The Longest Running Kid’s TV Show in The US: Sesame Street

Sesame Street was furst broadcast on November 10th, 1969, featuring the puppets of Jim Henson. Currently produced by a non-profit called Sesame production, which used to be known as the Children’s Television Workshop. The organization that continues to produce Sesame street was founded by Joan Ganz Cooney and Ralph Rogers. Sesame St marks televisions first forays into providing kids with entertaining and educational programming. At the time, this was considered revolutionary and risky in terms of ratings. If it were not for Sesame Street, cable channels like Nickelodeon would not likely be in existence today.

The whole thing began when the Carnegie institute gave Cooney a grant to perform a study about how media could help young children be better prepared for school. The result was a suggestion for a television show. She was given an $8 million dollar grant to work with in creating the show, later receiving funding from the Ford Foundation, The U.S government, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. A five day educational curriculum seminar was held at Harvard, which is where Jim Henson became involved in the project. The show itself was built around the concept that if you can hold a child’s attention, that child can more easily receive educational information, which remains the show’s goal. Another unusual feature of sesame street is that it often includes topical, relevant discussion about some of the things “grown-ups” have concern about. In the 2000s Muppet characters are shown in several episodes discussing the recession.

From the very beginning, Sesame Street was a different kind of show, set in a city – an unusual setting for kid’s programming at the time, and with characters from multi-cultural backgrounds. In a sense, Sesame Street is as much of a rebellion against “Leave it to Beaver” type cliches as edgier adult programs like Rescue Me. In short, it more reflected real communities than other programs.

Something else unique that Sesame Steet did in its programming was include humor and pop-cultural references that adults could enjoy, so that parents who had to watch with their children would also enjoy the show, and specifically to encourage family time with the program.

As the cultural landscape changes, so does the landscape of Sesame St. While they always retain their initial goal – to entertain and educate pre-school aged children, Sesame Street changes with the times, just like any other street.