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'''''Sesame Street''''' is an American [[children's television program]] known for its combination of [[Jim Henson]]'s [[The Muppets]], animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. It premiered on [[public broadcasting]] television stations on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high [[Nielson ratings|ratings]]. It was the first preschool educational television program to base its contents and production values on laboratory and formative research, and the first to include a curriculum "detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes".<ref name="palmer"/>
'''''Sesame Street''''' is an American [[children's television program]] known for its combination of [[Jim Henson]]'s [[The Muppets]], animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. It premiered on [[public broadcasting]] television stations on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high [[Nielson ratings|ratings]]. It was the first preschool educational television program to base its contents and production values on laboratory and formative research, and the first to include a curriculum "detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes".<ref name="palmer"/>


''Sesame Street'' was conceived in 1966 during discussions between television producer [[Joan Ganz Cooney]] and [[Carnegie Corporation of New York|Carnegie Foundation]] vice president [[Lloyd Morrisett]]. Their goal was to create a [[children's television show]] that would "master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them",<ref name="davis-8"/> such as helping young children prepare for school. After two years of research, the newly formed [[Children's Television Workshop]] (CTW) received a combined grant of US$8 million from Carnegie, the [[Ford Foundation]], and the U.S. federal government to create and produce a new children's television show.
''Sesame Street'' was conceived in 1966 by vigurous masterbation during discussions between television producer [[Joan Ganz Cooney]] and [[Carnegie Corporation of New York|Carnegie Foundation]] vice president [[Lloyd Morrisett]]. Their goal was to create a [[children's television show]] that would cause "masterbation the addictive qualities of television and do something good with their genatals",<ref name="davis-8"/> such as helping young children prepare for brutal rape. After two years of research, the newly formed [[Children's Television Workshop]] (CTW) received a combined grant of US$8 million from marshall mattason, the [[Ford Foundation]], and the U.S. federal government to create and produce a new children prostitutes.


The show has gone through significant changes in its 40-year history. The format of ''Sesame Street'' at first consisted of a combination of commercial television production elements and educational techniques. It was the first time a more realistic setting, an [[inner city]] street and neighborhood, was used for a children's program, a choice writer Michael Davis called "unprecedented".<ref name="Davis, p. 156"/> At first, each episode was structured like a [[magazine]], but in 1998, as a result of changes in their audience and its viewing habits, the producers changed to a more narrative format. Early in the show's history, the CTW developed what came to be known as "the CTW model," which consisted of a collaboration between educational advisers, researchers, and producers, something Cooney called an "arranged marriage".<ref name="cooney-xi"/> In 1968, as part of the development of the show, seminars attended by educational and television experts were held. ''Sesame Street's'' initial curriculum was developed at this time, and formed the basis of the show's cognitive, affective, and outreach goals.
The show has gone through significant changes in its 40-year history. The format of ''Sesame Street'' at first consisted of a combination of commercial television production elements and educational techniques. It was the first time a more realistic setting, an [[inner city]] street and neighborhood, was used for a children's program, a choice writer Michael Davis called "unprecedented".<ref name="Davis, p. 156"/> At first, each episode was structured like a [[magazine]], but in 1998, as a result of changes in their audience and its viewing habits, the producers changed to a more narrative format. Early in the show's history, the CTW developed what came to be known as "the CTW model," which consisted of a collaboration between educational advisers, researchers, and producers, something Cooney called an "arranged marriage".<ref name="cooney-xi"/> In 1968, as part of the development of the show, seminars attended by educational and television experts were held. ''Sesame Street's'' initial curriculum was developed at this time, and formed the basis of the show's cognitive, affective, and outreach goals.

Revision as of 19:00, 5 January 2011

This article is about the television show. For the show's setting, see Sesame Street, New York, New York.
Sesame Street
Created byJoan Ganz Cooney
Lloyd Morrisett
Theme music composerJoe Raposo
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 originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons41
No. of episodes4,256
Production
Production locationsTeletape Studios (1969-1992)
Kaufman Astoria Studios (1992-present)
New York City
Running time60 minutes
Production companySesame Workshop
Original release
NetworkNET (1969-1970) PBS (1970-Present)
ReleaseNovember 10, 1969 –
present

Sesame Street is an American children's television program known for its combination of Jim Henson's The Muppets, animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. It premiered on public broadcasting television stations on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high ratings. It was the first preschool educational television program to base its contents and production values on laboratory and formative research, and the first to include a curriculum "detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes".[1]

Sesame Street was conceived in 1966 by vigurous masterbation during discussions between television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Carnegie Foundation vice president Lloyd Morrisett. Their goal was to create a children's television show that would cause "masterbation the addictive qualities of television and do something good with their genatals",[2] such as helping young children prepare for brutal rape. After two years of research, the newly formed Children's Television Workshop (CTW) received a combined grant of US$8 million from marshall mattason, the Ford Foundation, and the U.S. federal government to create and produce a new children prostitutes.

