Sesame Street, the children's television show dedicated to education and entertainment, is officially middle-aged. The show celebrated its 40th anniversary on Tuesday, and has aired 4,187 episodes since its premiere on Nov. 10, 1969.
Sesame Street is produced by Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop), which has taken a novel approach to children's programming since it was founded by Ralph Rogers and Joan Ganz Cooney. Both were pioneers of the idea that television could be used for educational purposes.
From the beginning Sesame Street has used a blend of animation, puppetry and live action to deliver short skits and stories that relate to the theme of the episode. The theme is comprised of a character-driven plot interspersed with vignettes illustrating one or more educational concepts.
Each episode is generally "sponsored" by certain letters and numbers which have featured prominently in the content of that show.
The aesthetic is colorful and visually stimulating, part of a strategy for holding the attention of very young children, but this captivating quality is also useful for drawing in another target audience: parents. Sesame Street is one of the few children's shows that also incorporates content meant for older audiences.
Puppets often participate in skits that are actually spoofs of other television shows, like game shows or soap operas, and many plots involve current sociopolitical issues, such as immigration, racism and the economy. Young children watch Sesame Street for its surface content, but they can also grow with Sesame Street as they begin to understand some of its underlying commentary.
One classic musical number features Grover, Herry Monster and Cookie Monster singing a song about the fact that they are all "fuzzy and blue". After a few verses, Frazzle, who speaks in a monster language that the viewer does not understand, enters the scene and demands to be included in the number.
Grover comments indignantly, "Frazzle, you are not fuzzy and blue, you are fuzzy and orange." But Frazzle perseveres until he is allowed to participate and the lyrics of the song are changed to "fuzzy and blue and orange". At the end of the skit the bluemonsters seem happy that they decided to include Frazzle in what is now a barbershop quartet (complete with hats and canes).
Sesame Street is especially appealing to today's parents because many of them grew up with it themselves. Though some characters have left the show and others have been added, the primary muppet cast is still recognizable to a viewer from any of the last four decades.
One tradition Sesame Street has maintained throughout its tenure is that of discussing tough issues during normal episodes that are otherwise uneventful. These issues range from death (most notably the death of the beloved character Mr. Hooper, which was explained to Big Bird in episode 1839) to even more abstract feelings.
In one song, entitled "What Do I Do When I'm Alone?", Grover describes feeling sad and lonely, but says, "sometimes when I am all alone, I think of how happy I would be if I wasn't alone and you were here with me." Melancholy songs or skits are generally followed by content that is more upbeat.
In the last 40 years, Sesame Street has gone from being a slightly goofy children's show to being a pop-culture icon. Though times have changed, it remains current and relevant because it teaches children everything from practical lessons ("It's hard to play a saxophone with something in your hand") to universal values.
In one song containing great insight, Ernie sings, "Though I'd like to look down at the earth from above, I would miss all the places and people I love, so although I might like it for one afternoon, I don't want to live on the moon."
