Talk:Sesame Street/Archive 1

where is Sesame Street?
as i child, i used to ponder about this. i've always had this idea that sesame street is at or around the fringe of central park, going by the intro scenes. also, i vaguely remember a muppet singing about the address of sesame street, mentioning something about central park.

can anyone verify this? - Kevin M Sim

I thought Sesame Street was based in Fresno California. They talk alot about Fresno on Sesame Street, thats why I thought this be true, but correct me if I am wrong. -Tommy Greer

It's in New York City. -Kimmy —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Special:Contributions/ (talk)

older entries
I think this is a great page.

One suggestion: in addition to an article on Mr. Hooper, there should be some mention of the 1982 episode in which his death was discussed. I think many would consider the episode a landmark in children's television. Someone who has recently conducted research on the show could present more information about this and other well-known episodes more easily than I. --Rethunk


 * I agree. It would be a good project for someone who has the knowledge.  -- Zoe


 * Count me in. I'm a Sesame Street fanatic, and I'd love to do an expansion. Are there any other topics that you know of that I should defientely remember? How extensive should I go-- I could provide a paragraph of information even on one shot characters? Would a complete episode guide be appropriate? Zanimum


 * I think a complete episode guide would be excessive. I'm sure there are such things on the Net already.  A list of major characters and catch phrases and important episodes would probably be enough.  What does everybody else think? -- Zoe


 * There are guides from Season 32 on (it's soon the start of Season 34). But the beauty of Wikipedia's format is that all the other 3000 episodes before those seasons could have a chance of being cataloged by the public. Anyone that happens to have an old VHS or Beta that they taped an episode on can post a brief summary of what happened, unlike what they could do with other sites, which a closed door really...Zanimum


 * I agree that an episode guide could be useful, and if someone wants to write an article on every episode, I suppose I wouldn't stop them... At least some characters (Big Bird, Elmo and maybe the Cookie Monster) probably deserve separate articles. Something like that shouldn't be forced, though, I think -- write about the characters here and when the length and organization becomes burdensome, start moving some to their own articles. Tokerboy


 * With most of the main characters, it wouldn't be that forced persay, with 4000 episodes to choose highlights from, and with the underlying academic focus each character brings to the show, you could easily write thesises on them. Zanimum


 * There aren't actually 4000 episodes. I believe they start a new 100 for each season. -- General Wesc


 * Grover holds up a number card at the start of every episode, and they're at like 3656 now, something like that. But I was just rounding it all off just to make it sound good. They've actually stopped the 100 episode schedule in 1999 or so, now there's only 65 new episodes per season. Still impressive-- most kids shows only ever produce 65, that they show infinitely for years upon years.


 * I think an episode guide in a separate article would be nice, with important episodes and specials perhaps highlighted on the main article. Also, we should definately list the two movies, Follow That Bird and Elmo's Adventure in Grouchland. However, if we did do episode highlights, what would it include? Hooper's death, Gabby's birth, Miles' adoption (also last episode with David), XMas, etc. are obvious, but beyond those it's very subjective. For me, the hurricane, the fire, Montana, and Hooper's Store collapsing are prime candidates but others would consider some of those pointless. Where do we draw the line? What constitutes an "important" episode? -- General Wesc


 * Yeah. Like the last traditional format Sesame Street episode (3919) wasn't important plot wise, but in how it signaled an end of an era.

Plot description from sesamebeat.com: "Maria's mom is visiting from Puerto Rico. Everyone loves Maria's mom. Every time Maria tries to spend some time alone with her mom, her mom gets pulled into some big Sesame Street activity --a Birdketeer meeting, a conga line, etc. Maria gets visibly upset. Eventually her mom figures it out and they go off together."

Should we have a complete guest list? Zanimum


 * I think a complete guest list would be worth trying, but it would certainly need a separate article. -- General Wesc

One more thing, they've done major changes at least three times (adding around the corner with Furry Arms, etc., removing around the corner, and the most recent abomination.) I'd like to see these mentioned, but I don't know if these are the only three major changes or if there were others earlier. Anyone older than me? :-) -- General Wesc


 * Chances are that I'm younger, but no, that's it. Zanimum

A complete Sesame Street guide could be too much. It would be a lot of work, and though I'd tip my hat and buy a drink for the person who could pull it off.

Episodes which have been discussed in public forums would qualify for inclusion, I think. Child psychologists may well have some say in what effect Sesame Street has had on childhood development. The good folks at the Children's Television Workshop might even have some suggestions about what they felt were important episodes.

I've found a few links that suggest what the producers intended for the show:
 * Sesame Street researcher discusses Elmo
 * Web page on future of Sesame Street
 * from which: "Sesame Street, begun in 1968 as an experiment in preparing underprivileged children for school. . ."

A few tight paragraphs exploring the impact of Sesame Street would suffice, I think. Digging up some external links for further study would also help. --Rethunk


 * Complete is literally impossible, without someone visiting the Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop) and watching the first, undocumented 3000 hours. However-- lots of skits run continuously for years, and multiple viewing generations see them. Should those skits be listed, organized by character(s) and/or in cases without Muppets, educational themes or decade of first showing? Zanimum

I've posted a chunk on Snuffy and child molesting, etc. so if anyone can proof this, the paragraph needs some work, definetly. Tommorrow I'll post more topics. Zanimum


 * This is a most interesting tale, and clearly relevant to the topic. It definitely belongs in the article, particularly if it can be placed in with other noteworthy plots or topics the show has tackled over the years.  However, I do have some criticisms and intend to do some editing.


 * Firstly, do you have a reference for this stuff, so that we can check the factual accuracy of the account?


