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{{About|the television show|the show's setting|Sesame Street, New York, New York}}
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{{Infobox television
| show_name = Sesame Street
| image = [[File:Sesame Street logo.svg|230px]]
| format = [[Children's television series]]
| genre = [[Educational television|Educational]]<br>[[sketch comedy]]<br>[[live action]]<br>[[puppet show]]<br>[[animation]]
| runtime = 60 Minutes
| creator = [[Joan Ganz Cooney]]<br>[[Lloyd Morrisett]]
| producer =
| starring =
| opentheme = "[[Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?]]"
| endtheme =
| theme_music_composer = [[Joe Raposo]]<br>[[Jon Stone]]<br>[[Bruce Hart (songwriter)]]
| company = [[Children's Television Workshop]] (1969–2000)<br>[[Sesame Workshop]] (2000–present)
| distributor =[[Sony Music International]] (1991-1998)<br> [[Columbia TriStar International Television]] (1998-2002)<br>[[Sony Pictures Television International]] (2002-2004)<br>[[Buena Vista International Television]] (2004-2007)<br>[[Disney-ABC International Television]] (2007-present)
| country = United States
| language = English
| network = [[National Educational Television|NET]] (1969–1970)<br />[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] (1970–present)
| ratings = {{TV-G}} (pre-1998)<br>{{TV-Y}} (post-1998)
| audio_format = [[Monaural|Mono]] (1969–1992)<br>[[Stereo]] (1992–1999)<br>[[Dolby Surround]] (2000–2007)<br>[[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound|Dolby Digital 5.1]] (2008–present)
| first_aired = November 10, 1969
| last_aired = present
| num_seasons = 43
| num_episodes = 4,300
}}
'''''Sesame Street''''' is an American [[children's television series]] created by [[Joan Ganz Cooney]] and [[Lloyd Morrisett]]. The program is known for its educational content, and creativity communicated through the use of [[Jim Henson]]'s [[The Muppets|Muppets]], animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. The series premiered on [[National Educational Television]] (NET) stations on November 10, 1969 to positive reviews, some controversy, and high [[Nielson ratings|ratings]].

The show has undergone significant changes throughout its history. The format of ''Sesame Street'' consists of a combination of [[commercial television]] [[television production|production]] elements and educational techniques which have evolved to reflect the changes in American culture and the audience's viewing habits. With the creation of ''Sesame Street'', producers and writers of a children's television show used, for the first time, educational goals and a [[curriculum]] to shape its content. It was also the first time a show's educational effects on young children were studied, and the first time both [[summative]] and [[formative assessment|formative]] research were reflected in a television show's content.

Shortly after creating ''Sesame Street'', its producers developed what came to be called "the CTW model" (named for the show's production company, [[Sesame Workshop |The Children's Television Workshop]]), a system of television show planning, production, and evaluation based on collaborations between producers, writers, educators, and researchers. The show was initially funded by government and private foundations but has become somewhat self-supporting due to revenues from licensing arrangements, international sales, and other media. By 2006, there were independently produced versions, or "[[International co-productions of Sesame Street|co-productions]]", of ''Sesame Street'' broadcast in twenty countries. In 2001 there were over 120 million viewers of various international versions of ''Sesame Street'', and by the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, it was broadcast in more than 140 countries.

By its 40th anniversary in 2009, ''Sesame Street'' was the fifteenth-highest rated children's television show in the United States. A 1996 survey found that 95% of all American [[preschoolers]] had watched the show by the time they were three years old. In 2008, it was estimated that 77 million Americans had watched the series as children. As of 2009, ''Sesame Street'' has won <!--When similar numbers all greater than one occur in groups, you can't shift between words and figures--> 8 [[Grammy Awards]] and 118 [[Emmy Awards]]—more than any other children's show.

==History of Sesame Street==
{{Main|History of Sesame Street}}

''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 Sesame Children's Television Workshop (CTW) received a combined grant of $8 million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|8|1969}}}} million in {{CURRENTYEAR}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) from the Carnegie Foundation, the [[Ford Foundation]], and the [[US federal government]] to create and produce a new children's television show.<ref name="Finch, p. 53"/> The program premiered on [[public broadcasting]] television stations on November 10, 1969.<ref name="brooke"/> It was the first [[preschool education]]al television program to base its contents and production values on laboratory and formative research.<ref name="palmer"/> 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 [[International co-productions of Sesame Street|international versions]] had been produced.<ref name="friedman"/>

{{Quote box
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|title_fnt =
|title =
|quote = I've always said of our original team that developed and produced ''Sesame Street'': Collectively, we were a genius.
|salign = right
|source = ''Sesame Street'' creator [[Joan Ganz Cooney]]<ref name="gikow-26"/>
}}

''Sesame Street'' has evolved from its initial inception. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution".<ref name="davis-220"/> The cast and crew expanded during this time, with emphasis on the hiring of women crew members and the addition of minorities to the cast. The show's success continued into the 1980s. In 1981, when the federal government withdrew its funding, CTW turned to, and expanded, other revenue sources, including its magazine division, book [[royalties]], product licensing, and foreign broadcast income.<ref name="odell"/> ''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 notably, the 1982 death of [[Will Lee]]—who played [[Mr. Hooper]]<ref name="hellman-52"/>—and the marriage of Luis and Maria in 1988.<ref name="Borgenicht, p. 80"/>

In recent years ''Sesame Street'' has faced societal and economic challenges, including changes in viewing habits of young children, competition from other shows, the development of cable television, and a drop in ratings.<ref name="davis-320"/> After the turn of the 21st century, ''Sesame Street'' made major structural changes. For example, starting in 2002, its format became more narrative and included ongoing storylines. After its thirtieth anniversary in 1999 and due to the popularity of the Muppet [[Elmo]], the show also incorporated a popular segment known as "[[Elmo's World]]".<ref name="goodman"/> Upon its fortieth anniversary in [[36th Daytime Emmy Awards|2009]], the show received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy.<ref name="emmys"/>

