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2 1969, The Inaugural Season 3 The 1970s 4 The 1980s 5 The 1990s 6 The 2000s |
Pre-production (1966-1969)
Joan Cooney invited some guests over to dinner on a blustery February, 1966, to her and her husband Tom's Manhattan apartment. Most dinner guests were involved in some way with television; they included Cooney's boss Lewis Freedman, the program director for local educational television station Channel 13, and Lloyd Morriset, then vice president of the Carnegie Corporation, which has supported public television since its earliest days.
On the list was a play on the phrase "Open Sesame", magic words used in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Connell and the team were "desperate" enough, that he circulated a memo throughout the CTW office. It stated that anyone with a better name could try to change it, elsewise the name would take affect on the next Monday.
Staff have been described as "lukewarm" about the name Sesame Street, the name won by default, with no better alternatives offered. A month later, its recorded the staff had "adjusted to the name and thought it fitting." Still, fear lurked that its young audiences would phonetically pronounce it "See Same Street".
Grover, as of yet unnamed, went from having brownish-green fur to his trademark Fuzzy and Blue coat. Oscar, originally a bright, blinding orange fur with green eyes grouch, changed to his forever messy, dirty green fur, with white eyes. Originally just a gag monster, Cookie got his name in the premiere episode. Big Bird, who looked rather dim-witted in the first season because of the small amount of plummage above the head, grew new feathers. While his appearance changed to show more intelligence, his personality followed suit. No longer a slow, pea-brained adult, he was now just a really tall, 6-year-old kid with lots of curiosity.
Throughout the decade, more Muppets were added, due to popular demand. Herry, The Count, Little Bird, Sherlock Hemlock, Roosevelt Franklin, and Herbert Birdsfoot all made debuts in this decade. Roosevelt, an African-American puppet, would turn out to be one of the most popular characters, even spawning solo records. With gradual fears that the character's out-going, snappy, occasionally smart-alec personality might be misinterpreted as a negative stereotype of blacks, the character left when its voice, the original Gordon, was replaced.
Sam the Robot, originally known as Sam the Machine, was a full-body puppet robot that strangly hung out on the inner-city New York streets. It both walked and talked slowly, just as it caught on very slowly, too slow to make the cut for future seasons, unfortunately. A dog named Woof-Woof was added as human librarian Linda's pet. His name later was changed to Barkley.
The human element of the neighbourhood expanded as well, bringing the friendly faces of Molly, Tom, Rafael, and longer lasting characters like David, Maria Figeuroa and Luis Rodriguez. David and Maria's character would show obvious affection toward each other; it remained a mutual crush, as there was never any signs of a serious relationship. Their long-lasting love continued into the early-to-mid-80s, when it became a love triangle with Luis.
Also added was deaf actress Linda Bove playing a character called Linda. She was the first deaf regular on any television series, let alone in children's television. As a librarian, she was a positive role model to those with disabilities, and broke down barriers for those without, proving that the disabled could make valid contributions to society.
The Sesame Street on Ice show was produced and toured around the United States. Also, the human cast toured in a live musical stage show, predecessor to Sesame Street LIVE.
Many major themes like birth, death and marriage were prodominant themes in the 80s. Easily the most important episode of Sesame Street was when Mr. Harold Hooper passed on. The actor potraying him died before the shooting of the 1983-84 season, leaving the producers with a dilema: should they replace Mr. Hooper with another actor? Should they just write his character out? Both of these options would surely cause distress among the young viewers. Instead, the wrote what was later selected by the Daytime Emmys to be one of the ten most influential moments ever on daytime television.
The episode dealing with Mr. Hooper's death was scheduled for Thanksgiving Day, so that parents would be home and help their children personally understand the passing. In this tasteful episode, Big Bird was excited that he drew an amazing picture of Mr. Hooper, and wanted to give it to him. Upon not finding him, Big Bird asked the adults on the street where Mr. Hooper was. They explained to him that Mr. Hooper had died, to which Big Bird asked when he would return. The adults had to once again reinforce what death means, and that Mr. Hooper was never coming back. The cast agreed that it was one of the most painful episodes to do.