The show has gone through significant changes in its 40-year history. The format of Sesame Street at first consisted of a combination of commercial television production elements and educational techniques. It was the first time a more realistic setting, an inner city street and neighborhood, was used for a children's program, a choice writer Michael Davis called "unprecedented".[3] At first, each episode was structured like a magazine, but in 1998, as a result of changes in their audience and its viewing habits, the producers changed to a more narrative format. Early in the show's history, the CTW developed what came to be known as "the CTW model," which consisted of a collaboration between educational advisers, researchers, and producers, something Cooney called an "arranged marriage".[4] In 1968, as part of the development of the show, seminars attended by educational and television experts were held. Sesame Street's initial curriculum was developed at this time, and formed the basis of the show's cognitive, affective, and outreach goals.

By its fortieth anniversary in 2009, Sesame Street was the fifteenth-highest rated children television show in the US. It had become the most widely viewed children's television show in the world, with 20 international independent versions, and broadcasts in over 120 countries. A 1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers had watched the show by the time they were three years old.[5] In 2008, it was estimated that 77 million Americans had watched the series as children. As of 2009, Sesame Street has won eight Grammys and 118 Emmys—more than any other children's show.

History

Main article: History of Sesame Street

Sesame Street premiered on National Educational Television television stations on November 10, 1969.[6] It was the first preschool educational television program to base its contents and production values on laboratory and formative research.[1] Initial responses to the show included adulatory reviews, some controversy, and high ratings. By its 40th anniversary in 2009, Sesame Street was broadcast in over 120 countries, and 20 independent international versions had been produced.[7] The show was conceived in 1966 during discussions between television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Carnegie Foundation vice president Lloyd Morrisett. Their goal was to create a children's television show that would "master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them",[2] such as helping young children prepare for school. After two years of research, the newly formed Children's Television Workshop (CTW) received a combined grant of US$8 million from Carnegie, the Ford Foundation, and the U.S. federal government to create and produce a new children's television show.[8]


Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its 40-year history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution".[9] The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The show's success continued into the 1980s. In 1981, the federal government withdrew its funding, so CTW turned to other sources, including the magazine division, book royalties, product licensing, and foreign income.[10] Sesame Street's curriculum has expanded to include more affective topics such as relationships, ethics, and emotions. Many of the show's storylines were taken from the experiences of its writing staff, cast, and crew. Most notable of these are the 1982 death of Will Lee—who played Mr. Hooper[11]—and the marriage of Luis and Maria in 1988.[12]

In recent decades, Sesame Street has faced societal and economic challenges, including changes in viewing habits of young children, more competition from other shows, the development of cable television, and a drop in ratings.[13] After the turn of the century, Sesame Street made major structural changes, including a change from the traditional magazine format to a narrative format in 2002. Due to the popularity of the Muppet Elmo, the show also incorporated a popular segment after its thirtieth anniversary in 1999 known as "Elmo's World".[14] With the fortieth anniversary in 2009, the show received an Outstanding Achievement Emmy.[15]

Format

Main article: Format of Sesame Street

As writer Cary O'Dell has stated, Sesame Street's producers, from its first episode, have used elements of commercial television in structuring the format of the show: "a strong visual style, fast-moving action, humor, and music".[16] They also used animation, live-action short films, and music.[16] When Sesame Street premiered, most researchers assumed that young children did not have long attention spans, so the new show's producers were concerned that an hour-long show would not hold their audience's attention. As a result, each episode was structured like a magazine that would allow the producers to use a mixture of styles, paces, and characters.[17] At first, the show's "street scenes", which referred to the action taking place on the brownstone set, were not story-based. Instead, they consisted of individual segments connected to the curriculum and interrupted by "inserts", or puppet skits, short films, and animations. By season 20, research had shown that children were able to follow a story, so the street scenes were changed to depict storylines.[18]


The producers decided, by recommendation of child psychologists, that the show's human actors and Muppets would not interact because they were concerned it would confuse and mislead young children.[19] When the CTW tested the appeal of the new show, they found that although children attended to the shows during the Muppet segments, their interest was lost during the "Street" segments.[20] The producers went back and re-shot the Street segments; Henson and his team created Muppets that could interact with the human actors.[21][22]

Sesame Street's format remained intact until the show's later decades, when their audience's viewing changed. Its producers responded to these changes by moving to a more narrative format, beginning in 1998 with the creation of the popular segment, "Elmo's World", a fifteen-minute long segment hosted by the Muppet Elmo.[23]

Educational goals

Main article: Educational goals of Sesame Street

As author Malcolm Gladwell has stated, "Sesame Street was built around a single, breakthrough insight: that if you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them".[24] Lesser, CTW's first advisory board chair, went even further and stated that the effective use of television as an educational tool, in addition to catching and focusing children's attention, needed to sustain it.[25] Sesame Street was the first children's show that structured each episode and made, as Gladwell put it, "small but critical adjustments"[26] to each segment to capture children's attention. According to CTW researchers Rosemarie Truglio and Shalom Fisch, Sesame Street was one of the few children's television programs that utilized a detailed and comprehensive educational curriculum, garnered from formative and summative research, in its content.[27]


Sesame Street has both cognitive and affective goals. Initially, its producers and researchers focused on cognitive goals, while addressing affective goals indirectly, because they believed that focusing on cognitive goals would increase children's self-esteem and feelings of competency.[28][29] One of their initial and primary goals was preparing young children for school, especially children from low-income families.[30] The show's producers used modeling,[31] repetition,[32] and humor[25] to fulfill their goals. They made changes in the show's contents to increase their viewers' attention and to increase its appeal.[33] They encouraged "co-viewing" to entice older children and parents to watch the show by including humor, cultural references, and celebrities.[34]

