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Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street

Michael Davis

Start date: November 1, 2019

Finish date: November 30, 2019

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Oct 19, 2019 Brina rated it really liked it

Shelves: celebrity, television

I wrote an entire review that Goodreads deleted for me. I’m frustrated because it is one of my better efforts but I decided to make frustration into a Sesame Street teaching moment. I grew up during the 1980s when Sesame Street was in its heyday. Seasons would last over one hundred episodes and story arcs would be nearly as long. The human characters and muppets captivated my attention for nearly a decade as I continued to watch the show with my younger sibling well after I had graduated from th I wrote an entire review that Goodreads deleted for me. I’m frustrated because it is one of my better efforts but I decided to make frustration into a Sesame Street teaching moment. I grew up during the 1980s when Sesame Street was in its heyday. Seasons would last over one hundred episodes and story arcs would be nearly as long. The human characters and muppets captivated my attention for nearly a decade as I continued to watch the show with my younger sibling well after I had graduated from the usual viewing age. Sesame Street will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in a few weeks so I was in search of a book behind its history. Former TV Guide writer Michael Davis wrote Street Gang ten years ago in honor of the show’s 40th anniversary and I decided to read it in anticipation of the 50th anniversary special planned for November 10.

If a reader is searching for the history of Bert, Ernie, and Big Bird, they will only find what they are looking for in the second half of this book. The first half is just as interesting as Davis outlines the early history of television, the gaps in quality educational programming for young children, and how the creative minds behind Sesame Street brought the show to where it is today. Or so the story goes CBS producer Lloyd Morrisett noticed his four year old daughter Sarah watching cartoons one morning in 1965. At a dinner party he brought the lack of educational programming to the attention of his friend Joan Ganz Cooney, a powerhouse of a woman at the dawn of the women’s movement, and together they founded a task force that would lead to the production of a quality television program for pre school age children, that would also bridge the gap between rich and poor. This was no small task because Public Television was in its nascent years, but Cooney was up to the challenge, and the rest, one can say, is history.

Sesame Street started in 1969 thanks to grants from the Ford and Carnegie Foundations and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. With grants at an upward of $8 million, Cooney founded the Children’s Television Workshop, and once Sesame Street established itself as the show that Cooney and Morrisett had envisioned, the yearly grants and scheduling took care of itself. Producer Jon Stone envisioned a Street in the Bronx, and that is how the brownstone at 123 Sesame came to be. Combined with the talented song writing of Jeff Moss and Joe Raposo as well as the classic Muppets of Jim Henson, Sesame Street was an instant success. Children and their parents were mesmerized by the Muppets as well as the storylines featuring early hosts Susan, Gordon, Bob, and Maria. Combining their interactions with songs, games, and relatable Muppet characters, the show was a force to be reckoned with in the 1970s and beyond.

Davis devotes the second half of the book to the show itself and it’s human and Muppet characters. The 1980s, the decade when I watched the show, was when Sesame Street established itself as the iconic classic that it is today. Storylines featuring the death of Mr Hooper and Maria and Luis’ wedding lasted entire seasons. Children learned about life cycle events and in Big Bird found an eight foot tall ally who would teach them about life’s important moments. Susan and Gordon adopted Miles, deaf librarian Linda joined the cast, as well as Gina and Alan, who took over Hooper’s Store. Combined with classic songs as the Count counting to eight, C is for Cookie, and Ernie’s ballads I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon and Dance Myself to Sleep as well as classic Put Down the Duckie, the Sesame Street characters became a vital part of my childhood. Creative minds Stone, Moss, Raposo, and Henson gave the Street a strong foundation in the early days of educational programming for children. It is thanks to their efforts combined with Cooney’s visionary leadership that Sesame Street is still viable today.

Davis notes that in the years 1990-1995 many of the original founders of Sesame Street unexpectedly passed away. It was a time of transition for the show with a new generation of thinkers and competition from Barney the dinosaur. To combat Barney, the 21st century Street has focused on marketing machines Elmo and Zoe as well as other female characters Abby and Rosita to complement Bert, Ernie, and Big Bird. With the 50th anniversary upon us, Cookie Monster still spoofs movies once a week and Bert and Ernie take great adventures. Murray and his lamb explore New York, and new human characters have helped to modernize the street to show it as a melting pot of cultures that is 21st century America. With new innovative minds behind the scenes and new generations of kids who haven’t watched Sesame Street yet as well as classic clips available on YouTube, I would not be surprised if Sesame Street lasts another 50 years or more.

4 stars ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu marked it as to-read

Shelves: non-fiction

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