==Format==

{{Main|Format of Sesame Street}}

From its first episode, ''Sesame Street'' has structured its format by using "a strong visual style, fast-moving action, humor, and music", as well as animation and live-action short films.<ref name="odell-70"/> When ''Sesame Street'' premiered, most researchers believed that young children did not have long [[attention span]]s, therefore the new show's producers were concerned that an hour-long show would not hold their audience's attention. At first, the show's "street scenes"—the action taking place on its set—consisted of character-driven interactions and were not written as ongoing stories. Instead, they consisted of individual, curriculum-based segments which were interrupted by "inserts" consisting of puppet sketches, short films, and animations. This structure allowed the producers to use a mixture of styles and characters, and to vary the show's pace. By season 20, research had shown that children were able to follow a story, and the street scenes, while still interspersed with other segments, became evolving storylines.<ref name="magazine"/><ref name="gikow-179"/>

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|quote = We basically deconstructed the show. It's not a magazine format anymore. It's more like the 'Sesame' hour. Children will be able to navigate through it easier.
|salign = right
|source = Executive producer Arlene Sherman, speaking of the show's restructuring in 2002.<ref name="timgoodman"/>
}}

Upon recommendations by [[developmental psychology|child psychologists]], the producers initially decided that the show's human actors and Muppets would not interact because they were concerned it would confuse young children.<ref name="fisch-39"/> When the CTW tested the appeal of the new show, they found that although children paid attention to the shows during the Muppet segments, their interest was lost during the "Street" segments.<ref name="gladwell-105"/> The producers requested that Henson and his team create Muppets such as [[Big Bird]] and [[Oscar the Grouch]] to interact with the human actors, and the Street segments were re-shot.<ref name="Gladwell, p. 106"/><ref name="fisch3940"/> ''Sesame Street'''s format remained intact until the show's later decades, when the changing audience required that producers move to a more narrative format. In 1998 the popular segment "Elmo's World", a fifteen-minute long segment hosted by the Muppet Elmo, was created.<ref name="clash-75"/>

==Educational goals==
{{Main|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".<ref name="gladwell-100"/> [[Gerald S. Lesser]], the CTW's first advisory board chair, went even further, saying that the effective use of television as an educational tool needed to capture, focus, and sustain children's attention.<ref name="Lesser, p. 116"/> ''Sesame Street'' was the first children's show to structure each episode, and the segments within them, to capture children's attention, and to make, as Gladwell put it, "small but critical adjustments" to keep it.<ref name="gladwell-91"/> According to CTW researchers Rosemarie Truglio and Shalom Fisch, ''Sesame Street'' was one of the few children's television programs to utilize a detailed and comprehensive educational curriculum, garnered from [[formative assessment|formative]] and [[summative]] research.<ref name="truglio-234"/>

The creators of ''Sesame Street'' and their researchers formulated both [[cognition|cognitive]] and [[affect (psychology)|affective]] goals for the show. Initially, they focused on cognitive goals, while addressing affective goals indirectly, in the belief that doing so would increase children's self-esteem and feelings of competency.<ref name="morrow-76"/><ref name="morrow-106"/> One of their primary goals was preparing very young children for school, especially children from [[poverty|low-income]] families,<ref name="lesser-46"/> using [[modeling (psychology)|modeling]],<ref name="lesser8687"/> repetition,<ref name="lesser-107"/> and humor<ref name="Lesser, p. 116"/> to fulfill these goals. They made changes in the show's content to increase their viewers' attention and to increase its appeal,<ref name="lesser-87"/> and encouraged "co-viewing" to entice older children and parents to watch the show by including more sophisticated humor, cultural references, and celebrity guest appearances.<ref name="allshow"/>

After ''Sesame Street''{{'}}s first season, its critics forced its producers and researchers to address more overtly such affective goals as social competence, tolerance of [[cultural diversity|diversity]], and nonaggressive ways of resolving conflict. These issues were addressed through interpersonal disputes among its Street characters.<ref name="huston"/> During the 1980s, the show incorporated the real-life experiences of the show's cast and crew, including the death of [[Will Lee]] ([[Mr. Hooper]]) and the pregnancy of [[Sonia Manzano]] (Maria) to address affective concerns.<ref name="hellman-52"/> In later seasons, ''Sesame Street'' addressed real-life disasters such as the [[September 11 terrorist attacks]] and [[Hurricane Katrina]].<ref name="gikow-165"/>

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.<ref name="gikow-181"/>

==Funding==
As a result of Cooney's initial proposal in 1968, the Carnegie Institute awarded her an $8 million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|8|1969}}}} million in {{CURRENTYEAR}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) grant to create a new children's television program and establish the CTW,<ref name="Finch, p. 53"/><ref name="palmer-3"/> renamed in 2000 to the [[Sesame Workshop]] (SW). Cooney and Morrisett procured additional multi-million dollar grants from the US federal government, [[The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations]] [[Corporation for Public Broadcasting|CPB]] and the [[Ford Foundation]].<ref name="davis-8"/> 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.<ref name="davis-105"/> As Lesser reported, funds gained from a combination of government agencies and private foundations protected them from the economic pressures experienced by commercial broadcast television networks, but created challenges in procuring future funding.<ref name="lesser-17"/>

