Nowadays, it's a bit watered down, but Sesame Street back in the day was unique in that it didin't talk down to children.
In the 70's and 80's, the show's adult situations and conversations centered around preschool matters made it a fantastic adjacent to actual schooling. It made kids interested because they recognized that it respected them as people... not brainless little idiots. Sesame Street also beat MTV to the punch in figuring out that short-format video engages attention better than long skits. Hell, it made it an art form.
It's a bit different now, but thankfully, most of the Elmo idiocy has been relegated to "Elmo's World". Besides... it's a show for kids. If you don't like it, you're simply too old at this point. It's a stark realization that Generation X had to face long ago. C'est la vie.
We don't get the full show here, but we get gems over YouTube from time to time. The website is also still useful for engaging kids in preschool learning. Sesame Street still features musical guests and guest artists. It's still willing to tackle adult themes and situations. And it's still one-of-a-kind.
My literacy and love for music and the arts stems directly from Sesame Street. Doesn't hurt that it was set in New York, and the familiar accents and speech patterns were a comfort to a homesick kid living in a foreign land.
Corny? Yeah. But this show will always be sub-frigging-zero to me.