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Mar 25, 2009

Meghan rated it:

I am so mad at this book. I really wanted to read it, but I just could not get through this writing. There are in fact so many problems that I only managed to get through about 100 pages before I punched the book in the face. So, this review is just of those pages and how they made me want to stop reading forever.

First. Davis has to give a thumbnail bio of every single person who even sneezed near Sesame Street, and when I say thumbnail bio I mean that they all begin like, "Joh More...

19 comments like (23 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2008

Joseph rated it:

Not what I was expecting, but not bad. More a history of the business of making the show than a history of what happened on the show throughout the years. I was kind of expecting a history of the storylines and the developments of the characters, but this was more the story of the people who worked in the background and made it all possible. A well-written, informative work nonetheless.

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I had such high hopes for this book, instead it was ridiculous. There was way too much information on people who really had little--if any--relevance to Sesame Street. For each person who did matter there were pages upon pages about the ancestry of that person. Do you really care what the great grandparents of the original executive producer did for a living? I'm pretty sure this guy wrote down every single note of research he did for this book as about half of it had nothing to do with anythin More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Nov 27, 2010

Brian rated it:

An informative, almost clincal, look at the people and personalities involved in bringing Sesame Street to life. Manage your expectations, though -- this is no year-by-year review of what occured on the show. In fact, the first show doesn't even air until slightly over mid-way through the book. Mostly, it's the story of a core group of educators, advocates, producers, financers, artists, and entertainers who turned a dinner party question -- "Can television be used to teach children?" More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 21, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

The television show that can appeal to children and make parents feel like they are good parents and upright citizens for showing it to their kids, that is where the money lies, my friends. Growing up I was not a discerning television viewer. I watched Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow, Pinwheel, Today’s Special, and a whole host of bad cartoons ranging from Space Ghost to that bizarre time traveling one that was basically just a half hour commercial for Laser Tag. There was maybe only one show amo More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2009

Mallory rated it:

This book had so much potential and I was excited to get to read it, but I found it slow going for the first 10-12 chapters; while it gives great background information about the driving forces behind Sesame Street and the people who created it, it leaves me wanting more about what actually happened on screen, as opposed to off. Apparently Sesame Street Unpaved is more satisfying, but I've ODed on the Street for now. This book has some interesting information and some fun tidbits, but it didn' More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

Robin rated it:

More a history of the evolution of educational television for children than a mere celebration of Sesame Street. Davis weaves in the life stories of all the major players, doesn't shy away from politics, and makes it all a delicious read.

I saw this on the "New Books" display in one of the libraries where I've been working and had to read it! Couple this with a family viewing of the new "Electric Company" DVD box set, and you have yourself a '70s preschool nostal More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 02, 2009

Ozma rated it:

A thorough history of the inception and creation of Sesame Street. Basically, the daughter of an executive at the Carnegie Corporation was staring at the "Native American" filler screen on television every morning before the cartoons would start. The exec thought to himself, could television be used to teach children? And it all snowballed from there. Unfortunately, not much insider gossip but enough to interest you. The personalities that worked on this show and their quirks are incre More...

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Jan 05, 2012

Michele rated it:

This book is AMAZING!!!! It has obviously been many many years since I sat down and watched Sesame Street, but this book made me not only want to sit and watch Sesame Street, but also to look up clips from Sesame Street from when I was a kid. The amount of work, effort, research, time, care, love, and devotion to creating a show that would entertain while educating, and educating while entertaining pre-school kids is astonishing. I am in awe of all of those who pioneered children's television More...

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Sep 23, 2010

Madigan rated it:

Davis' background as a journalist really shines through in this exhaustively researched look into the team behind Sesame Street. Spanning five years of interviews with cast and crew, Davis paints a painstaking picture of all the ins-and-outs, all the personalities, all the behind-the-scenes office politics that shaped this television institution. Pioneering the "edu-tainment" niche, Sesame Street was really the first children's show to take educational research seriously, incorporating More...

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Sep 09, 2010

Meaghan rated it:

This book took me over two months to read. I kept renewing it from the library, because I knew I just needed the right mood and the right timing to really dig in to this history. There are so many interesting facts and names and connections in this web of the beginnings of children's TV, I wanted to be able to absorb and remember them all. I'd say I read the second half of this tome in about a week and a half (which is good for me!) I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Sesame Stre More...