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.<ref name="davis-203"/> The 1970s were marked by conflicts between the CTW and the federal government; in 1978, the [[United States Department of Education|U.S. Department of Education]] refused to deliver a $2 million check until the last day of CTW's fiscal year. As a result, the CTW decided to depend upon licensing arrangements with toy companies and other manufacturers, publishing, and international sales for their funding.<ref name="odell"/>

In 1998, the CTW accepted [[sponsor (commercial)|corporate sponsorship]] to raise funds for ''Sesame Street'' and other projects. For the first time, they allowed short advertisements by 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 ''Sesame Street'', called for a boycott of the show, saying that the CTW was "exploiting impressionable children".<ref name="brooke"/>

==Production==
===Research===
{{Main|Sesame Street research}}

Producer Joan Ganz Cooney has stated, "Without research, there would be no ''Sesame Street''".<ref name="cooney-xi"/> 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".<ref name="cooney-xi"/> Shortly after creating ''Sesame Street'', its producers 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.<ref name="morrow-68"/><ref group=note>See Gikow, p. 155, for a visual representation of the CTW model.</ref> According to Morrow, the CTW model consisted of four parts: "the interaction of receptive television producers and [[child development|child science]] experts, the creation of a specific and age-appropriate curriculum, research to shape the program directly, and independent measurement of viewers' learning".<ref name="morrow-68"/>

[[File:Educational Testing Service welcome sign.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Large wooden sign with "Educational Testing Service" in white letters, in the middle of a field overlooking several trees and a blue sky.|Welcome sign at entrance to ETS headquarters. The ETS conducted the early summative studies about ''Sesame Street''.]]

Cooney credited the show's high standard in research procedures to Harvard professors [[Gerald S. Lesser]], whom the CTW hired to design the show's educational objectives, and [[Edward L. Palmer]], who was responsible for conducting the show's formative research and for bridging the gap between the show's producers and researchers.<ref name="cooney-xii"/> The CTW conducted research in two ways: in-house formative research that informed and improved production,<ref name="mielke-8485"/> and independent summative evaluations, conducted by the [[Educational Testing Service]] (ETS) during the show's first two seasons, which measuring its educational effectiveness.<ref name="palmer"/> 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".<ref name="Borgenicht, p. 9"/> Cooney also described the collaboration as an "arranged marriage".<ref name="cooney-xi"/>

===Writing===
''Sesame Street'' has used 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.<ref name="hellman-52"/> According to Gikow, ''Sesame Street'' went against the convention of hiring teachers to write for the show, as most educational television 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.<ref name="gikow-178"/> As Stone stated, "Writing for children is not so easy".<ref name="gikow-178"/> 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".<ref name="gikow-174"/>

[[File:Kaufman Univ Studio LIC jeh.JPG|right|200px|thumb|alt=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", which served as a bridge between the show's curriculum goals and script development.<ref name="lesser-101"/> The notebook was a compilation of programming ideas designed to teach specific curriculum points,<ref name="morrow-82"/> provided extended definitions of curriculum goals, and assisted the writers and producers in translating the goals into televised material.<ref name="palmer-10"/> 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.<ref name="Palmer & Fisch, p. 11"/>

The research team, in a series of meetings with the writers, also developed "a curriculum sheet" that described the show's 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.<ref name="lesser-101"/><ref name="lesser2-28"/> 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.<ref name="MURPHY2009"/><ref name="apollo"/><ref name="spinney"/><ref group=note>Most of the first season was filmed at a studio near [[Broadway theatre|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).</ref>

===Media===
{{Main|Sesame Street media|Music of Sesame Street|International co-productions of Sesame Street}}

Early in their history ''Sesame Street'' and the CTW began to look for alternative funding sources and turned to creating products and writing licensing agreements. They became, as Cooney put it, "a multiple-media institution".<ref name="cherow-197"/> In 1970, the CTW created a "non-broadcast" division responsible for creating and publishing books and ''[[Sesame Street Magazine]]''.<ref name="cherow19798"/> They decided that all materials their licensing program created would "underscore and amplify"<ref name="davis-195"/> the show's curriculum. In 2004, over 68% of ''Sesame Street''{{'}}s revenue came from licenses and products such as toys and clothing.<ref name="carvajal"/><ref>See Gikow, pp. 280–285 for a list of many of the show's products.</ref> By 2008, the ''Sesame Street'' Muppets accounted for between $15 million and $17 million per year in licensing and merchandising fees, split between the Sesame Workshop and [[Henson Associates]].<ref name="davis-5"/>

[[Jim Henson]], the creator of the Muppets, owned the [[trademarks]] to those characters, and was reluctant to market them at first. He agreed when the CTW promised that the profits from toys, books, [[Sesame Street video games|computer games]], and other products were to be used exclusively to fund the CTW and its outreach efforts.<ref name="davis-203"/><ref name="gikow-268"/> Even though Cooney and the CTW had very little experience with marketing, they demanded complete control over all products and product decisions.<ref name="davis-205"/> Any product line associated with the show had to be educational, inexpensive, and could not be advertised during the show's airings.<ref name="davis-204"/> As Davis reported, "Cooney stressed restraint, prudence, and caution" in their marketing and licensing efforts.<ref name="davis-204"/>

Director Jon Stone, talking about the music of ''Sesame Street'', said: "There was no other sound like it on television".<ref name="gikow-220"/> For the first time in children's television, the show's songs fulfilled a specific purpose and supported its curriculum.<ref name="gikow-227"/> In order to attract the best composers and lyricists, the CTW allowed songwriters like ''Sesame Street''{{'}}s first musical director [[Joe Raposo]] to retain the rights to the songs they wrote, which earned them lucrative profits and helped the show sustain public interest.<ref name="davis-256"/> By 1991, ''Sesame Street'' and its songwriters had received eight [[Grammys]].<ref name="kohn"/>

