Sesame Street


 * This article is about the program. For the fictional street, see Sesame Street (location).



Sesame Street is an educational television program designed for preschoolers, and is recognized as a pioneer of the contemporary standard which combines education and entertainment in children's television shows. Sesame Street also provided the first daily, national television showcase for Jim Henson's Muppets. More than 4100 episodes of the show have been produced in 37 seasons, making it one of the longest-running shows in television history.

Sesame Street is produced in the United States by Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW). It premiered on November 10, 1969 on the National Educational Television network, and later that year it was moved to NET's successor, the Public Broadcasting Service.

Because of its widespread influence, Sesame Street has earned the distinction of being one of the the world's foremost and most highly regarded educators of young people. Few television series can match its level of recognition and success on the international stage. The original series has been televised in 120 countries, and more than 20 international versions have been produced. In its long history, Sesame Street has received more Emmy Awards than any other program, and has captured the allegiance, esteem, and affections of millions of viewers worldwide.

Overview
Sesame Street uses a combination of puppets, animation, and live actors to teach young children the fundamentals of reading (letter and word recognition) and arithmetic (numbers, addition and subtraction), as well as geometric forms, cognitive processes, and classification. Since the show's inception, other instructional goals have focused on basic life skills, such as how to cross the road safely and the importance of proper hygiene and healthy eating habits.

There is also a subtle sense of humor on the show that has appealed to older viewers since it first premiered, and was devised as a means to encourage parents and older siblings to watch the series with younger children, and thus become more involved in the learning process rather than letting Sesame Street act as a babysitter. A number of parodies of popular culture appear, especially ones aimed at the Public Broadcasting Service, the network that broadcasts the show. For example, the recurring segment Monsterpiece Theater once ran a sketch called "Me Claudius". Children viewing the show might enjoy watching Cookie Monster and the Muppets, while adults watching the same sequence may enjoy the spoof of the Masterpiece Theater production of I, Claudius on PBS.

Several of the character names used on the program are puns or cultural references aimed at a slightly older audience, including Flo Bear (Flaubert), Sherlock Hemlock (a Sherlock Holmes parody), and H. Ross Parrot (based on Reform Party founder Ross Perot). Over two hundred notable personalities have made guest appearances on the show, beginning with James Earl Jones in a December 1969 broadcast, and ranging from performers like Stevie Wonder to political figures such as Kofi Annan. By making a show that not only educates and entertains kids, but also keeps parents entertained and involved in the educational process, the producers hope to inspire discussion about the concepts on the show.

History of the show
Following an initial proposal by Joan Ganz Cooney in 1966, titled "Television for Preschool Children," an eighteen month planning period was set aside, and with a grant of 8 million dollars from multiple government agencies and foundations, the proposed series would test the usefulness of the television medium in providing early education for young children. Apart from Cooney and the original planning crew included several veterans of Captain Kangaroo, such as executive producer David Connell, producer Samuel Y. Gibbon, Jr., and writer/songwriter Jeff Moss, as well as head writer Jon Stone, and producer/writer Matt Robinson (who later originated the role of Gordon). At Cooney's suggestion, Jim Henson and the Muppets were brought in, and composer Joe Raposo followed. The CTW research crew included Harvard professor Gerald S. Lesser as head of the board of advisors and Edward L. Palmer as director of research, tracking and observing how child audiences responded to the programming.

Though the earliest pilot episodes involved dramatizing the inner thoughts of child actors in a studio set, Jon Stone suggested a more urban setting, "a real inner city street," with an integrated cast of neighbors. The original human inhabitants were Bob, Mr. Hooper, Gordon, and Susan, and they dominated the street storylines which made up roughly 25 percent of the hour-long show. To maintain the realism of the street, the Muppets were kept separate; thus, Bert and Ernie, while they lived on the street, resided in a basement apartment. These framing scenes would surround segments of animation, live-action shorts, and Muppets. These sketches, in particular the short animated segments stressing letters and numbers, were intended to function on a similar level to advertising commercials (and indeed, the bits were often labeled as such, i.e. "the J commercial"). They were quick, catchy and memorable, so as to convey information and maintain the interest of pre-school children within their limited attention spans.

CTW aired the program for test groups to determine if the new format was likely to succeed. Results showed that the elements which best held audience attention included cartoon segments, the Muppets, filmed footage of animals in motion, or musical skits with Susan or other human cast members. When the action stopped in the street scenes, and the adults engaged in lengthy dialogue, children stopped watching. Based on these results, and despite concerns from advising psychologists, that the inner-city street overlooked the real problems of the ghetto and needed firmer roots, the mixture of reality and fantasy was deepened, as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch became permanent street residents, interacting with the human adults.

