The Furchester Hotel

                When my daughter was young, she absolutely loved Sesame Street. More specifically, the character Elmo. I can remember when the Tickle Me Elmo doll first came out she really wanted one. Everyone who remembers back then, should remember that the Tickle Me Elmo was darn near impossible to just find. Well in the store that is. I can remember people standing in massive lines for hours and hours and actually getting into fist fights over the things. It reminded me of when I was a kid when the Cabbage Patch Kid dolls came out. Luckily my boss at the time just happened to be in Toys R Us right when they were putting them out. Without even me asking him, he graciously picked one up for me and just charged me what he paid for it. I took it home and my wife and I wrapped it for her Christmas present. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. She tore into the wrapping and her face just lit up. She loved it. Well...until she squeezed it and it started laughing and moving around. It scared the heck out of her. It took her a couple months to have anything to do with that doll, but she did end up loving it. I even wrote to Sesame Street for her and they sent her an autographed photo inscribed to her from Elmo. (hopefully someday I can do the same for my son) That love of Elmo continues to this day and she’s in her early 20’s. 

                 Fast forward to 2017, both of my children are young adults now and my wife and I decide to welcome a three day old baby boy into our home. When he is about a year old he starts watching Sesame Street. Of course the format is a little different now but most of the old staples are still there. I.e. Bert & Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, & of course Elmo. At the time, he liked Elmo, but he really liked other shows like Daniel Tiger and Mickey’s Clubhouse a little more. We even bought him a Tickle Me Elmo doll for his first Christmas. Which oddly enough was half the size of the one my daughter had. Just like my daughter, he loved it as well. Not to mention I can do an ok Elmo impression. Then one day in December 2018 out of the blue he asked to watch Elmo; it’s been Elmo ever since. 

                   He’s been watching Sesame Street on the PBS app as well as his PBS tablet and really enjoying it. Then one night the PBS Kids app was down and his tablet was not charged so I decided to look on some of the other Apps to find maybe the Elmo movie or something. As I was searching Netflix I found a British show I had never heard of before called The Furchester Hotel. It’s about the Furchester family and their nephew Elmo. They all run the hotel along with Cookie Monster as the chef of the hotel. It’s a cute little show and my son really loves it. I will admit though, I like it too. Lol. My wife and my daughter says it reminds them of Fawlty Towers if Fawlty Towers was “G” rated and puppets. I can definitely see that. So if you have little ones that like Sesame Street, The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Mister Rogers or any other PBS children’s television programming, I highly suggest checking out The Furchester Hotel on Netflix (If you’re in the US). A friend of mine told me it’s on CBBC in the UK. And always remember: “A Furchester never gives up, never gives up, never gives up.”