 * Secondly, your presentation, whilst colourful, is clearly not NPOV, and is prone to unattributed speculation. Unattribute speculation on such an obscure topic is generally not encyclopedic.  --Robert Merkel

Well, it's in Sesame Street Unpaved, the Bible of the show to most fans. It's an authorized book with snippets from all points throughout the show's history. Check your local library, because you couldn't find it in a book store anymore, it's out of print. Thanks for the rewrite BTW. Zanimum

I know this puppet theft incident sounds terribly farfetched, especially Snuffy's plea, but this was in The Toronto Sunday Sun's week in history column just a few days ago. I have never heard about this before, but this is when I tuned out Sesame Street for a while, as "I'm a big kid now." Now that I'm 16, not just 10, I love the show even more than before, and don't let a news article slip me by. Anyway, the Sun chain of paper, though sometimes silly and short sighted in their coverage don't make things up, so they must have had this story in their paper back 7 years ago. Zanimum

Found an old site with a reference. http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/issues/v71/n45/ups.45v.html

How does one edit this table of contents? It doesn't show up in the function area, or history. - user:zanimum


 * It's automatically generated from section headings ( ==Primary Characters==, ===Primary Puppet Characters=== , and so on). See Section for more information. &mdash;Paul A 01:20, 1 Aug 2003 (UTC)

The Bert parody site linked in the article is a mirror of a site the author wished to discontinue. I removed the link. -- Logotu (see http://www.fractalcow.com/bert/ )
 * So? It's of relative historical importance. -- user:Zanimum
 * Maybe in an article on the Bert is Evil phenomenon rather thatn the Sesame Street article? {Shrug} - Logotu
 * Or you could just revert it - Logotu
 * I've given more prominence to the article Bert is Evil, and taken away the actual mirror site's link. -- user:Zanimum

Kermit the Frog is listed on this page. Did he really play in Sesame Street? Guaka 23:37, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Oops, already found the answer on Kermit the Frog :) Guaka 23:38, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Keeping this off the page for now, barely fair use, where did it come from, yada, yada, yada.

Sesame Street

 * My pet, I think it's pretty good. --  user:zanimum 02:00, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * Oppose. Mostly good article. Two points. One: Get rid of the word 'edutainment' in the opening paragraph - it's ugly, links into a stub and screams 'this article is for Americans only', which it shouldn't be even though it's about a US programme. (It's also duplicating what's in 'History of the show', it doesn't seem so bad there.) Two: The dead-end linked characters (particularly the secondary ones) could do with some pruning (or writing up if they actually are interesting). If those two (small) things one thing are is changed, I'll alter my vote to 'support'. Jongarrettuk 18:35, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * How does the quality of a linked to article effect the quality of a candidate? I'll get on to the characters, but as a comparison, Belgium has redlinks to its people within the main article, yet it's featured. -- user:zanimum
 * It just looks like too long a list. I admit it's a bit niggly. To be honest, I'd probably change to support if only my first concern was addressed. Lists not perfect, but look ok enough to me now for me to withdraw this part of my objection. Jongarrettuk 00:41, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Fully support, if you shift the "History of the Show" to towards the top of the article. Great article! Incidently, I like the "edutainment" word in the lead section. - Ta bu shi da yu 08:06, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Support now, my objections having been met. Filiocht 12:33, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC) Object for now. The lead section is a bit short and there are no references. Also too many lists, I think the minor puppers and humans migh be left out at no great loss. FYI, the US version was on both British and Irish TV for years. Filiocht 08:18, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Object. Request to post this on Peer review first. Some issues: 1) No references. 2) Images should have captions (and sources for some images are a bit vague). If possible, the screen captures should be replaced with better images. 3) The list of characters should be dropped to List of Sesame Street characters, and replaced by a brief discussion of all the characters now listed under "Primary Puppet Characters". 4) See also lists and random facts seem to be inserted at various places in the articles. These need to be grouped together, unless such a see also belongs to a certain section (such as the list of characters). 4) The broadcast history and Regional variations of the show sections both tell the same story, but of different countries. 5) There needs to be a history section. Jim Henson is mentioned only twice, briefly. 6) A section such as "controversy" seems a bit out of place. It seems to imply there have been several controversies, but only one is discussed. If there have been more: discuss them, if not: include it in the history section if deemed relevant enough. 7) Is there info on viewing numbers? Are they growing/stable/declining after 35 years? And internationally? Jeronimo 09:57, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Object at the moment. The section with links to character lists is messy and there's a lot more to be said about merchandising. I'm happy to support this otherwise. [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|(talk)]] 08:31, Oct 1, 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. Would be good to make the photo captions full sentences (cf. House style), however. Mpolo 09:25, Oct 2, 2004 (UTC)


 * NOTES: References have been added. Nielsen Ratings have been added. Characters have been abbreviated and clustered. Broadcast history adjusted. Non-screen capture images added. History moved. However, edutainment is the hot term for this sort of thing, and has been since the mid-1990s, at least. Ugly word of not, it's educational entertainment. --  user:zanimum
 * Love your work :-) - Ta bu shi da yu 08:22, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Still object to 'edutainment' as it's too American and so screams 'this article is for Americans only', whereas featured articles should be for a world audience Jongarrettuk 16:08, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Are you say the term is not used in countries other than America, or are you saying the edutainment page only has American examples? Within America, Thomson Learning and Prentice Hall textbooks, and Princeton U all use the term. Hong Kong Baptist University (Department of Computer Science) site, within the Hong Kong Education City site uses the term. [resources.ed.gov.hk/com-lit/it01/glossary_link.htm] The British edition of Macworld [www.macworldextra.co.uk/showme_ browse_results.lasso?caturn=20117] and the British Hutchinson Encyclopedia (used at an ISP site named Tiscali [www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/ dictionaries/computers/data/m0045464.html]). Actually, the first result for edutainment in an international Google search comes up with the relatively irrelevant Surf Stallion Image Gallery, from Australia.
 * Within the realm of television, a search for "edutainment+TV": #2 is from Singapore, #7 from Israel, #10 from Finland. #9, although the site is hosted in the US, is a UNICEF conference in South Africa. -- user:zanimum