After Sesame Street's first season, its critics forced its producers and researchers to address affective goals more overtly. The affective goals they addressed were social competence, tolerance of diversity, and nonaggressive ways of resolving conflict, which was depicted through interpersonal disputes among its residents.[35] In the 1980s, the show used the real-life experiences of the show's cast and crew, such as the death of Will Lee (Mr. Hooper) and the pregnancy of Sonia Manzano (Maria) to address affective concerns.[11] In later seasons, Sesame Street addressed real-life disasters such as the September 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.[36]

The show's goals for outreach were addressed through a series of programs that first focused on promotion, and then after the first season, on the development of educational materials used in preschool settings. Innovative programs were developed because their target audience, children and their families in low-income, inner-city homes, did not traditionally watch educational programs on television and because traditional methods of promotion and advertising were not effective with these groups.[37]

Funding

As a result of Cooney's initial proposal in 1968, the Carnegie Institute awarded her an US$8 million grant to create a new children's television program and establish the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW),[8][38] later renamed to the Sesame Workshop (SW). Cooney and Morrisett procured additional multi-million-dollar grants from the US federal government, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Ford Foundation.[2] Davis reported that Cooney and Morrisett decided that if they did not procure full funding from the beginning, they would drop the idea of producing the show.[39] As Lesser reported, funds gained from a combination of government agencies and private foundations protected them from the economic pressures experienced by commercial networks, but caused challenges in procuring future funding.[40]

After Sesame Street's initial success, its producers began to think about its survival beyond its development and first season and decided to explore other funding sources. From the first season, they understood that the source of their funding, which they considered "seed" money, would need to be replaced.[41] The 1970s were marked by conflicts between CTW and the federal government; in 1978, the U.S. Department of Education refused to deliver a US$2 million check until the last day of CTW's fiscal year. As a result, the CTW decided to depend upon licensing arrangements,[clarification needed] publishing, and international sales for their funding.[10] Henson owned the trademarks to the Muppet characters, and he was reluctant to market them at first. He agreed when CTW promised that the profits from toys, books, and other products were to be used exclusively to fund CTW. The producers demanded complete control over all products and product decisions; any product line associated with the show had to be educational, inexpensive, and not advertised during the show's airings.[42]

In 1998, the Workshop accepted corporate sponsorship to raise funds for Sesame Street and other projects. For the first time, they aired short ads of indoor playground manufacturer Discovery Zone, their first corporate sponsor, to air before and after each episode. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who had previously appeared on the show, called for a boycott of the show, saying that the Workshop was "exploiting impressionable children".[6]

Production

Research

Main article: Sesame Street research

As Cooney has stated, "Without research, there would be no Sesame Street".[4] In 1967, when Cooney and her team began to plan the show's development, combining research with television production was, as she put it, "positively heretical".[4] Shortly after beginning to develop Sesame Street, its creators began to develop what came to be called "the CTW model", a system of planning, production, and evaluation that did not fully emerge until the end of the show's first season.[43][note 1] According to Morrow, the CTW model consisted of four parts: "the interaction of receptive television producers and child science experts, the creation of a specific and age-appropriate curriculum, research to shape the program directly, and independent measurement of viewers' learning".[43]


Cooney credited Harvard professors Gerald Lesser, whom the CTW hired to design the show's educational objectives, and Edward Palmer, who was responsible for conducting the show's formative research, for bridging the gap between the show's producers and researchers.[44] The CTW conducted research in two ways: in-house formative research that informed and improved production,[45] and independent summative evaluation conducted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) during the show's first two seasons that measured its educational effectiveness.[1] Cooney stated, "From the beginning, we—the planners of the project—designed the show as an experimental research project with educational advisers, researchers, and television producers collaborating as equal partners".[46] Cooney also described the collaboration as an "arranged marriage".[4]

Writing

Sesame Street has tended to use many writers in its long history. As Dave Connell, one of Sesame Street's original producers, has stated, it was difficult to find adults who could identify a preschooler's interest level. Fifteen writers a year worked on the show's scripts, but very few lasted longer than one season. Norman Stiles, head writer in 1987, reported that most writers would "burn out" after writing about a dozen scripts.[11] According to Gikow, Sesame Street went against the convention of hiring teachers to write for the show, as most educational programs did at the time. Instead, Cooney and the producers felt that it would be easier to teach writers how to interpret curriculum than to teach educators how to write comedy.[47] As Stone stated, "Writing for children is not so easy".[47] Long-time writer Tony Geiss agreed, stating in 2009, "It's not an easy show to write. You have to know the characters and the format and how to teach and be funny at the same time, which is a big, ambidextrous stunt".[48]

Facade of a large white building, the left having large pillars beneath a strip with dozens of windows and the right three stories of large windows.
The Kaufman Astoria Studios, where Sesame Street is taped.

