Sesame Street is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action,sketch comedy,animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop and was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. It is known for its images communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets,and includes short films,with humor and cultural references. It premiered on November 10,1969,to positive reviews,some controversy,and high viewership. It has aired on the United States national public television provider PBS since its debut,with its first run moving to premium channel HBO on January 16,2016,then its sister streaming service Max in 2020.
Sesame Workshop,Inc. (SW),originally known as the Children's Television Workshop,Inc. (CTW),is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-known,Sesame Street—that have been televised internationally. Television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and foundation executive Lloyd Morrisett developed the idea to form an organization to produce Sesame Street,a television series which would help children,especially those from low-income families,prepare for school. They spent two years,from 1966 to 1968,researching,developing,and raising money for the new series. Cooney was named as the Workshop's first executive director,which was termed "one of the most important television developments of the decade."
The preschool educational television program Sesame Street was first aired on public television stations on November 10,1969,and reached its 54th season in 2023. The history of Sesame Street has reflected changing attitudes to developmental psychology,early childhood education,and cultural diversity. Featuring Jim Henson's Muppets,animation,live shorts,humor and celebrity appearances,it was the first television program of its kind to base its content and production values on laboratory and formative research,and the first to include a curriculum "detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes". Initial responses to the show included adulatory reviews,some controversy and high ratings. By its 40th anniversary in 2009,Sesame Street was broadcast in over 120 countries,and 20 independent international versions had been produced. It has won eleven Grammys and over 150 Emmys in its history—more than any other children's show.
Joan Ganz Cooney is an American television writer and producer. She is one of the founders of Sesame Workshop,the organization famous for the creation of the children's television show Sesame Street,which was also co-created by her. Cooney grew up in Phoenix and earned a Bachelor of Arts in education from the University of Arizona in 1951. After working for the State Department in Washington,D.C.,and as a journalist in Phoenix,she worked as a publicist for television and production companies in New York City. In 1961,she became interested in working for educational television,and became a documentary producer for New York's first educational TV station WNET. Many of the programs she produced won local Emmys.
David Lawrence Westin is anchor of Bloomberg Wall Street Week on Bloomberg Television. Previously,he was an anchor on Bloomberg Balance of Power,Bloomberg Daybreak Americas and Bloomberg GO which Daybreak replaced. He has anchored for Bloomberg since 2015. From 2014 to 2015,he was principal of Witherbee Holdings,LLC,advising and investing in media companies. He was the president and CEO of NewsRight from 2011 to 2012.
Sesame Beginnings is a line of products and a video series,spun off from the children's television series Sesame Street,featuring baby versions of the characters. The line is targeted towards infants and their parents,and products are designed to increase family interactivity.
Jacqueline Novogratz is an American entrepreneur and author. She is the founder and CEO of Acumen,a nonprofit global venture capital fund whose goal is to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty.
Jon Arthur Stone was an American writer,director,and producer who was best known as an original crewmember on the children's television show Sesame Street and is credited with helping to develop characters such as Cookie Monster,Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. Stone won 18 television Emmy Awards. Many regard him as among the best children's television writers.
David Connell was the original executive producer for Sesame Street,and Children's Television Workshop's vice-president in charge of production. Connell,who had been a producer for the CBS children's program Captain Kangaroo,played a key role in establishing the basic format of the "street" skits. He was also the principal creative behind The Man from Alphabet,a series of live action skits starring Gary Owens which failed in child tests and were never aired on Sesame Street. Connell received his B.A. in 1955 and his M.A. in 1956,both from the University of Michigan.
Sesame Street international co-productions are adaptations of the American educational children's television series Sesame Street but tailored to the countries in which they are produced. Shortly after the debut of Sesame Street in the United States in 1969,television producers,teachers,and officials of several countries approached the show's producers and the executives of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW),renamed Sesame Workshop (SW) in 2000,about the possibility of airing international versions of Sesame Street. Creator Joan Ganz Cooney hired former CBS executive Michael Dann to field offers to produce versions of the show in other countries.
The U.S. Fund for UNICEF,doing business as UNICEF USA,is a non-profit,non-governmental organization (NGO) in the United States that supports the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Founded in 1947 by Helenka Pantaleoni,it is the oldest of the 36 UNICEF National Committees that support UNICEF worldwide through fundraising,advocacy and education. Since its inception,the U.S. Fund has provided UNICEF and various NGOs with $6.3 billion in cash and gifts-in-kind.
Street Gang:The Complete History of Sesame Street is a non-fiction book chronicling the history of the children's television program Sesame Street. Street Gang is journalist and writer Michael Davis's first book,published by Viking Press in 2008. On bookshelves in time for the show's 40th anniversary in 2009,the book developed out of a TV Guide article Davis wrote to commemorate the show's 35th anniversary in 2004. Davis spent five years researching and writing the book,and conducted hundreds of interviews with the show's creators,cast,and crew.
Lloyd Newton Morrisett Jr. was an American experimental psychologist with a career in education,communications,and philanthropy. He was one of the founders of the Children's Television Workshop,the organization that created the children's television show Sesame Street,which Morrisett created with Joan Ganz Cooney.
Children and Television:Lessons from Sesame Street (1974) is a non-fiction book written by Gerald S. Lesser,in which he describes the production of Sesame Street,and the formation and pedagogical philosophy of the Children's Television Workshop. Lesser was a professor at Harvard University,studying how social class and ethnicity interacted with school achievement and was one of the first academics in the US who researched how watching television affected children and their development. He was initially skeptical about the potential of using television as a teaching tool,but he was eventually named as the advisory board chairman of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW),the organization created to oversee the production and research of Sesame Street,and was the show's first educational director. Lesser wrote the book early in Sesame Street's history,to evaluate the show's effectiveness,to explain what its writers,researchers,and producers were attempting to do,and to respond to criticism of Sesame Street.
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is an independent,non-profit,non-partisan research and innovation group founded by Sesame Workshop to advance children's literacy skills and foster innovation in children's learning through digital media.
Michael H. Levine is Senior Vice President at Nickelodeon where he is leading learning and social impact work at Noggin,an industry leader in early childhood education. Previously he was founding executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center,an independent research group founded by Sesame Workshop focused on fostering innovation in children's learning through digital media and Sesame Workshop’s first Chief Knowledge Officer.
Sandra L. Calvert is a developmental and child psychologist,whose scholarship illuminates the children's media area,including policy implications. Calvert is currently professor of psychology,and an affiliated faculty member at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Calvert is also the co-founder and Director of the Children's Digital Media Center,a multi-university research initiative funded primarily by multiple grants from the National Science Foundation,as well as by private foundations. Calvert served as chair of the department of psychology at Georgetown University from 2006 to 2009.
Evelyn Payne Davis was an American community organizer,nonprofit executive and founder of the New York chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women volunteer organization. She is best known for her role as an ambassador for the children's television program Sesame Street within inner-city African American neighborhoods in the late 1960s.
Jordan Shapiro is an American author known for his work on parenting,education,gender,and technology.