 * I wasn't going to comment more, but zanimum has requested I do, so I shall. When I first read the article, the word 'edutainment' in the lead sentence stood out to me as unusual - it is a recently coined portmanteau word, and whilst no doubt used in the TV industry and TV guides in the UK and in other countries, it is hardly common - it also screams out 'Americanism' (and by this I never meant to imply that the word is only used in America-n I know full well it is used in the UK, though not often :) ). Put simply, the phrasing you use in the first paragraph distracted me, nearly putting me off reading the remainder. Which is a shame as the rest of the article is very good. Because having that word so early on put me off the article, I oppose it becoming a featured article. May I propose a different construction along the lines of: 'Sesame Street is a television program which led the way for many of the modern shows for young children that combine education with entertainment.' Jongarrettuk 18:08, 5 Oct 2004 (UTC)

"Hey food", Cookie Monster, Kevin Clash, Jerry Nelson "I could have counted all night" Count, Countess

Failed FAC nomination
I'm relisting this semi-self nomination, which was delisted somewhat prematurely in its first run through. I find the article to be concise and NPOV, and it itself tries to explain the show's importance, rather than specific segments and characters, which while important, are segregated into their own article.

The older nomination is listed at Featured article candidates/Archived nominations/Index/October 2004, and the appropriate talk page can be visited for further discussion, post nomination period.

Notes on changes since first listing: I made moves and merges of various sections, added references and captions, eliminated lesser human characters, and discussed ratings. The article, despite claims, is as international as it needs to be, as it leads to existing articles on many element of international versions of the show. I even eliminated the term edutainment, much to my personal dismay, to reflect a less term-saavy world. Sesame Street was simultaneously listed on Peer Review, and still is, albeit no suggestions.

-- user:zanimum


 * Support., but can you expand the merchandising section a bit? Zerbey 02:53, 26 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. Mpolo 18:30, Oct 18, 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm again objecting to this article after re-reading it since the last nomination. Some of my original objections remain. 1) Many of the characters from the show are very famous, and need more text than just a link. E.g.: Bert & Ernie, Grover, Oscar, Elmo, etc. In addition, a more "typical" sketches could be discussed than the few in Overview. This article is about a tv show, so it should tell what the show shows. 2) The international section may point to several articles about the "regional" versions (an incorrect term, since Canada is not a region of the US), but it is inconsistent (some have years listed, some channels, others don't) and at least needs some more accompanying text than this. You might tell that some of the sketches are copied with voice-overs, while others have completely new characters and are original. Also, there are apparently 23 versions, why only list these? Because these are the longest-running? If so, note this. 3) The trivia section has only one sentence. Merge this section or add more content. Several other sections are also short and shot4) The lead section mentions Jim Henson, and his muppets/puppets play a big role in Sesame Street. Yet he is not at all mentioned in the article. 5) The history section should at least mention the first airing of the show, nor its founders (such as Joan Ganz Cooney). 6) The controversy section is not particularly interesting for the topic in general, and it would seem only interesting as a part of the History of Sesame Street article. I suppose it was added in the time when this topic was in the news, but it's not big enough to be part of the article. Jeronimo 06:55, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)


 * Oppose. Untidy and less readable than it might be. Sorry. jengod 21:08, Oct 19, 2004 (UTC)


 * Oppose. As well as some of the objections above, this article's first image doesn't seem quite right for an article on Sesame Street. A group shot of the various characters from the show would be much more effective, even if it was just a screen grab. -- [[User:Bobdoe| Bob Doe ]] 23:34, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)


 * Note: I'm working on some of the above objections; the above complaint however, I don't know what to do about. On talk:Sesame Street, there's a current cast photo. However, I'd rather not use press shots like this, as I question the extent to which fair use is okay. Comments on this? -- user:zanimum
 * Support Dysprosia 06:07, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Support jguk 18:12, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Support: my original objections were met. Filiocht 07:35, Oct 26, 2004 (UTC)

Public domain images
There is a Public Domain picture of the Arabic Sesame Street here: http://www.usaid.gov/stories/egypt/ss_egypt1.html

And there's a Public Domain picture of Elmo testifying before Congress here: http://www.house.gov/cunningham/Press_Releases/elmo_duke_23april02.htm

Are either of these worth putting in the article? – Quadell (talk) (help)  20:23, Nov 10, 2004 (UTC)

Links to the locale versions of "Sesame Street" entry
I realized that there is the corresponding entry for Sesame Street in the Spanish wikipedia, but the link in category "Regional variations of the show" didn't point to the correct page. I've changed the link "Barrio Sésamo" to ":es:Barrio Sésamo|Barrio Sésamo", to select the correct entry. I would like to know if other localized versions have the same problem. Thanks!
 * Since Barrio is a seperate program, we give it a seperate page on the English Wikipedia. I hope eventually es will have both an article on the American Sesame Street, as well as Barrio. --  user:zanimum

To include somehow, but this is off fact
as they are apparently adult human males portrayed sharing a bed. The programme-makers vehemently deny this, however, insisting that the characters are asexual puppets. The pair's relationship bears similiarity with that of Laurel and Hardy, who were also occasionally shown sleeping together; this became such a comedy staple as to be adopted by Morecambe and Wise in the 1970s, all of whom were similarly asexual.