The show's research team developed an annotated document, or "Writer's Notebook", a compilation of programming ideas designed to teach specific curriculum points[49] and that provided extended and developed definitions of curriculum goals. The notebook assisted the writers and producers in translating their educational goals into televised material.[50] Suggestions in the notebook were free of references to specific characters and contexts on the show so that they could be implemented as openly and flexibly as possible.[51] As Lesser stated, the Writer's Notebook served as a bridge between the show's curriculum goals and script development.[52]

The research team, in a series of meetings with the writers, also developed "a curriculum sheet" that described their goals and priorities for each season. After receiving the curriculum focus and goals for the season, the writers met to discuss ideas and story arcs for the characters, and an "assignment sheet" was created that suggested how much time was allotted for each goal and topic.[52][53] When a script was completed, the show's research team analyzed it to ensure that the goals were met. Then each production department met to determine what each episode needed in terms of costumes, lights, and sets. The writers were present during the show's taping, which for the first twenty-four years of the show took place in Manhattan, and after 1992, at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, to make last-minute revisions when necessary.[54][55][note 2]

Music

Main article: Music of Sesame Street

Director Jon Stone stated, about the music of Sesame Street, "There was no other sound like it on television".[56] For the first time in children's television, the show's songs fulfilled a specific purpose and supported its curriculum.[57] Cooney observed in her initial report that children had an "affinity for commercial jingles",[58] so many of the show's songs were constructed like television ads.

black and white picture of a handsome, well-dressed man in his forties, sitting at a piano, with his right hand resting on the keys
Joe Raposo, Sesame Street's original musical director.

In order to attract the best composers and lyricists, CTW allowed songwriters to retain the rights to the songs they wrote. For the first time in children's television, the writers earned lucrative profits, which helped the show sustain public interest.[59] Scriptwriters often wrote their own lyrics to accompany their scripts.[57] Songwriters of note were Joe Raposo, Jeff Moss, Christopher Cerf, Tony Geiss, and Norman Stiles. Many of the songs written for Sesame Street have become what writer David Borgenicht called "timeless classics"[60] These songs included the "Sesame Street Theme" (also known as "Sunny Day"), "I Love Trash", "Rubber Duckie", "Bein' Green", and "Sing". Many Sesame Street songs were recorded by well-known artists such as Barbra Streisand, Lena Horne, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Simon, and Jose Feliciano also recorded Raposo's Sesame Street songs.[61]

Entertainment Weekly reported that by 1991, Sesame Street had received eight Grammys.[62] According to Gikow, Raposo won three Emmys and four Grammys for his work on the show.[61]

Animation and short films

Animation is another tool Sesame Street has used throughout its history. Lesser stated that one of purposes of animation was to create incongruity, or what he called "illogical surprises".[63] The first piece of animation commissioned by the CTW for Sesame Street was "the J commercial", in 1968, which they used in a study about its effectiveness in daycare centers in New York City. The CTW found that it was an effective tool in teaching children letters and numbers and that it effectively attracted children's attention. It also provided evidence, as Morrow reported, that children were able to "endure enormous amounts of repetition".[64] According to Morrow, the CTW's generalization from this study, which was later supported by the ETS' findings, was that although repetition was an effective teaching method, repeated exposure "determined instructional effectiveness".[65] "The J commercial" was a part of CTW's promotional film about Sesame Street and was used to demonstrate its teaching style to the press.[64][note 3]

Animated depiction of a large-nosed man in a blue robe and a small child, with the word "judge" drawn on the top left corner, the letter "J" larger than the other letters.
Scene from "The J Commercial", one of the first animated pieces produced for Sesame Street.

Sesame Street's animations and live-action films were usually commissioned to outside studios. For example, Misseri Studio in Florence, Italy provided animations for the show for its entire 40-year run.[66] Many animations, as well as the show's live-action films and longer segments like Elmo's World were created to accompany specific episodes, and became part of its library of shorts available for use in later episodes. Other films and animations were created as regular, recurring, and stand-alone segments.[67] Gikow reported, "Virtually all animators and filmmakers supplying the show cite the enormous freedom given by producers, calling it a liberating force that let creativity explode on screen".[68]

CTW's first producer responsible for the show's animation and live-action shorts was Lu Horne. His successor, Edith Zornow, was interested in what Gikow called "emerging talent",[69] and as a result, the show worked with, as Gikow also stated, "animators and filmmakers on the cusp of fame".[69] Animators who created pieces for Sesame Street included Bud Luckey, Jeffrey Hale, Ernie Fosselius, and others who went on to work at Pixar.[70] Jim Henson was one of the many producers who created short films for the show.[68]

International co-productions

Main article: International co-productions of Sesame Street

Shortly after Sesame Street debuted in the US, the CTW was approached independently by producers from several countries to produce versions of the show in their countries.[71] Cooney remarked, "To be frank, I was really surprised, because we thought we were creating the quintessential American show. We thought the Muppets were quintessentially American, and it turns out they're the most international characters ever created".[72] She hired former CBS executive Mike Dann, who left commercial television to become her assistant, as a CTW vice-president. One of Dann's tasks was to field offers to produce versions of Sesame Street in other countries. Dann's appointment resulted in television critic Marvin Kitman, referring to the May 1970 Mississippi state commission decision to ban the show,[73] stating, "After he [Dann] sells [Sesame Street] in Russia and Czechoslovakia, he might try Mississippi, where it is considered too controversial for educational TV".[74] By summer 1970, Dann had made the first international agreements for what CTW came to call "co-productions".

