This phrase is from Sesame Street, a children's show created in 1969 that teaches literacy, counting, simple logic, and social skills through a kaleidoscopic mix of puppetry, animation and short films. In a radical departure for the time, it was designed to deliberately mimic the fast pace and style of TV advertising in order to 'sell' learning to kids: An Aesop-friendly story featuring the recurring characters on the Street would be intercut with rapid-fire 'commercials' for that day's 'sponsors' ("Sesame Street has been brought to you today by the letters A and S, and the number 7...").
"Today's episode of Sesame Street has been brought to you by the letters A and S, and the number 7."
In an homage to Sesame Street, which is sponsored every day by two letters and a number, one episode of The Simpsons was sponsored by one symbol and one number that looks like a letter: “Tonight’s Simpsons episode was brought to you by the symbol umlaut, and the number e. Not the letter e, but the number, whose exponential function is the derivative of itself.”
In an homage to Sesame Street, which is sponsored every day by two letters and a number, one episode of The Simpsons was sponsored by one symbol and one number that looks like a letter: “Tonight’s Simpsons episode was brought to you by the symbol umlaut, and the number e. Not the letter e, but the number, whose exponential function is the derivative of itself.”
by blueberry_pancake November 6, 2013