Guest stars
I would like to see more about the guest stars that have appeared, such as Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, etc ... (can't think of anymore right now...). Bruce 18:15, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Hi Bruce... check out List of celebrity guest stars on Sesame Street. --  user:zanimum

Old peer review

 * Sesame Street

A pet article of mine, I submitted as a FAC in September, and it was knocked down, submitted it for peer review in October, no response. Anyone have any suggestions? -- user:zanimum 27 March 2005.

I'm a fan of Sesame Street, and even more of the Muppet Show, so your peer review request enticed me to have a good look. I see that many of the recommendations of the previous FAC and PR have been carried out, such as references and captions to pictures, and notably a tone-down on the Americanism. That is good.
 * What I personally noted is that it doesn't mention a lot of the other-language Sesame Street shows. They are (often stubs) on separate pages. Could more material of those pages (or even the whole pages) be included in this world-wide focussed Sesame Street wikipage?
 * I was planning to eventually create that as "Sesame Street internationally", linked to in the article as "Locally produced adaptations". -- user:zanimum
 * Three important pieces of information (History of Sesame Street, List of Sesame Street characters, and another) are only touched upon in a short section, and referred to. Would it be good to include more material from those pages, so to put more flesh on those meagre sections?
 * I think the amount of Sesame Street characters on the main Sesame page is fine, any more would be cluttersome. However, I do see your point about more history on the main page. --  user:zanimum
 * There are quite a lot of red links to sort out. Wim van Dorst 20:26, 2005 Mar 27 (UTC)
 * I would eliminate some of the links in the pictures; that deals with red links. Also, maybe all of the characters should have a page, which would further get rid of the empty links. Bratsche talk  random 21:35, Apr 17, 2005 (UTC)

Elmo's Effect on the Series
Just passing through, learning about Seasame Street, I noticed that the section "Elmo's Effect on the series" is extremely POV -- the section essentially accuses Elmo (and a human actress) of ruining the show after Henson's death. I know little about Sesame Street -- could someone clean this up? As it is, the slantedness and obvious bias of the section is embarassing. &mdash; Adam Conover &dagger; 05:30, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Agreed. I can see where the writers are coming from, but they never really get at the issue. --Madchester 05:34, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Yes, the whole section was added by an anon with a vandetta against the furry red monster. Surprisingly there was little problem with this highly POV section in the recent/current Peer Review. I have worked on it already, but I'll continue to hack away at it. --  user:zanimum


 * I don't think it can be rescued. It's possible that the article might benefit from a section on "Elmo's effect on the series", but if so, I think that that section would be less like the section that is there now than it would be like an empty section.  So I have moved things along by replacing the section we have now with an empty section. -- Dominus 13:23, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

imdb Trivia, to be edited into appropriate articles

 * The left-side door in the front of 123 Sesame Street has never been opened. Once when Big Bird tried to get Snuffy into the building, he explained that he couldn't open that door because "it was locked" when it turned out Snuffy couldn't fit through just one door.
 * Some old Bert and Ernie skits showed Ernie having his own bedroom instead of sharing a bedroom with Bert.
 * Susan and Gordon never had a last name until the mid-90s when they adopted a child. They chose the name "Robinson", after Matt Robinson, who was the first actor to play Gordon in the show.
 * Big Bird almost never got Mr. Hooper's last name correct during his entire stay on the show. He often called him Mr. Looper, among other words that rhymed.
 * Rosita originally appeared on "Plaza Sésamo" (1973), the Spanish version of Sesame Street. When she joined the cast of the original English version, she became first regular bilingual Muppet on Sesame Street.
 * Linda (Linda Bove) was the first deaf regular character on television.
 * Originally, the intention was that the Muppets and the human actors should be kept strictly separate in different sequences. However, the producers learned that the audiences were focusing their attention on the Muppets and ignoring the actors. In response, they had the actors and Muppets begin to interact in new scenes and created special Muppets primarily designed for actors to work with, namely Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.
 * After the untimely death of Jim Henson in 1990, Kermit the Frog was retired from the show. Kermit appeared only in reruns of old sketches, until 1998 when he popped up to do one more Sesame Street News Flash when Oscar the Grouch's pet worm Slimy went into space. Kermit was voiced by Steve Whitmire, who has also assumed the role of Ernie since Henson's passing.
 * Unfortunately, some classic Muppets have been canned over the years for interesting reasons. Don Music, the piano player who would bang his head against the piano in frustration, had to be discontinued when kids at home started doing the same. Harvey Kneeslapper was hung up because his signature laugh was too much of a strain on Frank Oz's vocal cords. Roosevelt Franklin, arguably one of the first breakthrough Sesame Street Muppets, had to go as he was considered to be a negative cultural stereotype. (He was the only African-American Muppet at the time, and was seen mostly in detention after school.) Some of these "banned" segments continued to air on the Canadian version for some time after they were removed from the US show.
 * In 2002, producers of an African version of "Sesame Street" announced they were adding an HIV Muppet to the series to address the growing number of people (including children) with the virus in that part of the world. The producers of the original US series indicated they were considering doing the same thing.
 * In 1993, the original set was expanded to include new areas located "just around the corner" from Big Bird's nest which had previously marked the end of Sesame Street's world. Among these areas was a store initially run by a character played by Ruth Buzzi. The series format was intended to simulate the commercial-filled world of TV which kids are exposed to, with a main plotline being interrupted by frequent "commercials" and simulated TV programs. The show also made extensive use of the "reruns" concept by replaying popular segments over and over, intermixed with new material. As a result, children viewing the show in 2002 will still see the occasional segment that was originally created for the series when their parents were still children! Many songs written for the series are now considered standards. These include "Sing," "Being Green," "Rubber Duckie," "C is for Cookie" as well as the show's theme song.
 * The character of Oscar the Grouch was inspired by two people. His attitude comes from a nasty waiter that served Jim Henson and former director Jon Stone at a restaurant called Oscar's Tavern in Manhattan. The voice was inspired by a cab-driver that used to drive Carroll Spinney to the set every day during the first season.
 * Originally designed for inner-city Hispanic children, to help them formulate phrases in English.
 * On the death of actor Will Lee, who played neighborhood grocer Mr. (Harold) Hooper, the production staff decided not to replace him with another actor; instead they wrote a special episode dealing with the loss of a loved one ("Goodbye, Mr. Hooper"). In a scene where the other cast members are talking to Big Bird about the death of someone you love, they were apparently still grieving the loss of Will Lee, since they were visibly near to tears.
 * After it was decided to have the character of Mr. Hooper die after the death of actor Will Lee (rather than re-cast the role or simply write out his character), a child psychologist was brought in to help the writers. The show where his character's death was announced was scheduled for a public holiday and was publicized in many newspapers (so parents could be present to answer any questions their children might have). It was also seen as important not to say that Mr. Hooper died in hospital as it was seen as potentially making children scared of going to a hospital.
 * According to "Guinness World Records 2004", the show holds the record for "Most Popular Children's Educational Program", having been shown in 180 countries.
 * In February 2004, Disney purchased The Muppets and Bear In The Big Blue House franchises from The Jim Henson Company. The deal included characters such as Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Gonzo. Sesame Street characters such as Big Bird and Elmo are not included, as they are owned separately by the Sesame Workshop.
 * Mr. Hooper's first name is Harold. It wasn't revealed until Episode #871: "Mr Hooper Gets His Diploma", aired March 15, 1976.
 * In 2004 Cookie Monster revealed that, before trying cookies for the first time, his name was Sid.