The earliest international versions were what CTW vice-president Charlotte Cole and her colleagues called "fairly simple",[71] consisting of dubbed versions of the show with local language voice-overs and instructional cutaways. Dubbed versions of the show continued to be produced if the country's needs and resources warranted it.[75] Eventually, a variant of the CTW model was used to create and produce independently produced preschool television shows in other countries.[71] By 2006, there were twenty co-productions.[72] In 2001 there were over 120 million viewers of all international versions of Sesame Street,[76] and by the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, they were seen in more than 140 countries.[77] In 2005, Doreen Carvajal of The New York Times reported that income from the co-productions and international licensing accounted for US$96 million.[78] As Cole and her colleagues reported in 2001, "Children's Television Workshop (CTW) can be regarded as the single largest informal educator of young children in the world".[76]

Cast and crew

Main article: List of characters in Sesame Street
A tall, thin man in his early fifties, with salty-gray hair and a full beard, and wearing a tuxedo.
Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, in 1989.

Shortly after the CTW was created in 1968, Joan Ganz Cooney was named as its first executive director. She was one of the first female executives in American television; her appointment was called "one of the most important television developments of the decade".[79] She assembled a team of producers, all of whom had previously worked on Captain Kangaroo. Jon Stone was responsible for writing, casting, and format; Dave Connell took over animation; and Sam Gibbon served as the show's chief liaison between the production staff and the research team.[80] Cameraman Frankie Biondo started working on Sesame Street from its first episode.[81]

Jim Henson and the Muppets' involvement in Sesame Street began when he and Cooney met at one of the curriculum planning seminars in Boston. Author Christopher Finch reported that Stone, who had worked with Henson previously, felt that if they could not bring him on board, they should "make do without puppets".[8] Henson was initially reluctant, but he agreed to join Sesame Street for social goals. He also agreed to waive his performance fee for full ownership of the Sesame Street Muppets and to split any revenue they generated with the CTW.[82] As Morrow stated, Henson's puppets were a crucial part of the show's popularity and it brought Henson national attention.[83] Davis reported that Henson was able to take "arcane academic goals" and translate them to "effective and pleasurable viewing".[84] In tests with the distractor, the Muppet segments of the show scored so high, more Muppets were added during the first few seasons. Morrow reported that the Muppets were effective teaching tools because children easily recognized them, they were stereotypical and predictable, and they appealed to adults and older siblings.[85]

Sesame Street is best known for the creative geniuses it attracted, people like Jim Henson and Joe Raposo and Frank Oz, who intuitively grasped what it takes to get through to children. They were television's answer to Beatrix Potter or L. Frank Baum or Dr. Seuss.

Author Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point[86]

Although the producers decided against depending upon a single host for Sesame Street and to cast a group of ethnically diverse actor,[87] they realized that a children's television program needed to have, as Lesser put it, "a variety of distinctive and reliable personalities",[88] both human and Muppet. Jon Stone, whose goal was to cast white actors in the minority,[11] was responsible for hiring the show's first cast. He did not audition actors until Spring 1969, a few weeks before the five test shows were due to be filmed. Stone videotaped the auditions, and Ed Palmer took them out into the field to test children's reactions. The actors who received the "most enthusiastic thumbs up" were cast.[89] For example, Loretta Long, was chosen to play Susan when the children who saw her audition stood up and sang along with her rendition of "I'm a Little Teapot".[89][90] As Stone said, casting was the only aspect of the show that was "just completely haphazard".[91] Most of the cast and crew found jobs on Sesame Street through personal relationships with Stone and the other producers.[91]

According to CTW's research, children preferred watching and listening to other children more than puppets and adults, so they included children in many scenes.[92] Dave Connell insisted that no child actors were used,[93] so these children were nonprofessionals, unscripted, and spontaneous. Many of their reactions were unpredictable and difficult to control, but the adult cast learned to handle the children cast's spontaneity with their own spontaneity, even when it resulted in departure from the planned script or from the planned lesson.[94] CTW research also showed that the child actors' hesitations and on-air mistakes served as models for viewers.[95] According to Morrow, this resulted in the show having a "fresh quality", especially in its early years.[93] Children were also used in the voice-over commentaries of most of live-actions films the CTW produced. CTW's research found that children had difficulty constructing a scene from a spoken description, so the show's producers portrayed dramatic action on screen, narrated by unscripted comments from children.[96]

Reception

Main article: Influence of Sesame Street

Ratings

When Sesame Street premiered in 1969, it aired on only 67.6% of American televisions, but it earned a 3.3 Nielsen rating, or 1.9 million households.[97] In 1985, the CTW estimated that 20% of its regular viewers consisted of adults.[98] By the show's tenth anniversary in 1979, 9 million American children under the age of six were watching Sesame Street daily. According to a 1993 survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, out of the show's 6.6 million viewers, 2.4 million kindergartners regularly watched it. 77% of preschoolers watched it once a week, and 86% of kindergartners, first-, and second-grade students had watched it once a week before starting school. The show reached most young children in almost all demographic groups.[99]

The show's ratings significantly decreased in the early 1990s, when children' viewing habits and the television marketplace had changed. The producers responded to these societal changes by making large-scale structural changes to the show.[100] By 2006, Sesame Street had become "the most widely viewed children's television show in the world", with 20 international independent versions and broadcasts in over 120 countries.[7] A 1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers have watched the show by the time they were three years old.[5] In 2008, it was estimated that 77 million Americans had watched the series as children.[7] By the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, it was ranked the fifteenth most popular children's show on television.[73]

