'Sesame Street' celebrates 40 years of sunny days
Walt Belcher
Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Entertainment
| |
|
The year was 1969. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. The Woodstock musical festival offered a summer of love and peace. "Easy Rider" was a hit in the movie theaters. "Monty Python" was getting started and "The Brady Bunch" debuted in primetime.
It also was the year that kids were first introduced to Big Bird, Kermit, Bert and Ernie, Oscar, Grover and Cookie Monster (the show's first Muppet characters).
Amazingly, 40 years later puppeteer Carroll Spinney, 75, is still bringing Big Bird to life with the enthusiasm, wonder and persona like that of a 6-year-old kid.
The first episode, on Nov. 10, 1969, was "sponsored by the letters W, S, and E and the numbers 2 and 3."
Since then, generations have learned numbers, letters and social skills - sharing, caring and tolerance - from this New-York based PBS staple that continues to educate and entertain.
Produced by the nonprofit Sesame Workshop, "Sesame Street" began at a time when there was very little educational children's programming on television.
Since its beginning it has appealed to adults as well as children.
"The show has always been written on two levels so that the parents as well as the children will be engaged," says executive producer Carol Lynn Parente.
"We're a fun show but we're also educating children and we knew from the start that the learning experience is better with parents and children watching together," she says. "Children may not understand the parodies and pop culture references that appeal to adults but there is plenty for them."
Parente, who has been with the show for more than 17 years, says "Sesame Street stays current because it is always evolving and keeping in touch with its audience.
"Today's children are more sophisticated; they have been exposed to a lot more media than previous generations," she adds. "The challenge is to keep producing a quality product with all the competition that is out there now."
With an amazing 122 Emmy Awards, the longest-running program in the history of children's television arrives on Tuesday with a new look, new format and new opening sequence.
First lady Michelle Obama will appear in the first episode, teaching about the benefits of planting a garden and healthy eating.
"We're continuing a tradition that started with Barbara Bush of the having the first lady as a guest," says Parente.
Other first ladies watched with their children. Obama herself grew up watching "Sesame Street" as a child, she notes.
Her appearance fits in with the show's new nature curriculum, "My World is Green & Growing." It is a two-year science initiative designed to build positive attitudes towards nature, deepen children's knowledge about the natural world and encourage respect and care for the environment.
The new season also includes more than 35 celebrity guests including actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Cameron Diaz, Hugh Jackman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Eva Longoria, Christina Applegate, Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear as well as comics Adam Sandler, Jimmy Fallon and Cedric the Entertainer.
There also will be new parodies including a one based on the AMC drama "Mad Men."
This season features the most recent Muppet addition Abby Cadabby in a recurring segment, "Abby's Flying Fairy School," a 3-D computer generated animated adventure.
Each segment, which urges preschoolers to work together to solve problems using critical thinking skills, follows Abby and her new friends - fairies, trolls and a gerbilcorn called Niblet - as they attend Fairy School with Ms. Sparklenose.
Also commemorating the 40th anniversary is a new DVD "Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days," a two-disc compilation featuring classic stories, songs, Muppet moments and celebrity segments.
And a new illustrated behind-the-scenes, coffee-table book, "A Celebration: 40 Years of Life on the Street" (Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers), has been being published. It looks back at the 40 years of the actors, hosts, puppets, songs and scripts from the program.
Bob McGrath, who has played himself on the show since the first episode, says the show remains relevant because it is the most well-researched show in television history.
"We have great writers and a great research staff and directors and cast," he says. "And the cast is really like a real family. Nothing is taken for granted from one year to the next. It's been an incredible 40 years."
Be the first to comment on this story