Sesame Street
Sesame Street is an American children's television series with many Muppets (puppet characters) and non-Muppet characters (human characters). There are also many animated characters. The show deals with issues like music, song, alphabet, numbers, and teaching children basics in learning, as well as more serious issues like death, divorce, HIV/AIDS, autism, and foster care. Part of the profits, go to an international project for children's schools.
Sesame Street | |
---|---|
![]() logo of Sesame Street | |
Genre |
|
Created by | |
Theme music composer |
|
Opening theme | "Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street" |
Ending theme | "Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street" |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 53 |
No. of episodes | 4,633 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
|
Production location(s) |
|
Running time | 60 minutes (seasons 1-45) 30 minutes (seasons 33, 45, 46 - onwards) |
Production company(s) | Sesame Workshop[note 1] |
Distributor | Sesame Workshop, Mertabi Sketch |
Release | |
Original network | PBS[note 2] (1969–present) |
Picture format | NTSC (1969-2009) HDTV 1080i (2009–present) |
Original release | November 10, 1969 – present |
The show has been on TV since January 1, 1969. Jim Henson made the Muppets and a lot of writers and puppeteers worked together to make the show. The Muppets were used afterwards in a different show called The Muppet Show. Sesame Street has been on TV in 120 countries all over the world. More than 4000 episodes have been made over 50 seasons. One unique feature of the show is that the episode number appears at the start of each episode.
For most of its history, Sesame Street had been shown on PBS. In 2015, new episodes began airing on HBO in January 2016, but those episodes would be shown on PBS nine months later.[13] In 2020, Sesame Street aired on HBO for the last time. After five seasons on HBO Max, the show returns to PBS as its first-run program, for the newer episodes, starting with the 51st season.
The Puppets
- Big Bird is a 8-foot-tall yellow bird. He was the first Muppet to appear on Sesame Street. His best friend is Snuffleupagus who looks like a mammoth with no tusks and was assumed to be imaginary by the rest of the cast, until the creators revealed him due to hearing about reports of sexual abuse cases of children. Performed by Caroll Spinney (1969–2018) and Matt Vogel (2009–present).
- Oscar the Grouch is dwelling green alien who lives in a garbage can with his pet worm Slimey and his pet elephant Fluffy. He is always in a bad mood and he loves everything that other people hate: mud, dirt, etc. He has a girlfriend named Grundgetta. Performed by Caroll Spinney (1969–2018) and Matt Vogel (2009–present).
- Bert and Ernie are two roommates. Ernie is more active and always ready to play a game or make a mess. Bert is an often boring grouch who likes to read; he likes things to be clean, neat and loves pigeons. They are rumors that they are gay, which Sesame Workshop has denied.
- Cookie Monster is blue, has a baritone voice, and eats large amounts of cookies. It was rumored that he would be renamed the Veggie Monster in an effort to promote healthy eating, but that turned out to be untrue. He also once had his own skit where he introduced parodies of famous books, movies, plays, and TV shows.[14] Performed by Frank Oz (1969–2004) and David Rudman (2001–present).
- Zoe is a female orange alien. She has a rock named Rocco and loves ballet. She is also Elmo's best friend.
- Rosita is a bilingual turquoise female alien who is from Mexico and speaks both English and Spanish. She also plays the guitar. Performed by Carmen Osbahr.
- Grover is a blue alien. He pretends to be a superhero named Super Grover. Super Grover is his alter ego.
- Count von Count (The Count) is a number-counting vampire. He is of Indian descent.
- Prairie Dawn is methodic and driven young girl who loves to write and direct pageants featuring her friends
- Elmo is a small red alien who has a falsetto voice and lives with his goldfish named Dorothy. He speaks in third person and got his own Sesame Street segment, Elmo's World, in 1998.
- Kermit the Frog is one of the first Muppets designed and built by Jim Henson.[15] Borgenicht calls Kermit "funny, ironic, and always the voice of reason amidst the insanity around him; the calm in the eye of the storm".[16] He was a star on Sesame Street until 2001. He had his own skit where he interviewed characters from fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and history.
Other muppets for Sesame Street include a girl fairy named Abby Cadabby, Murray, his lamb named Ovajita, Juila, and the Two-Headed Monster. Not only Muppets play in the show but also a diverse cast of human characters who live with the Muppets.
Notable humans
- Alan, played by Alan Muraoka (1998-present)
- Bob Johnson, played by Bob McGrath (1969–2016)
- Buffy, played by Buffy Sainte-Marie (1976–1981)
- Gabriela "Gabi" Rodriguez, played by Desiree Casado (1989–2013)
- Dr. Gina Jefferson, played by Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly (1986–2015)
- Gordon Robinson, played by Roscoe Orman (1969–2016)
- Mr. Hooper, played by Will Lee (1969–1982)
- Luis Rodriguez, played by Emilio Delgado (1971–2015)
- Mr. Noodle, played by Bill Irwin (1998–present)
Related pages
Notes
- Known as Children's Television Workshop until 2009.
- Known as NET for the first season.
References
- "Sesame Street season 1 End Credits (1969-70)". YouTube.com. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Sesame Street season 3 End Credits (1971-72)". YouTube.com. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Sesame Street season 4 End Credits (1972-73)". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Sesame Street season 9 end credits (1977-78)". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 2020-01-22. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Sesame Street season 10 end credits (1978-79)". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Sesame Street season 12 end credits (1980-81)". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Sesame Street season 24 (#3010) closing & funding credits (1992) ["Dancing City" debut]". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Sesame Street - Season 25 End Credits (1993-1994)". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Elmo Writes a Story - Sesame Street Full Episode (credits start at 55:37)". YouTube.com. Sesame Street. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Sesame Street Season 34 credits & fundings (version #1)". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Elmo and Zoe Play the Healthy Food Game - Sesame Street Full Episodes (credits start at 52:50)". YouTube.com. Sesame Street. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "PBS Kids Program Break (2006 WFWA-TV)". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "HBO Picks Up 'Sesame Street' As Kids' Viewing Habits Change". www.msn.com.
- Cookie Monster | 1-28-2103 |http://www.sesamestreet.org/muppets/cookie-monster Archived 2015-05-10 at the Wayback Machine
- Finch, Christopher 1993. Jim Henson: the works: the art, the magic, the imagination. New York: Random House, p37. ISBN 0-679-41203-4
- Borgenicht, David 1998. Sesame Street unpaved. New York: Hyperion Publishing, p89. ISBN 0-7868-6460-5