"Sesame Street" (1969)TV series 1969-????

Creator:

Joan Ganz Cooney

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 21 | 27 | 28 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | unknown

Release Date:

10 November 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Music

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Two Headed Monster | Breaking The Fourth Wall | New York City | Muppet | Monster

Awards:

Won 9 Primetime Emmys. Another 100 wins & 95 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 7	7:00 AM	PBS	The Bookaneers	#38.1
Tue. July 8	7:00 AM	PBS	Chris Is Introduced	#38.2

Cast

Frank Oz	...	Bert / ... (46 episodes, 1969-2007)
Caroll Spinney	...	Big Bird / ... (38 episodes, 1969-2007)
Loretta Long	...	Susan / ... (36 episodes, 1969-2007)
Bob McGrath	...	Bob Johnson / ... (35 episodes, 1969-2007)
Jim Henson	...	Ernie / ... (33 episodes, 1969-1990)
Sonia Manzano	...	Maria / ... (27 episodes, 1969-2007)
Emilio Delgado	...	Luis / ... (24 episodes, 1971-2007)
Jerry Nelson	...	Muppet / ... (24 episodes, 1970-2007)
Kevin Clash	...	Muppet / ... (23 episodes, 1985-2007)
Roscoe Orman	...	Gordon / ... (21 episodes, 1974-2007)
Martin P. Robinson	...	Muppet / ... (21 episodes, 1985-2007)
Fran Brill	...	Muppet / ... (20 episodes, 1970-2007)
Joey Mazzarino	...	Muppet / ... (19 episodes, 1991-2007)
David Rudman	...	Muppet / ... (19 episodes, 1992-2007)
James Catusi	...	Jim (19 episodes, 1969-1970)
Brandon Maggart	...	Buddy (19 episodes, 1969-1970)

Also Known As:

Open Sesame (New Zealand: English title) (new syndication title)
Sesame Street Unpaved (USA) (syndication title)
The New Sesame Street (USA) (new syndication title)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish | American Sign Language

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Stereo

Certification:

Australia:G | Argentina:Atp | USA:TV-G (1969-1996) | USA:TV-Y

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Children's Television Workshop (CTW)

Trivia:

In 2004, Natalie Portman appeared as a character named Natalie. Natalie was to run Hooper's Store for three episodes while Alan (Alan Muroaka) was on vacation. But after taping one episode, Portman began losing her voice and was unable to continue.

Quotes:

Big Bird: Super. Duper. Flooper.
Mr. Hooper: Hooper. Hooper.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Fairly OddParents: Channel Chasers: Part 3 (#4.15)" (????)

Soundtrack:

STICK OUT YOUR HAND AND SAY 'HELLO'

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.