'Sesame Street' to parody 'Mad Men'

Wait, what? Yes. PBS' "Sesame Street" will get on the "Mad Men" parody bandwagon, producers announced at the show's press tour panel Saturday.

Which led critics to wonder: Just how do you pull off a parody of "Mad Men" for preschoolers?

I'm going to use the transcript version of executive vp of content's Miranda Barry's answer, because it shows how much the oft-grumpy critics appreciated her answer...

"You may have seen our parody we did a fear years ago called ‘Desperate Houseplants’--"

[Laughter]

"-- which was a perfect translation of a houseplant that wasn’t getting its needs met by the gardener--"

[Laughter]

"--who was not watering it."

[Laughter]

Sesame Workshop's vp of education and research Dr. Rosemarie Truglio adds, “'Sesame Street' has always been written on two levels. And the children don’t understand these parodies, but the adult does.... Think about the title ‘Mad Men’ and think about the emotional curriculum that might be linked to that.”

The show is celebrating its 40th anniversary this November and will feature a new host -- Murray Muppet -- and the show's first use of CGI.

The panel was introduced with a clip with President Barack Obama, saying, "This video is brought to you by the number 40." Along with TBS' George Lopez talk show, this is the second program featured at press tour that's nabbed an intro clip from the president leading some critics to say, "enough already."