Influence

Main article: Sesame_Street_research § Summative research

As Davis has stated, Sesame Street is "perhaps the most vigorously researched, vetted, and fretted-over program".[101] As of 2001, there were over 1,000 research studies regarding its efficacy, impact, and effect on American culture.[44] The CTW solicited the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to conduct its summative research.[102] ETS' two "landmark"[103] summative evaluations, conducted in 1970 and 1971, demonstrated that Sesame Street had a significant educational impact on its viewers.[104] According to Mielke, these studies provided the majority of the early educational effects of Sesame Street and have been cited in other studies of the effects of television on young children.[103][note 4] Additional studies conducted throughout Sesame Street's history demonstrated that the show continued to have a positive effect on its young viewers.[note 5]

Two puppets, both wearing colorful striped shirts, their attention drawn to a yellow rubber duck.
The Muppets Bert and Ernie, with Ernie's rubber duckie.

Lesser believed that Sesame Street research "may have conferred a new respectability upon the studies of the effects of visual media upon children".[105] He also believed that the show had the same effect on the prestige in the television industry of producing shows for children.[105] Historian Robert Morrow, in his book Sesame Street and the Reform of Children's Television, which chronicled the show's influence on children's television and on the television industry as a whole, reported that many critics of commercial television saw Sesame Street as a "straightforward illustration for reform".[106] Les Brown, a writer for Variety, saw in Sesame Street "a hope for a more substantial future" for television.[106]

Morrow reported that the networks responded by creating more high-quality television programs, but that many saw them as "appeasement gestures".[107] According to Morrow, in spite of the CTW Model's effectiveness in creating a popular show, commercial television "made only a limited effort to emulate CTW's methods", and did not use a curriculum or evaluate what children learned from them.[108] Morrow reported that by the mid 1970s, commercial television abandoned their experiments with creating better children's programming.[109] Other critics hoped that Sesame Street, with its depiction of a functioning, multicultural community, would nurture racial tolerance in its young viewers.[110]

As critic Richard Roeper has stated, perhaps one of the strongest indicators of the influence of Sesame Street have been the enduring rumors and urban legends surrounding the show and its characters, especially about Bert and Ernie.[111]

Critical reception

Sesame Street was praised from its debut in 1969. Newsday reported that several newspapers and magazines had written "glowing" reports about CTW and Cooney.[97] The press overwhelmingly praised the new show; several popular magazines and niche magazines lauded it.[112] In 1970, Sesame Street won twenty awards, including a Peabody Award, three Emmys, an award from the Public Relations Society of America, a Clio, and a Prix Jeunesse.[113] By 1995, the show had won two Peabody Awards and four Parents' Choice Awards. In addition, it was the subject of retrospectives at the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Modern Art.[34]

Sesame Street is...with lapses, the most intelligent and important program in television. That is not anything much yet".

Renata Adler, The New Yorker, 1972[114]

Sesame Street was not without its detractors, however. In May 1970, a state commission[specify] in Mississippi voted to ban Sesame Street.[115] According to Children and Television, Lesser's account of the development and early years of Sesame Street, there was little criticism of the show in the months following its premiere, but it increased at the end of its first season and beginning of the second season.[116][note 6] Historian Robert W. Morrow speculated that much of the early criticism, which he called "surprisingly intense",[117] stemmed from cultural and historical reasons in regards to, as he put it, "the place of children in American society and the controversies about television's effects on them".[117]

According to Morrow, the "most important" of studies finding negative effects of Sesame Street were conducted by educator Herbert A. Sprigle and psychologist Thomas D. Cook during its first two seasons.[118] Social scientist and Head Start Program founder Urie Bronfenbrenner criticized the show for being too wholesome.[119] Psychologist Leon Eisenberg saw Sesame Street's urban setting as "superficial" and having little to do with the problems confronted by the inner-city child.[120] Head Start director Edward Zigler was probably Sesame Street's most vocal critic in the show's early years.[121]

Morrow credited CTW's commitment to multiculturalism as the source for many of their conflicts with the leadership of minority groups, especially Latino groups and feminists, who objected to Sesame Street's depiction of Latinos and women.[122] The CTW took steps to address their objections. By 1971, the CTW hired Hispanic actors, production staff, and researchers, and by the mid-70s, Morrow reported that "the show included Chicano and Puerto Rican cast members, films about Mexican holidays and foods, and cartoons that taught Spanish words".[123] As the New York Times has stated, creating strong female characters "that make kids laugh, but not...as female stereotypes"[124] has been a challenge for the producers of Sesame Street. According to Morrow, change regarding how women and girls were depicted on Sesame Street occurred slowly.[125] As more female Muppets performers like Fran Brill, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph were hired and trained, stronger female characters like Abby Cadabby were created.[126]

As of 2009, Sesame Street has received 118 Emmy Awards, more than any other television series.[15]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ See Gikow, p. 155, for a visual representation of the CTW model.
  2. ^ Most of the first season was filmed at a studio near Broadway, but a strike forced their move to Teletape Studios. In the early days, the set was simple, consisting of four structures (Gikow, pp. 66-67). In 1982, Sesame Street began filming at Unitel Studios on 57th Street, but relocated to Kaufman Astoria Studios in 1993, when the producers decided they needed more space (Gikow, pp. 206–207).
  3. ^ See Morrow, pp. 89–91, for his description of "the J commercial".
  4. ^ According to Palmer and his colleague Shalom M. Fisch, these studies were responsible for securing funding for the show over the next several years (Palmer & Fisch, p. 20).
  5. ^ See Gikow, pp. 284-285; "G" is For Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, pp. 147-230
  6. ^ See Lesser, pp. 175-201 for his response to the early critics of Sesame Street.

