Josh Selig

Josh Selig (b. 1964) is a writer, producer, and filmmaker. As a child, Selig appeared in the first two seasons of Sesame Street. He returned to Sesame Street as a writer from 1988 to 2002. While there, he also wrote song lyrics, created short films for the show and for the "Elmo's World" segments, and worked as a producer for Sesame Street International. He also wrote and produced the documentary Sesame Street Unpaved. Selig was the resident producer of Rechov Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim, the Israeli-Palestinian Sesame Street co-production.

Selig later co-founded a production company called Little Airplane Productions, Inc. He named the company after "I'm a Little Airplane", a song featured in a film insert that he produced for Sesame Street. He has created the shows Oobi, Go, Baby!, The Wonder Pets!, Piper O'Possum, The Little Carousel, 3rd & Bird, Small Potatoes, P. King Duckling, and The Dog and Pony Show. Additional credits include Little Bill and Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat.

Sesame Street credits[]

Actor:
- one of The Kids in seasons one and two
- cameo as a juggler in Episode 2798^[1]

Writer:
- seasons 20 to 33

Episodes

Sesame Street episodes written by Selig include (an added R indicates a main storyline repeat):

↑ co-written with Ian Ellis James

Songs

Segments

Quotes[]

“I honestly believe that human beings peak at about age 4. The average 4-year-old is more creative, more interesting, and has a better sense of humor than the average 40-year-old -- me included!”
—Child interview, 2004^[2]

“When I began working at Sesame Street, I used to observe pre-school classrooms so I could learn more about this age group. I was — and still am — amazed by the creativity and decency of very young children. I think adults have much to learn from them. Including this adult.”
—Big Apple Parent interview, 2004^[3]

“Originally there were going to be two different sets, an Israeli and Palestinian, and there was going to be a third set that was a park. It was going to be neutral ground where the two groups of people could interact. But as we got closer to production a lot of people raised the concern that such a park doesn't actually exist, so there was some hesitation to actually create such a place. So rather than have that third set, the compromise was that the Israeli and Palestinian characters would visit each other. But there were some very big screaming matches as these things were sorted out. It's just an area where all these issues are so volatile.”
—Selig on Rechov Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim

“My fear and loathing of licensing goes back to my early days at Sesame Street where I was taught that a preschool series and its educational curriculum was paramount. All the rest, the amusement parks, the live shows, the closets full of swag that were protected like gold in Fort Knox, meant nothing compared to the Holy Grail that was the show itself. We, the makers of Sesame Street, felt our show to be the sun around which everything else in the company (if not the world) orbited and, quite frankly, the wider their orbit the better. We were the caretakers of Sesame Street, the undisputed Barbra Streisand of all preschool shows.”
—Selig on licensing^[4]

Sources[]

↑ Season 22 spreadsheet provided by trusted source
↑ Halperin, Rory. "Behind the Scenes With the Creator of Oobi." Child, August 2004.
↑ "Talking Shop... with Josh Selig." Big Apple Parent, September 2004.
↑ Selig, Josh. "The Hangover." Kidscreen, June 21, 2011

Josh Selig

Contents

Sesame Street credits[]

Quotes[]

Sources[]

Further reading[]