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Aug 25, 2010

Petrea rated it:

I've had a soft spot in my heart since it began to air and I used to snuggle with my two toddlers each day to watch it. This book covered the earlier children shows, which I remember, such a Howdy Doody, Captain Kangaroo, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, etc. It also tells a lot about the strange and weird world of puppeteers--from Punch and Judy to the Muppets.

Many remarkable people came together at just the right time--with lots of varied talents and interests--and the result was Sesame St More...

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Apr 21, 2010

Karen rated it:

This book took a long time to get through, because it was a very dry read. The title is “Street Gangs: The Complete History of Sesame Street.” This is not an understatement. The author, Michael Davis, is detailed to a fault. It seems very unnecessary to find out the meals served at important meetings or the History of every single person that ever was a PA on the show. In his efforts to give a complete History, Davis alienated me. I started this book back in December and have had to read it More...

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Apr 08, 2010

Christine rated it:

How can you resist a book with Oscar the Grouch on the cover? My children loved Sesame Street and on occasion, in a pinch – don’t cringe at the thought – it was indeed an electronic babysitter. Having been fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom while my children were preschoolers I like to think I had a big impact on their early education, however, I must give Sesame Street its due in helping them start kindergarten knowing more than the basics.
Mr. Davis does a superb job of giving More...

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Nov 07, 2009

Kit rated it:

This is the only audiobook I've ever listened to that made me want to pop the first disc in the CD player as soon as the last one finished. It's that good. Narrated by Carol Spinney, the human behind (or inside) Big Bird, it's an utterly brilliant look not just at Sesame Street, but at how Sesame Street emerged from the landscape of children's television and the culture of the late 1960s.

I was born the same year that Sesame Street was, so I know it as something that's always been the More...

2 comments like

Jul 14, 2009

Aaron rated it:

Michael Davis has done a wonderful job in pulling this book together. The word "complete is by no means an exaggeration. I am one of the Sesame Street generation. I grew up with the show ... in fact, I always believed the show is the reason why I knew my alpahbet, colors, and shapes as well as how to count to 100 before going to kindergarten.

It quickly becomes clear that the story of Sesame Street started years before its actual premier in November of 1969. Not only did it inclu More...

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May 25, 2009

Nancy rated it:

By the time this books addresses the airing of the first episode of Sesame Street, you’re about 2/3 of the way through. It starts with the death of Jim Henson in 1990, and then it switches to short biographies of the main players. Those main players include both (M)uppets and human players and those in front of and behind the screen. As such, it is a history of children’s TV, from local ‘kiddie shows’ in the 1950s through the ‘Barney’ era (and the interesting effect the purple critter had on S More...

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Apr 27, 2009

Kathy rated it:

I have heard writing described as weaving a tapestry. This was a book that you could see the weaving being done. The author gives half-chapter biographies of all the people involved in creating Sesame Street, starting from way before they met. Eventually all the threads converge and you have a public television show. It was an enjoyable read, and I learned some things, but a lot of those things I didn't really want to know. For example, the politics and bickering involved in making a television More...

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Mar 22, 2009

Dan rated it:

There are some very valid criticisms of this book in the other reviews listed on this site. Yes, it is a bit misnamed because rather than being a Complete History of Sesame Street, it is more of a Complete History of the key players behind the making of Sesame Street. The first half of the book contains nearly every excruciating detail of anyone that was even remotely involved in the making of the show.

However, if you persevere through all this, the last half of the book has tremen More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 11, 2011

Mike rated it:

This book is an indispensible mess. Too scholarly for general readers and too general for scholarly readers, it does not include a survey of scholarly articles about the effectiveness of the series that scholars will expect, but includes a long chapter on the history of CAPTAIN KANGEROO, exactly the kind of detail that scholars expect but will bore many other readers when the information pertinent to the story Davis tells could be summarized in two paragraphs. The documentation is below scholarl More...

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Aug 06, 2009

Margaret rated it:

Wow. I had such high hopes, but man, this was poorly written. Davis seemed compelled to include every random fact he discovered while researching the book, whether or not it had any remote relation to Sesame Street, or was even mildly interesting. One hundred and twenty pages into a 350 page book, and we're only up to a written proposal that maybe there should be a television show that tries to educate kids. But we've had time for mentions of Fred Friendly taking on McCarthy, the number of bridg More...