''Sesame Street'' used animations and short films commissioned from outside studios,<ref name="gikow-236"/> interspersed throughout each episode, to help teach their viewers basic concepts like numbers and letters.<ref name="morrow-89"/> Jim Henson was one of the many producers to create short films for the show.<ref name="Gikow, p. 246"/> Shortly after ''Sesame Street'' debuted in the US, the CTW was approached independently by producers from several countries to produce versions of the show at home. These versions came to be called "co-productions".<ref name="cole-148"/> By 2001 there were over 120 million viewers of all international versions of ''Sesame Street'',<ref name="cole-147"/> and in 2006, there were twenty co-productions around the world.<ref name="world"/> By the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, ''Sesame Street'' was broadcast in more than 140 countries.<ref name="gikow-263"/> In 2005, Doreen Carvajal of ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that income from the co-productions and international licensing accounted for US$96 million.<ref name="carvajal"/>

==Cast, crew, and characters==
{{Main|Sesame Street characters}}

Shortly after the CTW was created in 1968, Joan Ganz Cooney was named 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".<ref name="davis12829"/> 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.<ref name="davis-147"/> Cameraman Frankie Biondo worked on ''Sesame Street'' from its first episode.<ref name="gikow-15"/>

[[Image:Jim Henson (1989).jpg|right|thumb|upright|alt=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.]]

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".<ref name="Finch, p. 53"/> Henson was initially reluctant, but he agreed to join ''Sesame Street'' to meet his own 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.<ref name="davis-5"/> As Morrow stated, Henson's puppets were a crucial part of the show's popularity and it brought Henson national attention.<ref name="morrow-93"/> Davis reported that Henson was able to take "arcane academic goals" and translate them to "effective and pleasurable viewing".<ref name="davis-163"/> In early research, the Muppet segments of the show scored high, and 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.<ref name="morrow-9495"/>

{{Quote box
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|title =
|quote = ''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.
|salign = right
|source = Author [[Malcolm Gladwell]], ''[[The Tipping Point]]''<ref name="gladwell-99"/>
}}

Although the producers decided against depending upon a single host for ''Sesame Street'', instead casting a group of ethnically diverse actors,<ref name="lesser-99"/> they realized that a children's television program needed to have, as Lesser put it, "a variety of distinctive and reliable personalities",<ref name="lesser-125"/> both human and Muppet. Jon Stone, whose goal was to cast white actors in the minority,<ref name="hellman-52"/> 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.<ref name="Borgenicht, p. 15"/> For example, [[Loretta Long]] was chosen to play [[The Robinson family (Sesame Street)|Susan]] when the children who saw her audition stood up and sang along with her rendition of "[[I'm a Little Teapot]]".<ref name="Borgenicht, p. 15"/><ref name="davis-172"/> As Stone said, casting was the only aspect of the show that was "just completely haphazard".<ref name="davis-195" /> Most of the cast and crew found jobs on ''Sesame Street'' through personal relationships with Stone and the other producers.<ref name="davis-195" />

According to the CTW's research, children preferred watching and listening to other children more than to puppets and adults, so they included children in many scenes.<ref name="lesser-127"/> Dave Connell insisted that no child actors be used,<ref name="morrow-84"/> 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 departures from the planned script or from the planned lesson.<ref name="lesser-12728"/> CTW research also revealed that the children's hesitations and on-air mistakes served as models for viewers.<ref name="gikow-123"/> According to Morrow, this resulted in the show having a "fresh quality", especially in its early years.<ref name="morrow-84"/> Children were also used in the voice-over commentaries of most of live-actions films the CTW produced.<ref name="morrow-102"/>

==Reception==

{{Main|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 ratings|Nielsen]] rating, which totaled 1.9 million households.<ref name="Seligsohn"/> 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 and 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.<ref name="zill-117"/>

The show's ratings significantly decreased in the early 1990s, resulting from changes in children's viewing habits and in the television marketplace. The producers responded to by making large-scale structural changes to the show.<ref name="weiss"/> 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.<ref name="friedman"/> A 1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers had watched the show by the time they were three years old.<ref name="growing"/> In 2008, it was estimated that 77 million Americans had watched the series as children.<ref name="friedman"/> By the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, it was ranked the fifteenth most popular children's show on television.<ref name="counts"/>

===Influence===
{{Main|Sesame Street research#Summative research}}
As of 2001, there were over 1,000 research studies regarding ''Sesame Street'''s efficacy, impact, and effect on American culture.<ref name="cooney-xii" /> The CTW solicited the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to conduct summative research on the show.<ref name="mielke-85"/> ETS's two "landmark"<ref name="mielke-88"/> summative evaluations, conducted in 1970 and 1971, demonstrated that the show had a significant educational impact on its viewers.<ref name="palmer-20"/> These studies have been cited in other studies of the effects of television on young children.<ref name="mielke-88"/>{{#tag:ref|According to Edward Palmer and his colleague Shalom M. Fisch, these studies were responsible for securing funding for the show over the next several years.<ref name="palmer-20"/>|group=note}} Additional studies conducted throughout ''Sesame Street''{{'}}s history demonstrated that the show continued to have a positive effect on its young viewers.{{#tag:ref|See Gikow, pp. 284–285; ''"G" is For Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street'', pp. 147–230.|group=note}}

