Sesame Street (1969– )

On a special inner city street, the inhabitants, both human and puppet, teach preschool subjects with comedy, cartoons, games and songs.

Creator:

Joan Ganz Cooney

Stars:

Caroll Spinney, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson

Won 6 Primetime Emmys. Another 160 wins & 242 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Caroll Spinney	...	Big Bird (172 episodes, 1969-2013)
Frank Oz	...	Bert (167 episodes, 1969-2013)
Jerry Nelson	...	Herry Monster (156 episodes, 1970-2013)
Jim Henson	...	Ernie (138 episodes, 1969-1993)
Sonia Manzano	...	Maria (131 episodes, 1971-2013)
Bob McGrath	...	Bob (123 episodes, 1969-2012)
Roscoe Orman	...	Gordon (118 episodes, 1974-2012)
Martin P. Robinson	...	Telly Monster (118 episodes, 1982-2013)
Kevin Clash	...	Elmo (117 episodes, 1982-2013)
Emilio Delgado	...	Luis (102 episodes, 1971-2012)
Loretta Long	...	Susan (96 episodes, 1969-2012)
Fran Brill	...	Prairie Dawn (83 episodes, 1970-2012)
Richard Hunt	...	Two-Headed Monster (83 episodes, 1974-1993)

Storyline

The setting is in a small street in a city where children and furry puppet monsters learn about numbers, the alphabet and other pre-school subjects taught in commercial spots, songs and games.

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Plot Keywords:

street | monster | number | creature | part animation | 

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Music

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Certificate:

TV-Y

Details

Official Sites:

Official site PBS

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish American Sign Language

Release Date:

10 November 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sesame Street Unpaved

Filming Locations:

Kaufman Astoria Studios - 3412 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Children's Television Workshop (CTW), Henson Associates (HA), Jim Henson Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Possibly the only topic that has never been dealt with on the show is divorce. The producers tried in 1991 with an episode titled "Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce". In the episode, Snuffy's parents are shown arguing and his sister, Alice, is shown reacting by hitting her teddy bear. The script was reviewed by child psychologists who suggested an emphasis on telling children that if their parents get divorced, their parents will still love them and the divorce is not their fault. The episode was tested on children in daycare centers. But the children came away with those same negative messages. The episode was never aired. In another 1991 episode, Kermit the Frog interviews a bird who sings about how her parents still love her even though they no longer live together though it is not directly stated that her parents are divorced.

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Goofs

During the "Remembering Game" sketch, when Cookie Monster calls "Number 4", a stagehand's arm is visible reaching behind the game board at the bottom right of the screen.

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Quotes

Cookie Monster: [as Alistair Cookie, host of Monsterpiece Theatre] Today, we bring you greatest play in English language: Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. It no get classier than this.

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Crazy Credits

Most episodes aired from 1969 to the 2000s do not have complete closing credits; ending credits usually appeared at the end of the Friday installment, or when another weekday episode ran short.

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Connections

Referenced in Conan: God Never Closes a Door Without Laughing at You (2011)

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Soundtracks

"HONKER DUCKIE DINGER JAMBOREE"
Performed by Ernie, the Honkers, a Dinger, and Ernie's Rubber Duckie

User Reviews

Classic show, but lowering it's standards

This is a children's television classic. It's educational and entertaining, and not painful for parents to watch with their kids. At least it never used to be. It used to be quite edgy, high-brow, very adult-accessible. It's been dumbed down considerably over the years. This is a result of playing to lower age-groups, shorter attention spans, and competing with the run-of-the-mill trash in the kid's TV arena.

The adults have virtually vanished, the muppets have gotten annoying (I'm sure we're all familiar with Elmo by now), the show has shrunk to 40 minutes, the last 20 being a new show-within-a-show known as "Elmo's World". As if the 20 minutes of Elmo aren't enough, even more grating is that there are only about 10-20 episodes of Elmo's World, yet it runs every day! And rather than dealing with reading, writing, counting, nature, social skills, Elmo's World revolves around things like balls, puppies, hair, etc. Yes, this is not your parent's Sesame Street, or probably even the Sesame Street you grew up with. It's a more modern, simple, conformist Street that has considerably less charm but at least more educational value than the other, more commercial stuff out there.

The only reason to turn your kids on to television is rapidly shrinking into another Barney.