Sesame Street is all filmed in New York City (as was another CTW show, The Electric Company). Originally they were taped at the Teletape Studios at 81st and Broadway in Manhattan, but the bankruptcy of Teletape's parent company, Reeves Entertainment, forced these productions to the Kaufman Astoria Studios in neighboring Queens.

Broadcast history
The show is broadcast worldwide; in addition to the U.S. version, many countries have locally-produced versions adapted to local needs, some with their own characters, and in a variety of different languages. One hundred and twenty countries have aired the show, many of which partnered with Sesame Workshop to create local versions.

In the late 1990s, versions popped up in China and Russia as these countries shifted away from communism. There is also a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian project, called Sesame Stories, which was created with the goal of promoting greater cultural understanding.

The show has also spawned the spin-off series Play with Me Sesame, and the classic episodes show Sesame Street Unpaved, both seen on the Noggin cable network; as well as the segment-only series Open Sesame. Elmo's World and Global Grover, both segments on Sesame Street, have been distributed internationally as individual series.

Ratings
As a result of its success in revolutionizing the standards of children's television, Sesame Street paved the ground for the development of similar competitors and thus inadvertently diminished its own audience share. According to PBS Research, the show has gone from a 2.0 average on Nielsen Media Research's "people meters" in 1995-96 to a 1.3 average in 2000-01. Even with this decrease, Sesame Street's viewership in an average week comes from roughly 5.6 million households with 7.5 million viewers.

This placed Sesame at 8th place in the overall kids' charts in 2002. It was the second most-watched children's television series for mothers aged 18-49 who have children under the age of 3.

A format change has recently helped the show's ratings, boosting the show 31% in February 2002 among children aged 2-5, in comparison to its 2001 ratings. As of 2005, the show is in the top 10 shows for kids 2-5, with 3 other PBS shows.

Characters


Sesame Street is known for its multicultural elements and is inclusive in its casting, incorporating roles for disabled people, young people, senior citizens, Hispanic actors, black actors, and others. As recalled by CTW advisor Gerald S. Lesser in his book Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street, This integration initially led the Mississippi State Commission for Educational Television to ban the series, as did other states, though it was eventually reinstated. Mutual tolerance and cross-cultural friendship is also conveyed through the Muppet characters, who come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, and range from the humanoid Anything Muppets to various animals to monsters, Grouches, and Honkers, all of whom, especially the Grouches, have their own unique perspectives and ways of communicating with their neighbors. Yet they all manage to live in relative peace and harmony, setting an example for child viewers not to prejudge others.

Tying in with its multiculturalist perspective, the show pioneered the idea of occasionally inserting very basic Spanish words and phrases to acquaint young children to the concept of knowing more than one language. This was expressed as early as the show's second season, with Susan and Gordon speaking a second language or learning phrases from newer Hispanic characters such as Antonio, Rafael, and Luis and Maria. One 1973 storyline involved the opening of a bilingual library, while other segments taught French or sign language. The recently revamped format gives Rosita, the bilingual Muppet who joined the cast in 1991, more time in front of viewers, and also introduced the more formalized Spanish Word of the Day segment in every episode. French phrases were used very occasionally during the 1970s, and sign language has played a major role throughout the years, through Linda and visits from the National Theatre of the Deaf.

Many of the Muppet characters have been designed to represent a specific stage or element of early childhood, and the scripts are written so that the character reflects the development level of children of that age. This helps the show address not only the learning objectives of various age groups, but also the concerns, fears, and interests of children of different age levels.

The Muppets
Big Bird, an eight-foot-tall yellow bird, lives in a large nest on an abandoned lot adjacent to 123 Sesame Street, located behind the building's garbage heap. A regular visitor to Big Bird is Mr. Snuffleupagus, known simply as Snuffy. Oscar the Grouch and his pet worm Slimey live in a garbage can in the heap. Friends Ernie and Bert room together at the basement apartment of 123 Sesame Street, where they regularly engage in comedic banter. Ernie's flowerbox, though seen less often in recent years, is the home of the Twiddlebugs, a colorful family of insects.

The bear family from Goldilocks and the Three Bears resides on Sesame Street. The family, headed by Papa Bear and Mama Bear, recently welcomed their second child Curly Bear. Their son Baby Bear is a good friend of monsters Telly, Zoe, Mexican-born Rosita, and Elmo. Beginning in 1998, Elmo was given his own segment, "Elmo's World", occupying most of the show's second half, as viewers explore topics in a crayon-drawn, imaginary version of Elmo's house.

