Almost 200 Sesame Street Episodes Removed as Part of HBO Max Purge
There’s a dark cloud hanging over Sesame Street‘s famously sunny days.
As part of HBO Max‘s ongoing, wide-ranging and apparently merciless purging of many library tiles — all as part of WarnerBros. Discovery’s ambitious plan to winnow down $3 billion (with a B) in debt — nearly 200 Sesame Street episodes have been pulled from the streamer.
By removing series and movies from its library, HBO Max no longer has to pay licensing fees for them. That is a bottom line-boosting measure for the streamer even when said checks are being made out to sister company Warner Bros. Television, as was the case with many of this week’s previous subtractions.
NPR first reported on the disappearance of “an unspecified selection of Sesame Street specials,” after which our sister site Variety stepped up with greater detail.
Per Variety, HBO Max previously was home to about 650 total Sesame Street episodes, including from Seasons 2 through 4. But as of Friday morning, only 456 episodes remain, including “a selection” from Seasons 1, 5 and 7 (and the entirety of Seasons 39 through 52).
Scroll down to see the complete list of what else is being removed from HBO Max:
MAX ORIGINALS
12 Dates of Christmas
About Last Night
Aquaman: King of Atlantis
Close Enough
Ellen’s Next Great Designer
Esme & Roy
The Fungies!
Generation Hustle
Genera+ion
Infinity Train
Little Ellen
My Mom, Your Dad
Odo
Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness
Summer Camp Island
The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo (and select Sesame Street specials)
The Runaway Bunny
Theodosia
Tig n’ Seek
Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs
HBO ORIGINALS
My Dinner with Herve
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CARTOON NETWORK ORIGINALS
Dodo
Elliott From Earth
Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart
Mighty Magiswords
OK K.O.! – Let’s Be Heroes
Uncle Grandpa
Victor and Valentino
ADDITIONAL ACQUIRED TITLES
Detention Adventure
Messy Goes to Okido
Mia’s Magic Playground
The Ollie & Moon Show
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
Make It Big, Make It Small
Squish
Earlier this month, HBO Max also removed several HBO original series, including Camping, Mrs. Fletcher, Here and Now, Run and Vinyl. The streamer also discarded a number of movies that debuted on the platform, including The Witches, Superintelligence and Moonshot.
This really SUCKS Sesame Street is a classic that HBO Max pulled from PBS. Now it won’t be available anywhere? The Discovery/HBO Max merger is shaping up to be a total disaster.
Reread the article. Or maybe read it for the first time.
They pulled some episodes, not all. 200 out of 650 episodes.
So, only about a third.
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No issue then? Nothing to see here?
Definitely something to see. But overreacting and stating something untrue (that the show is no longer available anywhere) is not cool either. Most of us call that kind of statement “lying,” or at the very least “lack of reading comprehension.”
For the record, they didn’t pull it from PBS either. PBS still gets the new episodes, on a one year delay.
I’m still expecting them to announce a new bonus subscription tier for all this childrens content called HBOMaxKids or something ridiculous and charging an additional $9.99 for it..
Yeah, most people won’t do that. