The rather shocking news that Sesame Street found a their next five-year block of funding from HBO of all places hit the internet this week. There was shock. There was outrage. There were a lot of memes. Because let’s face it, the denizens of the internet are a generation of humans raised at the foot of the steps of 123 Sesame Street (through their TV screens, of course), and PBS has been the sacred home of educational programming for time immemorial.

While the news isn’t shocking in this economic climate, it does allude to a change in the wind of television production that one of the most successful children’s programs had to resort to a financial deal that will restrict their new programming so significantly. In case you missed the layout of the deal, here are the details: Beginning this fall, new episodes of Sesame Street will air first on HBO, HBO Go, HBO On Demand, and HBO Now. After a nine-month window, these new episodes will be available free of charge to PBS and will air there. I’ll be honest: I was definitely one of the internet people who read this news with a sinking heart, but I suppose the silver lining is that the episodes will air on PBS eventually.

With that silver lining firmly embraced, I have allowed myself to be entertained by the memes that have been popping up on media sites and social sites since the announcements. Here’s a collection of wonderful HBO mashups that I find both hilarious and slightly horrifying. You can read their whole synopses on The Wrap. What mashups do you want to see? Tell me in the comments below!

ht The Wrap

Feature Image via Darth