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 9
  2. ^ a b c Davis, p. 8
  3. ^ Davis, p. 156
  4. ^ a b c d Cooney in Fisch & Truglio, p. xi
  5. ^ a b Truglio, Rosemarie T (2001). "Introduction". "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. p. xvi. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b Brooke, Jill (1998-11-13). "'Sesame Street' Takes a Bow to 30 Animated Years". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  7. ^ a b c Friedman, Michael Jay (2006-04-08). "Sesame Street Educates and Entertains Internationally". America.gov. U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Information Programs. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  8. ^ a b c Finch, p. 53
  9. ^ Davis, p. 220
  10. ^ a b O'Dell, pp. 73—74
  11. ^ a b c d Hellman, Peter (1987-11-23). "Street Smart: How Big Bird & Company Do It". New York Magazine. 20 (46). New York Media, LLC: 52. ISSN 0028-7369. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  12. ^ Borgenicht, p. 80
  13. ^ Davis, p. 320
  14. ^ Goodman, Tim (2002-02-04). "Word on the 'Street'". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California: Hearst Communications Inc. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  15. ^ a b "36th Daytime Emmy Awards". 2009-08-30. The CW. {{cite episode}}: Missing or empty |series= (help)
  16. ^ a b O'Dell, p. 70
  17. ^ Morrow, p. 87
  18. ^ Gikow, p. 179
  19. ^ Fisch & Bernstein in Fisch & Truglio, p. 39
  20. ^ Gladwell, p. 105
  21. ^ Gladwell, p. 106
  22. ^ Fisch & Bernstein in Fisch & Truglio, pp. 39–40
  23. ^ Clash, p. 75
  24. ^ Gladwell, p. 100
  25. ^ a b Lesser, p. 116
  26. ^ Gladwell, p. 91
  27. ^ Truglio & Fisch, p. 234
  28. ^ Morrow, p. 76
  29. ^ Morrow, p. 106
  30. ^ Lesser, p. 46
  31. ^ Lesser, pp. 86–87
  32. ^ Lesser, p. 107
  33. ^ Lesser, p. 87
  34. ^ a b Hymowitz, Kay S. (Autumn 1995). "On Sesame Street, It's All Show". City Journal. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  35. ^ Huston, Aletha C (2001). ""Sesame Street Viewers as Adolescents: The Recontact Study". "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. p. 133. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ Gikow, p. 165
  37. ^ Gikow, p. 181
  38. ^ Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 3
  39. ^ Davis, p. 105
  40. ^ Lesser, p. 17
  41. ^ Davis, p. 203
  42. ^ Davis, pp. 203—205
  43. ^ a b Morrow, p. 68
  44. ^ a b Cooney in Fisch & Truglio, p. xii
  45. ^ Mielke in Fisch & Truglio, pp. 84—85
  46. ^ Borgenicht, p. 9
  47. ^ a b Gikow, p. 178
  48. ^ Gikow, p. 174
  49. ^ Morrow, p. 82
  50. ^ Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 10
  51. ^ Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 11
  52. ^ a b Lesser, p. 101
  53. ^ Lesser & Schneider in Fisch & Truglio, p. 28
  54. ^ "How to Get to 'Sesame Street' at the Apollo Theater". New York City Mayor's Office. 2008-11-19. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  55. ^ Spinney, Caroll (2003). The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers. New York: Random House. p. 3. ISBN 0-3755-0781-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  56. ^ Gikow, p. 220
  57. ^ a b Gikow, p. 227
  58. ^ Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 17
  59. ^ Davis, p. 256
  60. ^ Borgenicht, p. 145
  61. ^ a b Gikow, p. 221
  62. ^ Kohn, Martin F (1991-03-08). "Grammy's Greatest (Children's) Hits". Entertainment Weekly (56): 18. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  63. ^ Lesser, p. 112
  64. ^ a b Morrow, p. 89
  65. ^ Morrow, p. 91
  66. ^ Gikow, p. 236
  67. ^ Gikow, p. 234
  68. ^ a b Gikow, p. 246
  69. ^ a b Gikow, p. 238
  70. ^ Gikow, pp. 240–241
  71. ^ a b c Cole et al., p. 148
  72. ^ a b Knowlton, Linda Goldstein and Linda Hawkins Costigan (producers) (2006). The world according to Sesame Street (documentary). Participant Productions.
  73. ^ a b Guernsey, Lisa (2009-05-23). "'Sesame Street': The Show That Counts". Newsweek. Retrieved 2009-08-18. Cite error: The named reference "counts" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  74. ^ Davis, p. 209
  75. ^ Giklow, p. 252
  76. ^ a b Cole et al., p. 147
  77. ^ Giklow, p. 263
  78. ^ Carvajal, Doreen (2005-12-12). "Sesame Street goes global: Let's all count the revenue". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  79. ^ Davis, pp. 128-129
  80. ^ Davis, p. 147
  81. ^ Gikow, p. 15
  82. ^ Davis, p. 5
  83. ^ Morrow, p. 93
  84. ^ Davis, p. 163
  85. ^ Morrow, pp. 94-95
  86. ^ Gladwell, p.99
  87. ^ Lesser, p. 99
  88. ^ Lesser, p. 125
  89. ^ a b Borgenicht, p. 15
  90. ^ Davis, p. 172
  91. ^ a b Davis, p. 167
  92. ^ Lesser, p. 127
  93. ^ a b Morrow, p. 84
  94. ^ Lesser, pp. 127-128
  95. ^ Gikow, p. 123
  96. ^ Morrow, p. 102
  97. ^ a b Seligsohn, Leo (1970-02-09). "Sesame Street". Newsday. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  98. ^ Rothenberg, Fred (1985-12-23). "New 'Sesame Street' Star Adds Adoption Topic to Show". The Free Lance-Star. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  99. ^ Zill, pp. 117-120
  100. ^ Weiss, Joanna (2005-10-19). "New character joins PBS". The Boston Globe. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  101. ^ Davis, p. 357
  102. ^ Miekle, p. 85
  103. ^ a b Mielke, p. 88
  104. ^ Palmer & Fisch, p. 20
  105. ^ a b Lesser, p. 235
  106. ^ a b Morrow, p. 122
  107. ^ Morrow, p. 127
  108. ^ Morrow, p. 130
  109. ^ Morrow, p. 132
  110. ^ Morrow, p. 124
  111. ^ Roeper, Richard (2001). Hollywood Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Delightfully Persistent Myths of Film, Television and Music. Franklin Lakes, New Jersey: Career Press. pp. 48–53. ISBN 1-56414-554-9.
  112. ^ Morrow, pp. 119-120
  113. ^ Morrow, p. 119
  114. ^ Lesser, p. 165
  115. ^ "Mississippi agency votes for a TV ban on 'Sesame Street". New York Times. 1970-05-03.
  116. ^ Lesser, pp. 174-175
  117. ^ a b Morrow, p. 3
  118. ^ Morrow, pp. 146-147
  119. ^ Kanfer, Stefan (1970-11-23). "Who's Afraid of Big, Bad TV?". Time. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  120. ^ Morrow, p. 98
  121. ^ Morrow, p. 147
  122. ^ Morrow, pp. 157-158
  123. ^ Morrow, p. 155
  124. ^ Gikow, p. 142
  125. ^ Morrow, p. 156
  126. ^ Gikow, p. 143

