Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
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 (HBO) Max in 2020.
Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (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. Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett developed the idea to form an organization to produce the Sesame Street television series. 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 Electric Company is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop. It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. The series aired on PBS for 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971, to April 15, 1977. The program continued in reruns until October 4, 1985. The Electric Company later reran on Noggin, a channel co-founded by the CTW, from 1999 to 2003. Noggin also produced a compilation special for the show.
Blue's Clues is an American interactive educational children's television series created by Traci Paige Johnson, Todd Kessler, and Angela C. Santomero. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on September 8, 1996, and concluded its run on August 6, 2006, with a total of six seasons and 143 episodes. The original host of the show was Steve Burns, who left in 2002 and was replaced by Donovan Patton for the fifth and sixth seasons. The show follows an animated blue-spotted dog named Blue as she leaves a trail of clues/paw prints for the host and the viewers to figure out her plans for the day.
Bill Nye the Science Guy is an American science education television program created by Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by Seattle public television station KCTS and McKenna/Gottlieb Producers, and distributed by Buena Vista Television with substantial financing from the National Science Foundation.
Elmo's World is a segment that is shown in the American children's television program Sesame Street. It always comes last and premiered on November 16, 1998, as part of a broader structural change to the show. It originally lasted fifteen minutes at the end of each episode. The segment ran until 2009, and then returned in 2017. The segment was designed to appeal to younger viewers and to increase ratings, which had fallen in the past decade. The segment is presented from the perspective of a three-year-old child as represented by its host, the Muppet Elmo, performed by Kevin Clash in the original series and Ryan Dillon in the 2017 reboot.
Ghostwriter is a children's mystery television series created by Liz Nealon and produced by Children's Television Workshop and BBC Television. The series revolves around a multiethnic group of friends from Brooklyn who solve neighborhood crimes and mysteries as a team of youth detectives with the help of a ghost named Ghostwriter. Ghostwriter can communicate with children only by manipulating whatever text and letters he can find and using them to form words and sentences. The series was filmed on location in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. It began airing on PBS on October 4, 1992, and the last episode aired on February 12, 1995. It reran on Noggin, a channel co-founded by the Children's Television Workshop, from 1999 to 2003.
Oobi is an American children's television series produced by Little Airplane Productions for the Noggin channel. The show's concept is based on a training method used by puppeteers, in which they use their hands and a pair of glass eyes instead of a full puppet. The main character is a bare hand puppet named Oobi. The first season was a series of two-minute shorts. For its second and third seasons, it became a long-form series, with episodes lasting 13 minutes each. The show originally aired from 2000 to February 11, 2005, with reruns continuing until March 18, 2013.
Play with Me Sesame is an American children's television series, created by Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon for their former joint venture Noggin. It is a spin-off of Sesame Street hosted by Ernie, Bert, Prairie Dawn, and Grover. The series' backgrounds and animated elements were made by Nickelodeon Digital in New York City. Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop developed the show to expand on Sesame Street by directly encouraging young viewers to interact with the characters. To do this, they combined classic Sesame Street sketches with new segments, where the hosts invite preschoolers to join them in games.
Out There is a drama television series produced by Sesame Workshop and Noggin LLC for the Noggin channel. It aired as part of Noggin's nighttime programming block, The N. When the show started development, Sesame Workshop co-owned Noggin, and Out There was launched as a tween-oriented project for the network. The show was written, produced, and commissioned in New York, and it originated as an entirely American series with a storyline set in New York. During development, it became an American-Australian co-production, and filming took place mostly in Australia.
Phred on Your Head Show is an American children's television series produced for Noggin, a cable channel co-founded by MTV Networks and Sesame Workshop. The first episode aired on June 6, 1999. Noggin aired encore showings of the first episode throughout June and started airing the show regularly on July 26, 1999. The show stars a small green character named Phred, voiced by Doug Preis, who has his own variety show. In each episode, Phred hops across different people's heads to find a host, who then chooses a selection of Noggin programs to play.
The URL with Phred Show is an American children's television series produced for the Noggin channel. It is a spin-off series to Phred on Your Head Show, an earlier Noggin series with the same animated host: a small, green character named Phred. Premieres of The URL with Phred Show aired from September 10, 2001 until 2002, and reruns aired until 2004. The show is presented as an art showcase, and each episode follows Phred as he presents a mix of viewer-submitted artwork and messages from Noggin's website.
Pinky Dinky Doo is an animated children's television series created by Jim Jinkins. It was produced and co-owned by Jinkins' Cartoon Pizza and Sesame Workshop. The series was made in association with Discovery Kids Latin America, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. For the second season, Abrams Gentile Entertainment, and the Canadian studio Keyframe Digital Productions joined as production companies. Each episode follows an imaginative pink-haired girl named Pinky Dinky Doo, her brother Tyler and pet Mr. Guinea Pig as she makes up her own stories.
Big Kids is a 13-episode children's comedy television series created by Lucy Daniel-Raby. The series was a British-American co-production of the BBC and the US network Noggin. It premiered on CBBC on BBC One on 27 September 2000 and on the Noggin channel on 29 January 2001. All 13 episodes were aired on Noggin's sister channel, Nickelodeon, from 9 to 30 March 2001.
Two syndication packages of Sesame Street episodes, titled Sesame Street Unpaved and 123 Sesame Street, were produced by the Noggin cable channel in 1999. At the time, Sesame Workshop co-owned Noggin and many of the company's older programs were replayed on the channel. Unpaved aired until 2002, and 123 aired until 2005.
Noggin was an American edutainment brand that launched on February 2, 1999. It was co-founded by MTV Networks and Sesame Workshop. It started out as a cable television channel and a website, both centered around the concepts of imagination, creativity, and education. From 2015 to 2024, Noggin was a streaming service.
The N was a prime time and late-night programming block on the Noggin television channel, aimed at preteens and teenagers. It was launched on April 1, 2002, by MTV Networks and Sesame Workshop.
On the Team is an American documentary television series produced for the Noggin channel. It covers the experiences of a youth baseball team in Brooklyn as they prepare for the 2000 playoff games. The series premiered on Noggin on January 30, 2001. It started airing on Noggin's sister channel, Nickelodeon, on May 2, 2001. It was created by Lisa Wood Shapiro and executive-produced by Shapiro and Gus Reyes.