{{Quote box
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|quote = ''Sesame Street'' [is] perhaps the most vigorously researched, vetted, and fretted-over program on the planet. It would take a fork-lift to now to haul away the load of scholarly paper devoted to the series...
|salign = right
|source = Author Michael Davis<ref name="davis-357"/>
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Lesser believed that ''Sesame Street'' research "may have conferred a new respectability upon the studies of the effects of visual media upon children".<ref name="lesser-235"/> He also believed that the show had the same effect on the prestige in the television industry of producing shows for children.<ref name="lesser-235"/> 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".<ref name="morrow-122"/> Les Brown, a writer for ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', saw in ''Sesame Street'' "a hope for a more substantial future" for television.<ref name="morrow-122"/>

Morrow reported that the networks responded by creating more high-quality television programs, but that many critics saw them as "appeasement gestures".<ref name="morrow-127"/> 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.<ref name="morrow-130"/> By the mid-1970s, commercial television abandoned their experiments with creating better children's programming.<ref name="morrow-132"/> Other critics hoped that ''Sesame Street'', with its depiction of a functioning, multicultural community, would nurture racial tolerance in its young viewers.<ref name="morrow-124"/> It was not until the mid-1990s when a children's television educational program, ''[[Blue's Clues]]'', used the CTW's methods to create and modify their content. The creators of ''Blue's Clues'' were influenced by ''Sesame Street'', but wanted to use research conducted in the 30 years since its debut. Angela Santomero, one of its producers, said, "We wanted to learn from ''Sesame Street'' and take it one step further".<ref name="gladwell-111"/>

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 ones concerning [[Bert and Ernie]].<ref name="roeper"/>

===Critical reception===
''Sesame Street'' was praised from its debut in 1969. ''Newsday'' reported that several newspapers and magazines had written "glowing" reports about the CTW and Cooney.<ref name="Seligsohn"/> The press overwhelmingly praised the new show; several popular magazines and niche magazines lauded it.<ref name="morrow119120"/> 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.<ref name="morrow-119"/> By 1995, the show had won two [[Peabody Awards]] and four [[Parents' Choice Award]]s. In addition, it was the subject of retrospectives at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] and the [[Museum of Modern Art]].<ref name="allshow"/>

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|quote = ''Sesame Street'' is...with lapses, the most intelligent and important program in television. That is not anything much yet.
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|source = [[Renata Adler]], ''[[The New Yorker]]'', 1972<ref name="lesser-165"/>
}}

''Sesame Street'' was not without its detractors, however. In May 1970, a state commission in [[Mississippi Public Broadcasting|Mississippi]] voted to ban ''Sesame Street'' because of its "highly integrated cast of children" which "the commission members felt ... Mississippi was not yet ready for".<ref name="missban"/> 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.<ref name="lesser17475"/>{{#tag:ref|See Lesser, pp. 175–201 for his response to the early critics of ''Sesame Street.|group=note}} Historian Robert W. Morrow speculated that much of the early criticism, which he called "surprisingly intense",<ref name="morrow-3"/> 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".<ref name="morrow-3"/>

According to Morrow, the "most important" studies finding negative effects of ''Sesame Street'' were conducted by educator Herbert A. Sprigle and psychologist Thomas D. Cook during its first two seasons.<ref name="morrow14647"/> Social scientist and [[Head Start Program]] founder [[Urie Bronfenbrenner]] criticized the show for being too wholesome.<ref name="bigbadtv"/> 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.<ref name="Morrow, p. 98"/> Head Start director Edward Zigler was probably ''Sesame Street''{{'}}s most vocal critic in the show's early years.<ref name="morrow-147"/>

In spite of their commitment to multiculturalism, the CTW experienced conflicts with the leadership of minority groups, especially Latino groups and feminists, who objected to ''Sesame Street''{{'}}s depiction of Latinos and women.<ref name="morrow15758"/> The CTW took steps to address their objections. By 1971, the CTW hired Hispanic actors, production staff, and researchers, and by the mid-1970s, Morrow reported that "the show included Chicano and Puerto Rican cast members, films about Mexican holidays and foods, and cartoons that taught Spanish words".<ref name="morrow-155"/> As ''The New York Times'' has stated, creating strong female characters "that make kids laugh, but not...as female stereotypes"<ref name="gikow-142"/> 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.<ref name="morrow-156"/> 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.<ref name="gikow-143"/>

In 2002, ''Sesame Street'' was ranked #27 on [[TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time]].<ref name="tvguide"/> As of 2009, [[Sesame Street Emmy awards and nominations|''Sesame Street'' has received 118 Emmy Awards]], more than any other television series.<ref name="emmys"/>{{#tag:ref|In 2010, ''Sesame Street'' won an additional eight Emmys.<ref name="awards"/>|group=note}}

==See also==
{{Portal|New York City|Television|Muppets}}
*[[International co-productions of Sesame Street]]
*[[List of Sesame Street video releases]]
*[[List of awards and nominations received by Sesame Street]]
*[[Pop culture influenced by Sesame Street]]
*[[Avenue Q]]
{{-}}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em|group=note}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|colwidth=20em|refs=
<ref name="allshow">{{cite news | last = Hymowitz | first = Kay S. | title = On Sesame Street, It's All Show | work = City Journal | location = New York | date = Autumn 1995 | url = http://www.city-journal.org/html/5_4_on_sesame_street.html | accessdate = 2008-12-18}}</ref>

<ref name="apollo">{{cite web | title = How to Get to 'Sesame Street' at the Apollo Theater | publisher = New York City Mayor's Office | date = 2008-11-19 | url = http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/news/110108_sesame_panel_recap.shtml | accessdate = 2009-08-07}}</ref>

<ref name="awards">{{Cite press release | title = Awards: PBS | publisher = PBS | date = February 2011 | url = http://www.pbs.org/about/corporate-information/awards/ | accessdate = 2011-02-26}}</ref>