Featured in
Where's Poppa? (1970)   Being There (1979) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Testament (1983) Learning About Letters (1986) (V) Learning About Numbers (1986) (V) The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years (1986) (TV) Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting (1989) (TV) Jack the Bear (1993) Forrest Gump (1994) A&E Biography: Close-Up - Sesame Street (2001) (TV) The 100 Greatest Kids TV Shows (2001) (TV) I Love Muppets (2002) (TV) TV Guide 50 Best Shows of All Time: A 50th Anniversary Celebration (2002) (TV) "I Love the '70s" (2003) (mini) Ray (2004/I) Meet the Fockers (2004)

Spin off
"The Muppet Show" (1976) Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978) (TV) A Special Sesame Street Christmas (1978) (TV) Sesame Street in Puerto Rico (1979) (TV) Big Bird in China (1983) (TV) Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird (1985) Learning About Letters (1986) (V) Learning About Numbers (1986) (V) "Shalom Sesame" (1987) The Adventures of Super Grover (1987) (TV) Count It Higher: Great Music Videos From Sesame Street (1988) (V) Sesame Street Special (1988) (TV) Big Bird in Japan (1991) (TV) The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999) "Play with Me Sesame" (2002) Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On (2004) (TV) Followed by   Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1983) (TV) Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street (1987) (TV) Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting (1989) (TV) "The Jim Henson Hour" (1989) "Dog City" (1993) Sesame Street Stays Up Late! (1993) (TV) Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration (1994) (TV) All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! (1994) (TV) Elmo Saves Christmas (1996) (V) "Muppets Tonight" (1996) Muppets From Space (1999) It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) (TV) The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005) (TV) Alternate language version of   "Vila Sésamo" (1972) "Ôpun sesamei" (1972) "Plaza Sésamo" (1973) "Sesamstraße" (1973) "Sesamstraat" (1976) "Barrio Sésamo" (1979) "Iftah ya simsim" (1982) "Rechov Sumsum" (1983) "Shalom Sesame" (1987) "Zhima jie" (1998) "Takalani Sesame" (2000) Spoofed in   The Pest (1997) Nickelodeon Presents the Fairly OddParents in: Channel Chasers (2004) (TV)


 * 1) Beginning in 1973, Canadian broadcasts of "Sesame Street" substituted segments about Hispanic culture and Spanish language with Canadian-made segments about Canadian history, Aboriginal peoples and the French language. This practise continued until the mid-1990s when the CBC network actually cancelled "Sesame Street" in favor of a 100% Canadian version called "Sesame Park."


 * 1) The Canadian broadcasts also used different opening and closing credits, and beginning in the mid-1980s, the series title was changed to "Canadian Sesame Street" due to widespread broadcasting of the American version in Canada via cable TV.


 * 1) The New Zealand broadcasts of Sesame Street have the Spanish segments replaced with segments about New Zealand Maori.


 * 1) In the USA, Spanish channels air a Spanish version called "Plaza Sesamo" which includes a number of Spanish muppets.


 * 1) Aside from those listed above, many other countries have created their own versions of "Sesame Street" over the years, with some using overdubbed footage from the US edition, and others being completely original programs.


 * 1) Starting in 2002, the show's format was changed completely. A new opening was added and the old segments that did musical fun with numbers and words were practically all removed to make room for segments featuring The Count finding out the number of the day, Cookie Monster finding out the letter of the day, a Journey to Ernie game, and Monster Clubhouse.


 * 1) Starting in 2003, the show's segments have been slightly altered: New music in the opening along with a few new scenes; Monster Time has been discontinued but the Monster Clubhouse gang still turns up from time to time; The show opens with a one-part Sesame Story; Next The Count finds the number of the day, then several classic and new animated sequences air, then Journey to Ernie which has changed; A classic or new Bert and Ernie sketch; then a new segment called Global Grover in which Grover teaches us of different cultures the world over; Next is Global Thingy, an animated look at life around the world; Then, Cookie Monster and the word of the day; Spanish Word of the Day, then Elmo's World; Now, the ending of the show has been fitted to incorporate end credits. In the past, end credits only showed if the show wrapped up a few minutes early.


