Sesame Street

Sesame Street is an American educational children's television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. more...

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Sesame Street is well known for its Muppet characters, created by the puppeteer Jim Henson. More than 4,134 episodes of the show (130 per season) have been produced in 36 seasons, which makes it one of the longest-running television shows in history.

Sesame Street is produced in the United States by non-profit organization Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), founded by Joan Ganz Cooney and Ralph Rogers. It premiered on November 10th, 1969, on the National Educational Television network, and later that year it was moved to NET's replacement, the Public Broadcasting Service.

With its positive influence, Sesame Street is the most highly regarded educational show for children in the world. No television series has matched its level of international recognition and success. The original series has been televised in 120 countries, and more than 20 international versions have been produced, not including dubbed versions. The series has received 109 Emmy Awards, more than any other television series. An estimated 75 million Americans have watched the series as children; millions more have watched around the world, as have their parents.

Overview

Sesame Street uses a combination of puppets, animation, and live actors to teach young children the basics of reading (letter and word recognition), mathematics (numbers, addition and subtraction), as well as geometric forms, and classification. Since the show's inception, other instructional goals have been basic life skills, such as how to cross the street safely, proper hygiene, healthy eating habits, and social skills.

The show displays a subtle sense of humour that has appealed to older viewers since it first premiered; this was devised as a means to encourage parents and older siblings to watch the series with younger children, thus becoming involved in the learning process, rather than having Sesame Street act as a babysitter. A number of parodies of popular culture appear, especially ones aimed at the Public Broadcasting Service, the network that broadcasts the show. For example, the recurring segment Monsterpiece Theatre once ran a sketch called "Me Claudius". Children viewing the show might enjoy watching Cookie Monster and the Muppets, while adults watching the same sequence may enjoy the spoof of the Masterpiece Theatre production of I, Claudius on PBS.

Several of the character names used on the program are puns or cultural references aimed at a slightly older audience, including Flo Bear (Flaubert), Sherlock Hemlock (a Sherlock Holmes parody), H. Ross Parrot (based on Reform Party founder H. Ross Perot), Dr. Feel based on Dr. Phil, Polly Darton (Dolly Parton), and a Jack Bauer Muppet in a parody of 24. Over two hundred notable personalities have made guest appearances on the show, beginning with Carol Burnett on the first episode, and ranging from performers like James Brown to political figures such as Kofi Annan. By making a show that not only educates and entertains kids, but also keeps parents entertained and involved in the educational process, the producers hope to inspire discussion about the concepts on the show.

Read more at Wikipedia.org