NEW YORK (AP) — What has more letters than the alphabet? That’s easy: The post office. That joke — sponsored by the letter A — is a highlight of the first original podcast from “Sesame Street,” featuring music, interactive games and Muppets galore. “The Sesame Street Podcast with Foley & Friends” is an offering on Audible […]

Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit, educational organization behind Sesame Street — will later this month air the half-hour anti-racist special “The Power of We” and hopes families will watch together. The special defines racism for younger viewers and shows how it can be hurtful.

Caroll Spinney, who gave Big Bird his warmth and Oscar the Grouch his growl for nearly 50 years on Sesame Street, died Sunday. He was 85.

The first episode of Sesame Street — sponsored by the letters W, S and E and the numbers 2 and 3 — aired in the fall of 1969. The show was designed by education professionals and child psychologists with one goal: to help low-income and minority students aged 2-5 overcome some of the deficiencies they had when entering school.
NEW YORK (AP) — “Sesame Street” is taking a new step to try to help kids navigate life in America — it’s tackling the opioid crisis. Sesame Workshop is exploring the backstory of Karli, a bright green, yellow-haired friend of Elmo’s whose mother is battling addiction. The initiative is part of the Sesame Street in […]

The long-running children’s television show and veteran actor will be among the honorees in a gala ceremony on Dec. 7, the Kennedy Center said Thursday. The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS on Dec. 15.
NEW YORK (AP) — Big Bird, Elmo and stars of “Sesame Street” are leaving their quiet neighborhood and embarking on a road trip. The nonprofit Sesame Workshop said Tuesday a selection of Muppets will take part in a 10-city trip to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary campaign with free park festivals, live performances and kid-friendly […]

As the groundbreaking children’s series celebrates five decades with 150 million viewers, its producers offer The Hollywood Reporter extraordinary access to Big Bird, Cookie Monster and the minds behind one of media’s only universally loved franchises — and reveal how a $100 million-a-year mainstay nearly went out of business.
NEW YORK (AP) — Folks on Sesame Street have a way of making everyone feel accepted. That certainly goes for Julia, a Muppet youngster with blazing red hair, bright green eyes – and autism. Rather than being treated like an outsider, which too often is the plight of kids on the spectrum, Julia is one […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — There’s a newcomer on the Sesame Street block, a preschooler with autism named Julia. The Sesame Workshop said Wednesday that the character is being introduced as part of an initiative to take the stigma out of autism. The initiative also is aimed at helping those who deal with the developmental disorder. […]
The Aug. 13 announcement that HBO will premiere new episodes of Sesame Street, which will then be made available to PBS after nine months has prompted soul-searching among public broadcasters and others who recalled Sesame Street’s groundbreaking role in using free over-the-air broadcasts to teach preschoolers from low-income families the basic skills they need to succeed in school.
As part of its move to HBO, Sesame Street is killing off its own subscription-based streaming service, Sesame Go. The children’s series will now be available over the top on HBO’s offerings, HBO Go and HBO Now.
In a surprise move, the kids’ series heads to HBO. New episodes will air on longtime carrier PBS nine months later. The most significant part of the deal: Streaming rights.
PBS will discontinue the long-running one-hour version of Sesame Street this fall, it announced to stations Wednesday, and will continue airing new half-hour episodes that premiered last year. The new schedule, which takes effect Nov. 16, will feature the 30-minute version at 10 a.m.
The most authoritative study ever done on the impact of Sesame Street, to be released today, finds that the famous show on public TV has delivered lasting educational benefits to millions of American children — benefits as powerful as the ones children get from going to preschool.
That Sesame Street still exists at all says a lot. In 1973, it was one of two TV shows for preschoolers. Now it’s competing with 84 kids’ shows on TV and countless others online. Yet Sesame Street still holds its own, ranking 20th among kids ages 2 to 5 with 850,000 viewers per TV episode, according to Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the show.
After 45 years as an hourlong show, PBS will add a half-hour afternoon version of Sesame Street this fall to meet increased competition for preschoolers.
With its usual silliness, Sesame Street is introducing serious concepts about nature, science, math and engineering to its target audience of children too young to read.
NEW YORK (AP) – The former voice of the “Sesame Street” character Elmo is being sued by a man who claims the entertainer lured him into drug-fueled sex when he was 16. Sheldon Stephens, who’s now 24, says he met Kevin Clash at a networking event. He says he was brought by limousine from Pennsylvania […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearing 1 billion views on YouTube, “Sesame Street” is headed for Justin Bieber territory. The children’s program is closing in on the kind of rarified digital milestone usually reserved for the likes of pop stars and cat videos. “Sesame Street” will soon pass 1 billion views on YouTube and it’s celebrating […]
MIAMI (AP) — Another man on Monday sued the former Elmo puppeteer who resigned amid sex abuse allegations, claiming the voice actor befriended him in Miami and promised to be a father figure before flying the teen to New York to have sex with him. The alleged victim is now the fourth to accuse Kevin […]
NEW YORK (AP) – A Florida man has sued the ex-Elmo puppeteer who resigned amid a sex scandal, saying the voice actor met him in New York after trolling gay telephone chat lines seeking underage boys for sex. The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages was filed in Manhattan federal court Tuesday by a man who remains […]
NEW YORK (AP) – A longtime “Sesame Street” director who also worked on soap operas including “The Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns” has died. Emily Squires was 71. She died Wednesday at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. Squires’ husband, Len Belzer, said Friday that the cause of death hasn’t been determined. Squires directed […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash resigned Tuesday from “Sesame Street” amid a second allegation that he sexually abused underage boys. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York by 24-year-old college student Cecil Singleton accuses Clash of engaging in sexual behavior with him over a two-week period while he was underage. Singleton […]
NEW YORK (AP) — The puppeteer who performs as Elmo on “Sesame Street” is taking a leave of absence from the popular kids’ show in the wake of allegations that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy. Sesame Workshop said puppeteer Kevin Clash denies the charges, which were first made in June by the […]