<ref name="bigbadtv">{{cite news | last = Kanfer | first = Stefan | title = Who's Afraid of Big, Bad TV? | work = Time | date = 1970-11-23 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943327,00.html?iid=digg_share | accessdate = 2009-03-06}}</ref>

<ref name="Borgenicht, p. 9">Borgenicht, p. 9</ref>
<ref name="Borgenicht, p. 15">Borgenicht, p. 15</ref>
<ref name="Borgenicht, p. 80">Borgenicht, p. 80</ref>

<ref name="brooke">{{cite news | last = Brooke| first = Jill | title = 'Sesame Street' Takes a Bow to 30 Animated Years | work = The New York Times | date = 1998-11-13 | url = http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/TV/9811/13/sesame.street/ | accessdate = 2010-10-09}}</ref>

<ref name="carvajal">{{cite news | last = Carvajal | first = Doreen | title = Sesame Street Goes Global: Let's All Count the Revenue | work = The New York Times | date = 2005-12-12 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/12/business/media/12sesame.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print | accessdate = 2009-06-10}}</ref>

<ref name="cherow19798">Cherow-O'Leary in Fisch & Truglio, pp. 197–198</ref>
<ref name="cherow-197">Cherow-O'Leary in Fisch & Truglio, p. 197</ref>

<ref name="clash-75">Clash, p. 75</ref>

<ref name="cole-147">Cole et al. in Fisch & Truglio, p. 147</ref>
<ref name="cole-148">Cole et al. in Fisch & Truglio, p. 148</ref>

<ref name="cooney-xi">Cooney in Fisch & Truglio, p. xi</ref>
<ref name="cooney-xii">Cooney in Fisch & Truglio, p. xii</ref>

<ref name="counts">{{cite news | last = Guernsey | first = Lisa | title = 'Sesame Street': The Show That Counts | work = Newsweek | date = 2009-05-23 | url = http://www.newsweek.com/2009/05/22/sesame-street.html | accessdate = 2009-08-18}}</ref>

<ref name="davis12829">Davis, pp. 128–129</ref>
<ref name="davis-5">Davis, p. 5</ref>
<ref name="davis-8">Davis, p. 8</ref>
<ref name="davis-105">Davis, p. 105</ref>
<ref name="davis-147">Davis, p. 147</ref>
<ref name="davis-163">Davis, p. 163</ref>
<ref name="davis-195">Davis, p. 167</ref>
<ref name="davis-172">Davis, p. 172</ref>
<ref name="davis-203">Davis, p. 203</ref>
<ref name="davis-204">Davis, p. 204</ref>
<ref name="davis-205">Davis, p. 205</ref>
<ref name="davis-220">Davis, p. 220</ref>
<ref name="davis-256">Davis, p. 256</ref>
<ref name="davis-320">Davis, p. 320</ref>
<ref name="davis-357">Davis, p. 357</ref>

<ref name="emmys">{{cite episode | title = 36th Daytime Emmy Awards | url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYF1dQFo-cY | network = The CW | airdate = 2009-08-30}}</ref>

<ref name="Finch, p. 53">Finch, p. 53</ref>

<ref name="fisch3940">Fisch & Bernstein in Fisch & Truglio, pp. 39–40</ref>
<ref name="fisch-39">Fisch & Bernstein in Fisch & Truglio, p. 39</ref>

<ref name="friedman">{{cite news | first = Michael Jay | last = Friedman | title = Sesame Street Educates and Entertains Internationally | url = http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2006/April/20060405165756jmnamdeirf0.4207117.html | work = America.gov | publisher = U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Information Programs | location = | date = 2006-04-08 | accessdate = 2008-10-09}}</ref>

<ref name="Gikow, p. 246">Gikow, p. 246</ref>
<ref name="gikow-15">Gikow, p. 15</ref>
<ref name="gikow-26">Gikow, p. 26</ref>
<ref name="gikow-123">Gikow, p. 123</ref>
<ref name="gikow-142">Gikow, p. 142</ref>
<ref name="gikow-143">Gikow, p. 143</ref>
<ref name="gikow-165">Gikow, p. 165</ref>
<ref name="gikow-174">Gikow, p. 174</ref>
<ref name="gikow-178">Gikow, p. 178</ref>
<ref name="gikow-179">Gikow, p. 179</ref>
<ref name="gikow-181">Gikow, p. 181</ref>
<ref name="gikow-220">Gikow, p. 220</ref>
<ref name="gikow-227">Gikow, p. 227</ref>
<ref name="gikow-236">Gikow, p. 236</ref>
<ref name="gikow-263">Gikow, p. 263</ref>
<ref name="gikow-268">Gikow, p. 268</ref>

<ref name="gladwell-91">Gladwell, p. 91</ref>
<ref name="gladwell-99">Gladwell, p. 99</ref>
<ref name="gladwell-100">Gladwell, p. 100</ref>
<ref name="gladwell-105">Gladwell, p. 105</ref>
<ref name="gladwell-111">Gladwell, p. 111</ref>
<ref name="Gladwell, p. 106">Gladwell, p. 106</ref>

<ref name="goodman">{{cite news | first = Tim | last = Goodman | title = Word on the 'Street' | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/02/04/DD9808.DTL | work = San Francisco Chronicle | date = 2002-02-04 | accessdate = 2008-10-09 }}</ref>

<ref name="growing">{{cite book | last = Truglio | first = Rosemarie T | coauthor = Shalom M. Fisch | editors = Shalom M. Fisch & Rosemarie T. Truglio | title = "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street | publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers | year = 2001 | location = Mahweh, New Jersey | page = xvi | isbn = 0-8058-3395-1 | chapter = Introduction}}</ref>