 * 1) In 1970, an experimental edit of the show, entitled "This Way to Sesame Street", was briefly syndicated. It featured programs that were edited to include slightly different opening credits and paid commercials and was offered to commercial TV stations as a means of cashing in on the show's success. The project was scrapped after several weeks, and full effort was placed on the non-commercial version of the program.

Ratings
The information given under this heading is antiquated and should be updated to reflect a more current history. --RogerK 04:51, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Sadly, search as I might, Nielsen doesn't seem to have been quoted anywhere on the web, about Sesame Street's ratings, in the last few years. --  user:zanimum

What about the great interactive website - sesameworkshop.org?
There is nothing here that talks about the online interactive website - sesameworkshop.org. From the age of 2, my son has been playing games, listening to stories and learning lots of new skills. Now age 4, he can log onto the site on his own and maneuver through the entire site (as well as many of his other favorites) even though he cannot read!
 * I've put up a bit. --  user:zanimum

Old Sketches?
I see that there's already been some talk about listing old/discontinued sketches. Can we at least add links to those sketches which have their own Wikipedia entries? Just a suggestion. SilentP 06:24, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Do any of them do? I think besides the list of songs and episode list, we shouldn't dig too deep, let Muppet Wikia do it. --  Zanimum 15:28, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Found something interesting
Take at look at these links;
 * http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=142610
 * http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO20015/
 * http://www.wcsh6.com/news/regional/article.aspx?storyid=35761

Should these be included in the article?Storm05 18:03, 25 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Someone added content on this to the article, I moved it to Pop culture influenced by Sesame Street. --  Zanimum 15:17, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Inigo Pipkin
discussion moved on talk page

I know this discussion is several years old, but I think it's important to say that Sesame Street was not the first children's show ever to cover a character's death. In 1973, a UK show called Inigo Pipkin had the actor who played the lead character die (George Woodbridge), and this was worked into the programme at the start of the third series in 1974. BillyH 18:15, 25 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Wow, I didn't know that. For now, I've created a footnote from the reference to Mr. Hooper's death on this page. --  Zanimum 15:25, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Peer review== ==

Live view of peer review:

Extra pics to find homes for
Zanimum 16:04, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Image:TV_sesame_street_kitten-bird-cow.jpg - Gabriella Rodriguez, Elmo, and some kids sing the Kitten-Bird-Cow song, in front of 123 Sesame Street.
 * Image:KWHNM-2.jpg - Kermit the Frog trying to test the what-happens-next machine.


 * I removed the gallery. Those images are copyrighted and so we can't display them on a talk page.  Also, out of curiosity, why do these particular images need "homes"?  Powers 18:14, 20 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually, both already had homes other than this aritcle. --  Zanimum 16:04, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Live show
The article says: "Today there is a live touring show, Sesame Street Live, which has toured since 1980. The show's three productions will visit 150 cities in North America in the 2005/06 season, and will play abroad in Canada, Mexico, the Carribean, and the Netherlands." I'd suggest changing the wording of this. For one thing, it is already outdated -- the 2005-2006 season is basically done. Also, the list is incomplete -- we played Singapore during this season as well. Additionally, there were four productions out this year, and it's something that changes from year to year. I'd suggest a rewording that explains that multiple shows are presented around the world but is less time or location specific. Per WP:AUTO, I won't make these edits myself. kmccoy (talk) 20:58, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Videos
During the 1980s videos were distributed by Random House. Since the early 1990s their tapes (and now DVDs) have been distributed by Sony Wonder, as has their music. Many of the TV specials have been released on tape and/or DVD.


 * Sesame Street - Learning About Letters (1986, DVD on June 8, 2004)
 * Sesame Street's 25th Anniversary: A Musical Celebration (1993, DVD on August 31, 1999)
 * Elmo Saves Christmas (1996)
 * Sesame Street - Do the Alphabet (1996, DVD on November 9, 1999)
 * Sesame Street - The Best of Elmo (1996, DVD on November 20, 2001)
 * Sesame Street: Kid's Guide To Life: Telling The Truth, (28 January 1997) Included guest star Dennis Quaid, as the "uncle" of Telly Monster.
 * Sesame Street: Get Up And Dance (28 January 1997)
 * Sesame Street - 123 Count With Me (1997, DVD on December 7, 1999)
 * Elmopalooza (1999)
 * Sesame Street - Elmo's World - Happy Holidays (2000, DVD on September 16, 2003)
 * Sesame Street - Kids' Favorite Songs (DVD on November 20, 2001)
 * Three Bears and a New Baby (2003)
 * Sesame Street Songs - Dance Along! (DVD on March 11, 2003)
 * Sesame Street - What's the Name of That Song (DVD on April 6, 2004)
 * Sesame Street - The Street We Live On (DVD in 2004)