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Jun 11, 2010

Mel rated it:

I have to agree with a lot of the other reviews I've read regarding this book: Disorganized, extremely detailed, and a bit disappointing. It focuses heavily on the time leading up to the creation of the show, those who helped put it together, and the history of children's television prior to Sesame Street, which I found interesting and enjoyed (in most spots).

We heard all about the history and changes that affected the key development players throughout the progression of the show, More...

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Nov 10, 2009

Lani rated it:

I am rather pleased that I managed to finish this book on Sesame Street's 40th birthday...

This is a tough one to review... Muppets and Sesame Street seem to be all mixed up with my ability to think logically. They're the characters and the illusions I grew up with, and facing their reality is really tough. I had similar issues when faced with the real thing at a Muppet exhibit at the Smithsonian, or when I read the coffee table book I bought there. Much as I love these characters, I More...

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Aug 30, 2010

Jamie rated it:

I have never read a book that covered so much ground without actually getting to the point. It takes 180 pages to get to the first episode of Sesame Street - 180 pages where we go over detailed background for each player in the formation of the show, as well as a good 30 pages talking about Captain Kangaroo. I do not care about Captain Kangaroo. If I cared about Captain Kangaroo, I would read a book on Captain Kangaroo.

Davis definitely makes you realize how interesting and well-in More...

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Jan 14, 2010

Five rated it:

A disjointed mess. Of the 19 chapters in the book, about half are oddly pieced together biographies that lead nowhere. Nothing ever delves beyond trivia question knowledge. The narrative (if it can be called that) jumps around from person to person and with little regard for establishing a timeline.

It's sad really, because the book seems to be about Joan Ganz Cooney, who started the Children's Television Workshop by writing a paper titled: The Potential Uses of Television in Prescho More...

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Oct 18, 2009

Kirsten rated it:

While this is billed as a "complete" history of Sesame Street, that isn't quite the case. It starts out very strong, giving a great sense of what children's TV was prior to Sesame Street, and the story of Sesame's origins is fascinating and well-told. Once the show gets off the ground, though, the tale starts to lose momentum and cohesiveness; Davis, faced with a wealth of information, seems to have had difficulty in figuring out how to translate that into a narrative, and the book s More...

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Apr 05, 2011

Jessi rated it:

I love Jim Henson. Therefore, I love Sesame Street. I was pretty excited to start reading this book, but boy, is it long. And this is coming from someone who doesn't mind long books, if they're interesting.
The book is overflowing with information- every chapter has multiple notations and is full of names, dates, places, tidbits, anecdotes, and, occasionally, Muppets. Perhaps this is the reason the book doesn't succeed in the way that it should. You'd expect a book about Sesame Street to di More...

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Jan 06, 2010

Michael rated it:

If you had asked me if it was possible to write a story about Sesame Street without humor and warmth, I would have rejected the notion immediately.

I mean, we're talking about Sesame Street. I didn't grow up with it, but I was late for work more than a few times, before we had kids, because I flipped on the television and instantly became mesmerized by the stories and characters. I couldn't wait to tear into this book and learn more about the show.

I wish I hadn't. This po More...

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Apr 20, 2009

Ken rated it:

The book jacket for Street Gang shows Oscar the Grouch popping out of his garbage can and reminding us that we’re going to read about a very successful children’s television show. That sets us to thinking we’re going to read about all the things we (as children or adults) saw on the television when we watched Sesame Street. It doesn’t quite come out that way. This is about how the show itself was conceived, assembled, and maintained all those years.

There is a HUGE amount of detail More...

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Mar 28, 2009

cubbie rated it:

it's funny because i feel like i'm the opposite of a lot of reviewers for this book, but i also agree with a lot of the points.

unlike many, i loved the first half of this book. i couldn't put it down, and i loved the in-depth narrative and the showbiz myths a lot. i told a bunch of people about it, and actually compared it to harry potter and twilight and the way people read those (fyi, i don't like hp, and i haven't read twilight. they aren't really my genre.). for me, it was th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)