References

  • Borgenicht, David (1998). Sesame Street Unpaved. New York: Hyperion Publishing. ISBN 0-7868-6460-5
  • Clash, Kevin and Gary Brozek & Louis Henry Mitchell (2006). My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo has Taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-7679-2375-8
  • Cole, Charlotte F., Beth A. Richman, and Susan A. McCann Brown (2001). "The World of Sesame Street Research". In "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, Fisch, Shalom M. and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1
  • Cooney, Joan Ganz (2001). "Foreword". In "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, Fisch, Shalom M. and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1
  • Davis, Michael (2008). Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN 978-0-670-01996-0
  • Finch, Christopher (1993). Jim Henson: The Works: the Art, the Magic, the Imagination. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-6794-1203
  • Fisch, Shalom M. and Lewis Bernstein (2001). "Formative Research Revealed: Methodological and Process Issues in Formative Research". In In "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, Fisch, Shalom M. and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1-4
  • Gikow, Louise A. (2009). Sesame Street: A Celebration— Forty Years of Life on the Street. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57912-638-4.
  • Gladwell, Malcolm (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. New York: Little, Brown, and Company. ISBN 0-316-31696-2
  • Lesser, Gerald S. (1974). Children and Television: Lessons From Sesame Street. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-3947-1448-2
  • Lesser, Gerald S. and Joel Schneider (2001). "Creation and Evolution of the Sesame Street Curriculum". In "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, Fisch, Shalom M. and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1
  • Morrow, Robert W. (2006). Sesame Street and the Reform of Children's Television. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8230-3
  • O'Dell, Cary (1997). Women Pioneers in Television: Biographies of Fifteen Industry Leaders. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-0167-2.
  • Palmer, Edward L. and Shalom M. Fisch (2001). "The Beginnings of Sesame Street Research". In "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, Fisch, Shalom M. and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1
  • Truglio, Rosemarie T. and Shalom M. Fisch (2001b). "Why Children Learn From Sesame Street". In "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, Fisch, Shalom M. and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1
  • Truglio, Rosemarie T., Valeria O. Lovelace, Ivelisse Segui, & Susan Scheiner. (2001). "The Varied Role of Formative Research: Case Studies from 30 Years". In "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, Fisch, Shalom M. and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1
  • Yotive, William and Shalom M. Fisch. (2001). "The Role of Sesame Street-Based Materials in Child-Care Settings". In "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street, Fisch, Shalom M. and Rosemarie T. Truglio, eds. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1
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