List of countries that aired the American version
Would it be a good idea to add a list of countries that aired the American version? --Edward Sandstig 01:14, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Not really. There's a couple hundred, and no public files show which ones were in English, which were dubbed. You could propose it on the muppet.wikia.com --  Zanimum 18:28, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Jumped the Shark
I am tempted to add "Most viewers believe the show jumped the shark when they turned 11." It makes me rofl :) Lovok 16:43, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
 * That's not funny. Plus, how do you explain the thousands upon thousands of people visiting Muppet website, buying adult-size Sesame t-shirts, etc? Also, most stop regularly watching at 6. --  Zanimum 19:59, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Number of episodes
A user had commented surprise at there being 4,109 episodes. Every opening sequence of Sesame Street has begun with a number; only recently (1990s) were publicly episodes given formal titles. These numbers primarily (I presume) are to help educators link episodes viewed with extra activities and discussion created by Sesame Workshop. -- Zanimum 14:38, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Reversion error regarding 1996 vs. 1994
In the process of reverting part of an edit by 203.12.147.98, I accidently reverted past this edit, which changed a year to 1994 (I am guessing I had already opened the editing window when the other edit was made). As I did not really have any knowledge regarding the accuracy of the edit, I decided to replace the 1994 date as a comment:. I will leave it up to the regular editors of this article to decide if the 1994 date is, in fact, more accurate.--GregRM 03:40, 21 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your help. After today is over I'll look over the article, see where 1994 was added. All I know currently is that the first published reference in research databases was for 1996, so I'm reverting. --  Zanimum 19:03, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Question from MrGospel
Umm guys im new here, not sure how to post and things, but i noticed this intro: Sesame Street is an American educational children's television serieswith a bunch of american twats who hate kids, like Barney, and who must do drugs in order to do this show! for preschoolers, and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. Sesame Street is well known for its Gay characters, created by Big Gay Al. More than 4,123 episodes of the show have been produced in 36 seasons, which makes it one of the longest-running television shows in history.

thats not right is it :\ its been vandilised? 'children's television serieswith a bunch of american twats who hate kids, like Barney, and who must do drugs in order to do this show!' 'Sesame Street is well known for its Gay characters, created by Big Gay Al. More than ' —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MrGospel (talk • contribs).
 * Yes, of course that's vandalism. We're sorry you had to see that when you came to read this featured article, but as you can imagine, they attract a lot of unwanted attention when they're displayed on the main Wikipedia home page.  I'm sure if you take another look, you'll find that the article has been fixed.  Thanks for using Wikipedia!  Powers T 13:15, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Funding for Sesame Street
This section needs to be re-written and augmented, as it previously stated that Sesame Street was funded by Pablo Escobar, the New World Order and various drug traffiking groups. For an featured article, Wikipedia should take greater care in garding its content and ensure that nothing has compromised the article's quality. Retroandi 13:38, 21 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Apologies for this piece of vandalism, it was reported moments after you read it. We constantly monitor changes to every article, especially high-traffic articles, and make any necessary revertions to previous versions. --  Zanimum 18:51, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

"One of the longest running series in history"
I think this was overstating the point. Yes, the show has been on the air for 37 years but it's far from being the longest-running series in history even as a daily since there are soap operas with 50 years on the air and programs like the Tonight Show and Today that have been running without interruption even longer. Therefore under "Be Bold" I changed it to read that it's one of the longest running children's series in history. 23skidoo 14:03, 21 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, in terms of seasons, it is the 10th longest running in Wikipedia's records... List of longest running U. S. television series. Solely among scripted series (bye bye Meet the Press, Face the Nation, 60 Minutes) it is one the 7th longest-running series in the US. And eliminating soaps, which are a breed of scripted programming to themselves, it is the second longest running in the US, only behind The Wonderful World of Disney. Considering it only faces competition in length from at max 10 programs, it's worth noting. Plus, I clarify in Overview that it's the longest running US kids series, second longest worldwide. --  Zanimum 18:57, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
 * WWoD has changed names and networks several times anyway; it's debatable whether it's the same program. Powers T 18:59, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Vandals
I think the first para has been vandalised, with words like 'porn' and 'beat the kids' have been added. Can something be done?203.187.250.244
 * Thanks for your concern. As Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, unfortunately vandals often strike. We generally clean up this sort of thing in 30 second or less after it happens. But again, thanks for your interest in our article's well-being! --  Zanimum 18:50, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

The line "A couple weeks ago Big Bird touched me in bad bad places" has apparently been added the the "History of Sesame Street" subsection, but it is added in a way that it doesnt appear when you try to directly edit the section (a hacked template maybe?) Hopefully it can be removed ASAP! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.93.113.94 (talk • contribs) 20:17, 21 August 2006  (UTC)
 * Looks like it's gone to me. Let me know if you still see it. -- Omicronpersei8 (talk) 20:20, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

The Kermit the Frog wikipedia article would seem to suggest that he is in fact a cast member.

A letter J emergency
I take issue with the sentence ending with "...at a time when words beginning with "J" were sparse," under the section titled "Criticism." I mean is there any proof there were less J'-words back then? If there is any source to cite that I'd be impressed. And do we actually know that David Connell was cognizant of the shortage of J-words? I mean did they do fund-raisers to improve the situation? Did it work?


 * For an animation on the letter "J", the writers included "a day in jail" at a time when words beginning with "J" were sparse. This drew criticism from San Francisco Chronicle columnist Terrence O'Flaherty, despite executive producer David Connell's assertion that kids are familiar with the word through shows like Batman and Superman.[29]


 * I've changed the wording now, with a quote from the book. I guess it was too mean "at a time in a child's life when their knowledge of J words were sparse". --  Zanimum 16:39, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Grover and image layout
Grover is my favourite Sesame Street character of all time, but the images seem a little Grover-heavy (he is in six of the 12 pictures, and two of them are from "A Celebration of Me, Grover"). Also, the article might look a little better if the images weren't all on the right-side. └ O z L a w y e r  / talk  ┐ 16:25, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

