February 4, 2002


what the hell kind of crazy thread is this?!
posted by lotsofno at 7:21 PM on February 4, 2002


It's two threads, really, running in parellel. One about sesame street, and one about Greta Van Susteren. What's so confusing?
posted by Hildago at 7:53 PM on February 4, 2002


Is Elmo a Scientologist as well?
posted by John Shaft at 8:00 PM on February 4, 2002


Elmo is too smart.
posted by dong_resin at 8:11 PM on February 4, 2002


Go Gretta!
(But...the HAIR!)
posted by HTuttle at 8:26 PM on February 4, 2002


What's the point of continuing to produce new Sesame Street episodes? Can't they just rerun the old ones? I mean it's not like they will ever have to worry about duplicating an episode for their audiences at this point.

I know the story says their audience is growing progressively younger, but come one. Do we really need to worry about addressing the timely events of 9/11 for our 2-year-old viewers?
posted by willnot at 8:37 PM on February 4, 2002


Every woman I know who has had "work done" has felt much better about herself afterwards. If a woman decides that it's worth it to go under the knife so that she will feel more secure every day for the rest of her life, I support her in that decision. (Men too, but I don't know a single one who's done it.)

(emphasis mine) That disparity is the problem, don't you think? Hildago expressed the idea well above: women who do this only make it more likely that women in the future will feel they have to have surgery to be worthy. These procedures generally have no health benefits and often increases health problems - like back pain from a boob job, or breathing restricted from a nose job.

Anyway, I think it sucks that women feel like they need to look like generic 22 year olds to be happy.
posted by mdn at 8:40 PM on February 4, 2002


"What's so confusing?"

I'm totally confused.

Is Maria getting a boob job?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:45 PM on February 4, 2002


Maria is dead. She was slaughtered by a generic 22 year old with legs up to her chin and a rhinoplasty job that just don't quit.
posted by Hildago at 9:02 PM on February 4, 2002


Maria Bartiromo? Please - no!!!
posted by owillis at 9:18 PM on February 4, 2002


but could the change in format just be reflective of the change in society? Sesame Street used to be a program that children would watch with their parents, now it's just the kid that's watching the program, while both parents are working?


Before, Sesame Street was several stories weaved throughout the whole show. I have ADD and the show totally kept my attention. I'm thinking that the show IS following societal trends. Life wasn't as compartmentalized then as it is today. Hence, the compartmentalization of the new Sesame Street.

As for watching the show with your kids, I agree. If you get Noggin Network, you can tape classic Sesame Street and maybe coax your kids into watching, too.
posted by Modem Ovary at 10:09 PM on February 4, 2002


FOLKS CAN WE PLEASE STOP THE HATING
posted by Flimsy_Parkins at 10:20 PM on February 4, 2002


Greta knows what she's doing, and why she's doing it. She clearly feels comfortable with the changes. (Although I somehow doubt she'd have had much problem turning heads at her 30th HS reunion even before the surgery. Just a hunch.)

And hey, if it helps her to appeal to the more media-savvy 2-year-old market, then hey, bully for her.
posted by chicobangs at 10:30 PM on February 4, 2002


Anyway, I think it sucks that women feel like they need to look like generic 22 year olds to be happy.

Me too. The decision is really personal, so I can't make a blanket statement about this. To each her own. My opinion on this stretches no further than my love life and my close friends...they all accept me and my boyfriend thinks I'm attractive, so...why the surgery? When I was anorexic, I'd have had the surgery in a second. Not now.
posted by Modem Ovary at 10:41 PM on February 4, 2002


R.E.M. singing "Furry Happy Monsters" can not be replaced, though.

Melissa Etheridge's "Like the Letter U" was rather priceless, as well. It contained the word underwear, for pete's sake.

In any case, the jury is still out on new Sesame Street in the Dreama household. The six year old disdained the changes, but the four year olds thought the Ernie thing was "cool." Time will tell.
posted by Dreama at 12:14 AM on February 5, 2002


Greta kinda looks like Al Franken now.

Well, maybe the love child of Al Franken and Markie Post...
posted by hincandenza at 12:59 AM on February 5, 2002


Point(s) taken, dr emory. Still...to further clarify my position, anything that invovles going under general anesthesia (for me) is off-limits, except the life/limb/eyesight thing. And I understand difficult cases, such as cleft palate, reconstructive surgery, burn victims, etc, but for something as (again, IMO) trivial as bags under the eyes, I'll pass.
posted by davidmsc at 3:58 AM on February 5, 2002


Men too, but I don't know a single one who's done it.

Now you do (at least in the metafilter sense). Ever seen a person with purple, swollen splotches of skin (usually on their face)? It's called a port wine stain, and a close cousin is the hemangioma.

I've got one of the latter on my lower lip, though it's much less noticeable than those featured in the pictures at the link. It bothers me primarily because:
a. it looks like a perpetual mild oral herpes breakout when it's inflamed and I'm tired of explaining it after 29 years.
b. it has no feeling, which means it often gets in the way when I eat (painful burns from hot liquids, accidentally biting down on it, etc.).
c. also due to the lack of feeling and extra mass, it affects my speech (I'm a fairly intelligent, well spoken person with a respectable vocabulary who has a difficult time enunciating an unslurred 's'.
d. most important, I smile less often than I otherwise would, because its more visible when I smile and I'm still somewhat self-conscious about it.

I've done lasers twice and gone under the knife once (anesthesia and all). I'm still not entirely happy with the result, and may end up giving it another go (as cosmetic surgery techniques are constantly improving).

Anecdote aside, it's a personal decision, and external judgements from unaffected parties are neither warranted nor appreciated.
posted by syzygy at 6:28 AM on February 5, 2002


I just hope Greta's behavior of late isn't an indication that this plastic surgery thing is going to get out of control.
posted by apollonia6 at 8:19 AM on February 5, 2002


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