Currently, Grover's regular segment, Global Grover, follows the self-described "lovable, furry pal" around the world, exploring local cultures and traditions. Cookie Monster fights with his conscience daily during Letter of the Day, as he tries to control his urges to eat the letters, drawn in icing on cookies. Prairie Dawn often attempts to help Cookie refrain from eating the letters, but always leaves frazzled. Count von Count has fewer problems during the Number of the Day segment, where he indulges in counting until the mystery number is revealed by his Pipe Organ.

Humphrey and Ingrid worked at The Furry Arms hotel with baby Natasha in tow, while bellhop Benny Rabbit begrudgingly helped out.

Kermit the Frog hosted the segment Sesame Street News Flash. The Two-Headed Monster sounded out words coming together, and the Yip Yip Martians discovered telephones and typewriters. For two seasons, Googel, Narf, Mel and Phoebe hung out in the Monster's Clubhouse.

Other characters over the years have included gameshow host Guy Smiley, construction workers Biff and Sully, the large Herry Monster (who does not know his own strength), and The Big Bad Wolf, who is not a terror to the Street. Forgetful Jones, a cowboy with a short-term memory disorder, rode trusty Buster the Horse with his girlfriend Clementine, and Rodeo Rosie was an early cowgirl character.

The humans
A slate of human regulars pull the zaniness of the Muppets back to reality, and serve different pedagogical functions, showing literal integration and tolerance rather than metaphorically through colorful Muppets, and representing different personalities and adult "roles" and occupations.

Music teacher Bob has been on Sesame Street since its inception. For several years, he had a close friendship with Linda, the local librarian, who was the first regular deaf character on television. The Robinsons are an African-American family that includes schoolteacher Gordon, nurse Susan, and adopted son Miles. Maria and Luis Rodriguez are a Hispanic couple who run the Fix-It Shop. Maria gave birth to daughter Gabi in 1989, and her pregnancy was covered on the show.

Candy store operator Mr. Hooper was a mainstay at Hooper's Store during the show's first decade. Actor Will Lee died in 1982, and when the producers opted to help their young viewers deal with the death of someone they loved rather than cast a new actor in the role, the character's death was discussed in a landmark 1983 episode. Afterwards, Mr. Hooper's apprentice David inherited the store, and was assisted by Gina. Next came Mr. Handford, who ran the store for several seasons before turning it over to Alan, the current proprietor of Hooper's, in 1998. Gina stopped working at the store in the 1990s to earn a degree, and is currently a veterinarian.

Mr. Noodle and his brother and sister, who appear only in Elmo's World are meant to provide a vaudevillian perspective on subjects, contrary to most of the show's current human characters (though reminiscent of such earlier insert characters as Buddy and Jim, Larry and Phyllis, and The Mad Painter).

Regional variations of the show
See International Sesame Street

Research
Sesame Street has maintained a rigorous research standard since its foundation, to ensure that the programming is addressing the needs of its viewers. The Education and Research (E&R) department of Sesame Workshop is currently headed by Rosemarie T. Truglio, Ph.D. and Jeanette Betancourt. Truglio states that the level of interaction between E&R, Content, and Production is "intimately hand-in-hand. They are not creating anything without our knowledge, our guidance and our review. We are involved in content development across all media platforms." This close-knit organizational structure has been an integral part of Sesame Workshop since it began.

Writers create plots for Sesame Street scenes and segments, and the content is reviewed by the E&R team. They have authority to reject a script and force rewrites if the content is not acceptable. When a script is factually correct, but includes gray areas that may not be comprehensible to children, the writers and E&R work together to tweak everything. "A balance between content and humor" is always maintained, according to Truglio.

Since 1998, Sesame Workshop has provided extensive content on its website and others such as Random House. Content ranges from birth to school-age, and includes information on dozens of topics, such as appropriate parenting techniques, dealing with children's fears, development of literacy, and maintenance a good health.

Research is funded by government grants, corporate and private donations (including, recently, The Prudential Foundation for the Sesame Beginnings program), and the profits gained from the sale of Sesame Workshop merchandise.

Healthy Habits for Life
In 2005, Sesame Street launched its Healthy Habits for Life programming, to encourage young viewers to lead more active and nutritious lifestyles. A major catalyst for this was data published by the US Centers for Disease Control regarding obesity in children.

Health content has existed on Sesame Street for years, but to a limited extent. In one instance press kits for a project were made available, news wires latched onto the story, and literally hundreds of newspapers touted that Cookie Monster was "going on a diet". In actuality there was no change to Cookie's character. The new season featured a new segment with rapper Wyclef Jean singing the praises of fruits and vegetables, similar to the 1990s segment "Healthy Food", with a rapping Cookie Monster backed by a healthy food chorus.