<ref name="hellman-52">{{cite journal | last = Hellman | first = Peter | title = Street Smart: How Big Bird & Company Do It | journal = New York Magazine | volume = 20 | issue = 46 | page = 52 | date = 1987-11-23 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=KOUCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA48&vq=sesame+street&q=sesame%20street | issn = 0028-7369 | accessdate = 2009-08-11}}</ref>

<ref name="huston">{{cite book | last = Huston | first = Aletha C | coauthors = Daniel R. Anderson, John C. Wright, Deborah Linebarger, & Kelly L. Schmidt | editors = Shalom M. Fisch & Rosemarie T. Truglio | title = "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street | publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers | year = 2001 | location = Mahweh, New Jersey | page = 133 | isbn = 0-8058-3395-1 | chapter = "''Sesame Street'' Viewers as Adolescents: The Recontact Study}}</ref>

<ref name="kohn">{{cite journal | last = Kohn | first = Martin F | title = Grammy's Greatest (Children's) Hits | journal = Entertainment Weekly | issue = 56 | page = 18 | date = 1991-03-08 | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,313527,00.html | accessdate = 2009-07-08}}</ref>

<ref name="lesser8687">Lesser, pp. 86–87</ref>
<ref name="lesser-12728">Lesser, pp. 127–128</ref>
<ref name="lesser17475">Lesser, pp. 174–175</ref>
<ref name="Lesser, p. 116">Lesser, p. 116</ref>
<ref name="lesser-17">Lesser, p. 17</ref>
<ref name="lesser-46">Lesser, p. 46</ref>
<ref name="lesser-87">Lesser, p. 87</ref>
<ref name="lesser-99">Lesser, p. 99</ref>
<ref name="lesser-101">Lesser, p. 101</ref>
<ref name="lesser-107">Lesser, p. 107</ref>
<ref name="lesser-125">Lesser, p. 125</ref>
<ref name="lesser-127">Lesser, p. 127</ref>
<ref name="lesser-165">Lesser, p. 165</ref>
<ref name="lesser-235">Lesser, p. 235</ref>

<ref name="lesser2-28">{{cite book | last = Lesser | first = Gerald S. | coauthor = Joel Schneider | editors = Shalom M. Fisch & Rosemarie T. Truglio | title = "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street | publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers | year = 2001 | location = Mahweh, New Jersey | page = 28 | isbn = 0-8058-3395-1 | chapter = Creation and Evolution of the ''Sesame Street'' Curriculum}}</ref>

<ref name="magazine">Morrow, p. 87</ref>

<ref name="mielke-8485">Mielke in Fisch & Truglio, pp. 84–85</ref>
<ref name="mielke-85">Mielke in Fisch & Truglio, p. 85</ref>
<ref name="mielke-88">Mielke in Fisch & Truglio, p. 88</ref>

<ref name="missban">"Mississippi Agency Votes for a TV Ban on 'Sesame Street'". (1970-05-03). ''The New York Times''. Quoted in Davis, p. 202</ref>

<ref name="morrow-9495">Morrow, pp. 94–95</ref>
<ref name="morrow119120">Morrow, pp. 119–120</ref>
<ref name="morrow14647">Morrow, pp. 146–147</ref>
<ref name="morrow15758">Morrow, pp. 157–158</ref>
<ref name="Morrow, p. 98">Morrow, p. 98</ref>
<ref name="morrow-3">Morrow, p. 3</ref>
<ref name="morrow-68">Morrow, p. 68</ref>
<ref name="morrow-76">Morrow, p. 76</ref>
<ref name="morrow-82">Morrow, p. 82</ref>
<ref name="morrow-84">Morrow, p. 84</ref>
<ref name="morrow-89">Morrow, p. 89</ref>
<ref name="morrow-93">Morrow, p. 93</ref>
<ref name="morrow-102">Morrow, p. 102</ref>
<ref name="morrow-106">Morrow, p. 106</ref>
<ref name="morrow-119">Morrow, p. 119</ref>
<ref name="morrow-124">Morrow, p. 124</ref>
<ref name="morrow-127">Morrow, p. 127</ref>
<ref name="morrow-122">Morrow, p. 122</ref>
<ref name="morrow-130">Morrow, p. 130</ref>
<ref name="morrow-132">Morrow, p. 132</ref>
<ref name="morrow-147">Morrow, p. 147</ref>
<ref name="morrow-155">Morrow, p. 155</ref>
<ref name="morrow-156">Morrow, p. 156</ref>

<ref name="MURPHY2009">{{cite news | last = Murphy | first = Tim | title = How We Got to 'Sesame Street' | work = New York Magazine | url = http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/topic/61744/ | date = 2009-11-01 | accessdate = 2011-08-23}}</ref>

<ref name="odell">O'Dell, pp. 73–74</ref>
<ref name="odell-70">O'Dell, p. 70</ref>

<ref name="palmer">Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 9</ref>
<ref name="Palmer & Fisch, p. 11">Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 11</ref>
<ref name="palmer-3">Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 3</ref>
<ref name="palmer-10">Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 10</ref>
<ref name="palmer-20">Palmer & Fisch in Fisch & Truglio, p. 20</ref>

<ref name="roeper">{{cite book | last = Roeper | first = Richard | title = Hollywood Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Delightfully Persistent Myths of Film, Television and Music | year = 2001 | publisher = Career Press | location = Franklin Lakes, New Jersey | isbn = 1-56414-554-9 | pages = 48–53}}</ref>

<ref name="Seligsohn">Seligsohn, Leo. (1970-02-09). "Backstage at Sesame Street". ''New York Newsday''. Quoted in Davis, p. 197.</ref>

<ref name="spinney">{{cite book | last = Spinney | first = Caroll | coauthor = Jason Milligan | title = The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers | publisher = Random House | year = 2003 | location = New York | page = 3 | isbn = 0-375-50781-7}}</ref>

