Sesame Street
Sesame Street was a 60’s Children’s TV show, that cost
several million dollars and began on the 10th November
1969. It was an American educational programme that was
aimed at preschoolers.
The show was influenced by the format of TV commercials,
where they tried to get their message across in 30 seconds
and repeat important information (in this case letters and
numbers). This reinforced what was being taught and made
it easier for the children watching to memorise it. The
shows consisted of a number of sketches, stories,
animations and interactions with people that lived in
Sesame Street.
It was Kermit that came up with the name of the Sesame
Street, like open
sesame.
There were a large number of advisors that reviewed
the planned material (for its educational content), they
consisted of teachers, psychologists and the producers
of the show. To visualise ideas, storyboards were
created and from this the scene was produced. Before
releasing that segment on Sesame Street, it was
evaluated by a group of children, to see if the children
learnt anything from it.
Sesame Street is still going strong today, teaching a
new generation of children. But it seems that today's children could be frightened by the Sesame
Street of the past! The Sesame Street Old School DVD warns viewers that the old shows are for
adults only. Maybe Oscar the Grouch is too Grumpy? Whatever the reason, I hope that this trend
doesn't continue, as I think children of any age can still enjoy the shows of the past.
Story
Sesame Street was created to help children to read,
and count. It was innovative by using animation, clips of
animal, puppet characters (Muppets) and actors that
interacted with them.
The title of the show referenced a street that was shown
in the show, where characters from it lived. It was meant
to represent a place that the viewer might actually live
in. The trouble was that the street looked like a set in a
TV studio, so I'm not sure they were successful with
that part of their idea.
Each episode centred on teaching the viewer a number of letters and numbers, which were dotted
throughout the show.
Initially the viewer was introduced to Sally, Gordon, Susan, Bob, Mr Hooper, Jenny who lived on
the street. Who in turn introduced us to the famous Sesame Street characters or Big Bird, Cookie
Monster, Oscar the Gouch, Bert & Ernie, and many more.
Even one of the Muppets greatest even stars in the show - Kermit the Frog.
Sesame Street Characters
Big Bird
He is the figure head of the show. He is an 8ft 2 inch tall yellow bird.
He's a bit goofy, but the kids seem to like him.
Ernie
He lives in the basement of an apartment with his best friend Bert. He's always happy, and loves to sing, which sometimes
upsets Bert. Ernie loves to take a bath with a pal of his, Rubber Ducky, who makes bath times fun. He has even named the
bath Rosie!
Ernie has many favourite things and gets very emotional when he comes across them (I think he likes everything).
Bert
He lives together with his best friend Ernie. Bert is the opposite of Ernie, very controlled (such as his emotions) and thinks
things through. He doesn't like noisy places and is a bit of a grouch.
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar lives in a trash can in Sesame Street. As you can guess, he's a grouch (literally). He doesn't like being disturbed and
especially he doesn't like people bashing on his trash can. Oscar tries to avoid fresh air and sunlight and is happier staying
inside his 3 and a half room trash can (its huge on the inside) going through the garbage he's collected. Anything dirty, dingy,
rusty is a bonus.
He especially likes to be taken on trips to the garbage dump, where he can pickup some extra things for his trash can.
Oscar has also changed colour over the years. Initially he was orange, but changed to green. Maybe he went mouldy and is still orange underneath?
Anything People
As their name suggests, they can be anything. They are a family that have no features. Instead they can stick features to
their heads, such as eyes, noses, ears and hair. I'm surprised they recognise each other, but I guess its the voice they go
on.
Kermit
He is Sesame Street's roving reporter and the straight man compared to other Muppets.
Cookie Monster
Well, where do we start with Cookie Monster. Ah yes, 1) he is a Monster 2) he likes cookies. Just don't get in his way when
he eats them. His eyes go all wobbly and he shovel's them into his mouth at a fantastic pace. So fast, that not all of the
cookies make it in!
But if cookies aren't around, then anything else is fair game to be eaten.
Sesame Street
T-Shirts
T-Shirts (Europe)
- Sesame Street T-Shirts
T-Shirts (USA)
- Sesame Street T-Shirts
Sesame Street DVDs
Region 2 (Europe)
- Sesame Street DVDs
Region 1 (USA)
- Sesame Street DVDs
Sesame Street Video
Sesame Street Episodes
Sesame Street Images
(click to enlarge)
Sesame Street Merchandise
Toys (Europe)
- Sesame Street Toys
Toys (USA)
- Sesame Street Toys
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