The verdict's still out, but it's no secret that the wisest among us have accepted the whispered truth about these two.

At a glance, Gilligan's Island was about just some unlucky shipwrecked weekend sailors. But scratch the surface and it's a pop culture riff on democracy and the power of the common man.

"Gilligan is the perfect democratic hero because he has no claims to superiority,'' contends Paul A. Cantor, author of Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization. "The Professor has wisdom; the Millionaire has money and social status; the Skipper has a kind of military authority as captain. Gilligan is the pure common man."

The X-Files wasn't just about strange unexplained phenomena but a metaphor for man's hunger for answers, our quest to know the unknowable, and the postmodern world's rejection of metanarratives. And just like our constant craving, the series left us unsatisfied.

Now Oak Park, Ill. resident Lair Scott is asking the world to take a deeper look at the relationship between Sesame Street's longtime roomies Bert and Ernie and to allow the two bros to finally get married.

"We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful,''' Scott says in an online petition. "Only that they allow Bert & Ernie to marry or even add a transgender character to the show. It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of those that are different."

Scott contends that having Bert and Ernie marry would teach gay and transgendered kids that "they ARE BEAUTIFUL and their lives are worth living." But a spokesperson for Sesame Street shot down speculation that two male muppets are anything more than "best friends with no sexual orientation."

"Best friends with no sexual orientation?" Is that denial talking? Or is Sesame Street postmodern enough to accept ambivalence?

To repeat, half the fun of watching TV is searching for metaphor or meaning. The other half? Debating the diversity of our views.

If we all interpreted stories the same way, life and literature and even muppets would be awfully bland.

And I really prefer to mix my stories up with chocolate and strawberry and even occasionally some nutty filler. How about you?