<ref name="timgoodman">{{cite news | last = Goodman | first = Tim | title = Word on the 'Street': Classic Children's Show to Undergo Structural Changes This Season | work = San Francisco Chronicle | date = 2002-02-04 | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/02/04/DD9808.DTL | accessdate = 2011-05-25}}</ref>

<ref name="truglio-234">{{cite book | last = Fisch | first = Shalom M. | coauthor = Rosemarie T. Truglio | editors = Shalom M. Fisch & Rosemarie T. Truglio | title = "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street | publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers | year = 2001 | location = Mahweh, New Jersey | page = 234 | isbn = 0-8058-3395-1 | chapter = Why Children Learn from Sesame Street}}</ref>

<ref name="tvguide">{{cite news | title = TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows | work = CBS News | date = 2009-02-11 | publisher = Associated Press | url = http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/26/entertainment/main507388.shtml | accessdate = 2011-06-19}}</ref>

<ref name="weiss">{{cite news | last = Weiss | first = Joanna | title = New Character Joins PBS | work = The Boston Globe | date = 2005-10-19 | url = http://www.azcentral.com/families/articles/1018pbscharacter1019.html | accessdate = 2009-07-06}}</ref>

<ref name="world">{{Cite video | people = Knowlton, Linda Goldstein and Linda Hawkins Costigan (producers) | date = 2006 | title = The World According to Sesame Street | medium = documentary | publisher = Participant Productions}}</ref>

<ref name="zill-117">{{cite book | last = Zill | first = Nicholas | title = "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street | publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers | year = 2001 | location = Mahweh, New Jersey | pages = 117–120 | isbn = 0-8058-3395-1 | chapter = Does ''Sesame Street'' Enhance School Readiness? Evidence from a National Survey of Children}}</ref>

}}

==References==
* Borgenicht, David (1998). ''Sesame Street Unpaved''. New York: Hyperion Publishing. ISBN 0-7868-6460-5
* Clash, Kevin, Gary Brozek, and 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
* Davis, Michael (2008). [http://books.google.com/books?id=i3ilsEuFUkAC&printsec=frontcover ''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 Rosemarie T. Truglio, Eds. (2001). ''"G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street''. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-3395-1
** Cooney, Joan Ganz, "Foreword", pp. xi–xiv.
** Palmer, Edward and Shalom M. Fisch, "The Beginnings of ''Sesame Street'' Research", pp.&nbsp;3–24.
** Fisch, Shalom M. and Lewis Bernstein, "Formative Research Revealed: Methodological and Process Issues in Formative Research", pp.&nbsp;39–60.
** Mielke, Keith W., "A Review of Research on the Educational and Social Impact of Sesame Street", pp.&nbsp;83–97.
** Cole, Charlotte F., Beth A. Richman, and Susan A. McCann Brown, "The World of Sesame Street Research", pp.&nbsp;147–180.
** Cherow-O'Leary, Renee, "Carrying ''Sesame Street'' Into Print: ''Sesame Street Magazine'', ''Sesame Street Parents'', and ''Sesame Street'' Books" pp.&nbsp;197–214.
* 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 0-394-71448-2
* 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, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-0167-2.

==External links==
{{Sister project links|v=no|s=no}}
* [http://www.sesameworkshop.org/ Sesame Workshop]
* [http://www.sesamestreet.org/ Sesame Street]
* [http://sesamestreetlive.com/ Sesame Street Live]
* [http://pbs.org/sesame/ PBS Kids: Official Site]
* [http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sesame_Street Muppet Wiki]
** [http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Sesame_Street_Episode_Guide Sesame Street Episode Guide] at Muppet Wiki
* {{tv.com|887|Sesame Street}}
* {{IMDb title|0063951|Sesame Street}}

{{Sesame Street}}
{{Sesame Street Characters}}
{{Muppet films}}
{{PBSKids shows}}
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[[Category:Television shows set in New York City]]
[[Category:Programs broadcast by Treehouse TV]]

[[ar:شارع السمسم]]
[[be-x-old:Вуліца Сэзам]]
[[bg:Улица Сезам]]
[[ca:Barri Sèsam]]
[[cy:Sesame Street]]
[[da:Sesame Street]]
[[de:Sesamstraße]]
[[es:Sesame Street]]
[[eo:Sesame Street]]
[[eu:Sesame Street]]
[[fr:1, rue Sésame]]
[[gl:Sesame Street]]
[[haw:Sesame Street]]
[[hr:Ulica Sezam]]
[[id:Sesame Street]]
[[is:Sesame Street]]
[[it:Sesamo apriti]]
[[he:רחוב סומסום (ארצות הברית)]]
[[ka:სეზამის ქუჩა]]
[[la:Sesame Street]]
[[lt:Sesame Street]]
[[ml:സെസമി സ്ട്രീറ്റ്]]
[[ms:Sesame Street]]
[[nl:Sesame Street]]
[[ja:セサミストリート]]
[[no:Sesame Street]]
[[pl:Ulica Sezamkowa]]
[[pt:Sesame Street]]
[[ru:Улица Сезам]]
[[simple:Sesame Street]]
[[sh:Sesame Street]]
[[fi:Seesamtie]]
[[sv:Sesam (TV-program)]]
[[tl:Sesame Street]]
[[te:సెసేమ్ స్ట్రీట్]]
[[th:เซซามี สตรีท]]
[[tr:Susam Sokağı]]
[[ur:سمسم گلی]]
[[vi:Sesame Street]]
[[zh:芝麻街]]

Revision as of 20:14, 17 June 2012

stupid show

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