PROTECT THE PAGE
Someone protect the page please it's suffering form vandalsim!Themasterofwiki 13:43, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
 * You're looking for Requests for page protection. Powers T 14:38, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

image captions
These need to be cleaned up. I cleaned up some OR in two of them, but people need to realize they're captions..not places to put full sections of content that could be a paragraph unto themselves. They are not a place for speculation or original research.--Crossmr 05:00, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Snuffleupaguses spelling
There is an HTML comment about the spelling of Snuffleupaguses. What is the right spelling outside SS?? Georgia guy 13:59, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Number of episodes
In recent days, it has been common for editors to manually edit the number of episodes to the show. I suggest we remove the "number of episodes" from the infobox because it requires too much manual maintainence. Any objections?? Georgia guy 14:18, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Liam Neeson in Sesame Street
I used to remember Liam Neeson in Sesame Street. He was going to meet Count von Count because they were making a movie. All he has to do is count to 20 and do an evil laugh at the end. Once he has done that, the Count says that there's no rain coming on because it should rain at the end. Liam had a second try and it started to rain. The Count liked it so much, that he renamed it Counting in the Rain. While counting, Liam look very uncomfortable in the rain.This was kinda my favourite SS episode. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Roxy2k7 (talk • contribs) 08:25, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Renaming the "human" section
I feel "live actors" would be a better term for the "humans" section. thoughts? Oldag07 22:42, 14 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, within the world of Sesame Street, they're not actors, are they? I'm speaking as if you were immersed in the universe where monsters and pigs and bears live among us. And within the actual television production world, are the puppeteers not actors as well? --  Zanimum 14:18, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

NY Times article
NYT has a new article, "Sweeping the Clouds Away", for the release of the first seasons of Sesame Street, which apparently includes a warning "These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child." It also goes into some detail about its original target audience of the "4-year-old inner-city black youngster", which appears to be entirely missing from this article and its subpage. I'm not going to mess around with a featured article when I don't know the subject, but a regular editor may want to incorporate some of the early history. - BanyanTree 20:08, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Sesame Street on DVD
Two Peolpe I know said Earler ep of Sesame Street like 1969-1974, are non-rated for adult or material may not be suitable for young children like: Cookie Monster smoking a pipe, Oscar the Grouch with Anger Management--Brown Shoes22 (talk) 02:32, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Survey of Mothers
I removed this line:

In a national study of American mothers with children under age six, 64% responded that they strongly believe Sesame Street is a leader and innovator in educational methods.[7]

I don't object to the fact that SS is a "leader and innovator" -- I object to the relevance of such a survey to this section of the article. I think the "Research" section makes it clear that SS has taken the lead in using educators to inform programming content. Whether mothers across the country believe this is the case is not important.

If someone wants to quote an education expert or a notable elementary school teaching veteran about Sesame Street's innovation, that would contribute gravitas to the article. This quotation seems out of place. (And I won't even discuss the implied sexism of surveying exclusively mothers about kids TV.) Moishe Rosenbaum (talk) 15:30, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Re: my reverts of 12/19/07
I'm sorry to have reverted good-faith reverts! There was a vandalism which was missed, (this one [] ) and I couldn't revert it because of the intermediate edits--in other words, because of the revert which had already been done on subsequent vandalism. Hopefully this brings the article back to a neutral pre-vandalized state...sorry for any confusion Gladys j cortez (talk) 22:46, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

AFD for Sesame Street Closing Sequence?
Looks like a Sesame-related page is up for deletion at Articles for deletion/Sesame Street Closing Sequence There's some serious problems with trivia in the page, but is there any interest in salvaging parts to merge here or possibly to userify or send to the Muppet Wiki? I'd like to keep descriptions of the kinds of scenes and the kinds of instruments they used in the closing sequences. Squidfryerchef (talk) 17:29, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

T for toes
Does anyone recall this "T for toes" sketch. It's on you tube and supposedly it has this cult following of people who are into this sketch. I remember there being two different versions of this sketch as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.203.237.142 (talk) 17:04, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps, this sketch could be added to the Sesame Street wiki? Some screen shots of the sketch as well as some background on it.

On a side note, there were defintely two versions of this sketch. There was a later one which had differences and more toes in it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.148.243.131 (talk) 13:41, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Muppets vs. Monsters
There should be a distinction between muppets and monsters. Bert and Ernie are muppets, because they in large measure resemble humans. Elmo, Grover, and Cookie Monster, for examples, are monsters. Kind, loveable monsters, but nonetheless monsters. I always saw this as a theme. We always associate monsters with evil. But on Sesame Street, the monsters were generally kind and good-natured.--Lindsay (talk) 05:42, 8 April 2008 (UTC)  --Lindsay (talk) 05:43, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Updated Funding
I am going to update the Funding on the main page to make it more detailed. However I am not sure if this is correct so could someone tell me any corrections, that should me made, before I upload it.


 * Discovery Zone (1998-1999)
 * Looksmart Ltd. (1999-2001)
 * Toysmart.com (1999-2000)
 * Pfizer (1999-2002)
 * America Online (2000-2003)
 * Spaghetti-Os (2001-2003)
 * Quaker Oats (2003-2004)
 * McDonalds (2003-Present)
 * PNC (2003-2004)
 * Beaches (2004-Present)
 * Pampers (2005-2006)
 * Earth's Best Organic (2006-Present)
 * Everydaykidz (2006-Present)
 * New Balance (2006-Present) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gabrielboros100 (talk • contribs) 00:38, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Dispute JWR
cleaning up the rumours section I noticed this source:. I'm not terribly confident in this source. It is a web only publication, and there is no real talk about who is behind it, editorial oversight, fact checking, etc. Most of the links I find about this website are of the nature "this person also writes for this website".--Crossmr (talk) 04:27, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Series ending?
A user named Ylndgomez posted that the series was ending on November 3, 2008. I haven't seen it from any news source that the series is ending. So it's been deleted.