According to people from Sesame Workshop, "Health has always been a part of our Sesame Street curriculum, therefore we will always be committed to ensuring kids are given information and messages that will help them become healthy and happy in their development. For season 36, we have turned up the dial in health, but it will always be part of our curriculum."

The Workshop formed an Advisory Board consisting of experts like Woodie Kessel, M.D., M.P.H., the Assistant Surgeon General of the United States. This board examines the research of other organizations, and also conducts pilot studies to determine which areas of research should be expanded, based on social, ethnic and socio-economic sections of the population.

Merchandising
Sesame Street is known for its extensive merchandising, which includes many books, magazines, video/audio media, toys, and the "Tickle Me Elmo" craze.

Its fiction books, published primarily by Random House, always display a notice stating that money received from the sale of the publications is used to fund Sesame Workshop, and often mention that children do not have to watch the show to benefit from its publications.

Today there is a live touring show, Sesame Street Live, which has traveled across North America since 1980. There is also the Sesame Place theme park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, and a Plaza Sésamo theme park in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. In addition, there is a three-dimensional movie based on the show, at Universal Studios Japan.

Current licensors include Nakajima USA, Build-A-Bear Workshop (Build-An-Elmo), Hasbro (Sesame Street Monopoly), Wooly Willy, and Children’s Apparel Network. For Sesamstaat, Rubotoys has been a licensor since February 2005. In recent years, adults have been encouraged to remember their childhood through retro-targeted products, like action figures from Palisades Toys, though only one, a special con edition of Super Grover, was released.

The Sesame Beginnings line, launched in mid-2005, consists of apparel, health and body, home, and seasonal products. The line is targeted towards infants and their parents, and products are designed to increase interactivity. Most of the line is exclusive to a family of Canadian retailers.

Creative Wonders (a partnership between ABC and Electronic Arts) produced Sesame Street software for the PC.

Internationally
Plaza Sésamo, Sesamstraße, Sesamstraat, Barrio Sesamo, 1 Rue Sesame, Barrio Sesamo, Zhima Jie, Sesam Stasjon and Sesame Street Japan have all had merchandise of their local characters. Shalom Sesame videos and books have also been released.

In 2004, Copyright Promotions Licensing Group (CPLG) became Sesame Workshop's licensing representative for The Benelux.

Feature films

 * Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985, co-produced by Warner Bros.)
 * Elmo in Grouchland (1999, co-produced by Columbia Pictures)

Television specials and TV movies

 * ''See Sesame Street Specials

Criticism
Some educators criticized the show when it debuted, claiming that its format would contribute to shortening children's attention spans. This concern still exists today, although there is no conclusive proof of this being the case, even after more than 35 seasons of televised shows.

In a letter to the Boston Globe, Boston University professor of education Frank Garfunkel commented, "If what people want is for their children to memorize numbers and letters without regard to their meaning or use -- without regard to the differences between children, then Sesame Street is truly responsive. To give a child thirty seconds of one thing and then to switch it and give him thirty seconds of another is to nurture irrelevance."

In the magazine Childhood Education, Minnie P. Berson of State University College at Fredonia asked "Why debase the art form of teaching with phony pedagogy, vulgar sideshows, bad acting, and layers of smoke and fog to clog the eager minds of small children?" The "vulgar sideshows" have since won a record 101 Emmys, suggesting a measure of disagreement from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

For an animated segment on the letter "J", the writers included "a day in jail", justifying it by stating that words beginning with "J" were sparse. This drew criticism from San Francisco Chronicle columnist Terrence O'Flaherty, despite executive producer David Connell's assertion that kids would be familiar with the word through shows like Batman and Superman.

Even with its attempts to help the underprivileged, the series received criticism. Educator Sister Mary Mel O'Dowd worried that the show might start to replace "personalized experiences". "If Sesame Street is the only thing ghetto kids have, I don't think it's going to do much good. It never hurts a child to be able to count to ten or recognize the letters of the alphabet. But without the guidance of a teacher, he'll be like one of our preschoolers who was able to write "CAUTION" on the blackboard after seeing it on the back of so many buses, and told me 'That says STOP.'"

Trivia

 * The Sesame Street theme song is "(Can you tell me how to get, how to get to) Sesame Street". Harmonica legend Toots Thielemans plays the song as a solo in some versions of the sequence.
 * Although rubber duckies existed before Sesame Street, their pop culture icon status was mostly spurred on by Ernie's Rubber Duckie song, and subsequent appearances of Ernie's bath toy.
 * Sesame Street made TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest all-time shows, ranking at number 27. Other shows that made the list was The Cosby Show, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, and Seinfeld (which ranked number one on the list).