The only other episode of the show that the cast considered painful to do took place in 1985. The adults were sick and tired of Big Bird always using his "imaginary friend" Snuffleupagus as a skapegoat for anything that went wrong when they were away. They urged Big Bird to say his good-byes to Snuffy once and for all, as they were driven to the brink with all the nonsense. Even the Sesame Street newspapers had front page headlines saying that Snuffy had to go. So, Big Bird and Snuffy sadly said their good-byes in Big Bird's nest area. They cried in remorse for their forced separation. Snuffy's tear fell onto Big Bird while they hugged, leading Big Bird to the conclusion that if he could even feel the water from the tears, Snuffy must be real.
On a brighter note, Gordon and Susan Robinson adopted little baby Miles in 1985. In 1988, Maria's and Luis' love culimnated, leading eventually to a wedding, in which Big Bird was a ring-bearer. This was a twist to the plot, with Maria ending her truely evident crush on David. Maria and Luis led an active romance on-camera, Maria becoming pregnant just months later, and giving birth to baby Gabriella. Shortly after, the actor who played David died. This death wasn't addressed on camera: the character itself was just handled as if nothing was missing. Producers likely didn't want to have a second death episode in the decade, as it might be considered cliché. Gina continued her operation of Hooper's Store, now becoming manager.
In 1985, everyone on Sesame Street finally saw Mr. Snuffleupagus. For years, Snuffy was considered by the humans on the street to be merely an imaginary friend of Big Bird. America had been plagued by multiple child rapings. Children's Television Workshop's producers of the show feared kids might think that, if nobody believed what Big Bird says, no one would believe them either. Therefore, Snuffy was finally revealed to the rest of the street to be real, causing an array of disbelief.
Sesame Place theme park opened in Pennslyvania, touting rides, attractions and parades themed to Sesame Street. Also, Sesame Street LIVE arena tours were first organized with VEE Entertainment. These shows featured costumed characters based on the Muppets in the show, with multiple touring groups, each acting different plot lines. These were a replacement for the earlier shows featuring the human cast.
Joe Raposo, a lyricist for the show, passed away. Many diehard fans linked his death to the start of a constant shrinkage of the irrelevance that originally helped the show's popularity.
In 1999, the Elmo's World skit was added. Many Sesame fans were disgusted by this, believing it had little educational value and took away from the adult appeal of the show.
Naming the show
David Connell commented that CTW "toyed with everything from The Video Classroom to The Nitty Gritty Itty Bitty Kiddy Show." The list of names included an extended version of the second, The Nitty Gritty Itty Bitty Dog and Kitty Farm and City Little Kiddy Show. Staff writer Virgina Shoen wrote a list of possible names, which she then tested one weekend, on neighbourhood children, to gather their reactions.1969, The Inaugural Season
The 1970s
In the second season of Sesame Street, the show quickly started to develop new elements, and polish off old ones.The 1980s
The 1980s brought more new muppets- Telly Monster, Elmo, the Honkers, the Dingers, Forgetful Jones and Placido Flamingo. Elmo started as just an anything muppet in a parody of Othello; few guessed that he would become a legend in the coming decade. The major lasting human characters added to the show were Gina Jefferson and Bob's Uncle Wally.The 1990s
As Sesame Street has always been a constantly progressive show, it is debatable, but many agree that the third full decade of Sesame Street brought the most drastic changes. The decade brought deaths, resignations, the characters peaking around the corner of the Street (quickly returning back to their end of the road), less letters sponsoring the show, and most critically, a little red Muppet that has been credited with saving the show's ratings with increased competition.Honours in the 1990s
in 1994 the show was honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard.Theft of artifacts
In February 1996, the original Ernie and Bert puppets were stolen from a museum in Germany. In addition to a large man hunt, Snuffy was shown pleading on German national television for their eventual safe return.The 2000s
Osama and Evil Bert
A photograph of a protest rally in Bangladesh supporting Osama bin Laden showed a poster of Osama bin Laden with a small but clearly identifiable image of Bert, a Muppet from the children's television show Sesame Street, over his right shoulder.
For more on this event, see Bert.