Sesame Street turns 40
Los Angeles (dpa) — It has won over 100 Emmys, been shown in more than 125 countries and on Tuesday it will celebrate a rare achievement in an age of ever-shifting tastes: Sesame Street will be 40 years old Tuesday.''Sesame Street is one of the five most influential television shows of all time,'' says popular culture professor Bob Thompson of Syracuse University. ''It had an enormous social influence as well as artistic. In fact there's nothing like it on the air to this day.''
The format of the show may have changed somewhat since that first historic broadcast on November 10, 1969, which itself was the result of extensive research that aimed to find the way of blending entertainment with education.
The goal was to give children and their parents an alternative to the fun but mindless fare of children's television back then, shows that were often filled with violent episodes and were primarily designed not to teach kids, but to sell them things.
Funded by grants from the Carnegie Institute and the federal government, the Children's Television Workshop used the latest knowledge of child development, psychology and preschool education to stimulate young viewers' minds, improve their letter recognition, math and problem-solving skills, and just as importantly teach them essential life skills needed to thrive in modern America.
More about the show and its cast here
One of the most memorable segments from Sesame Street, featuring Grover and John John:
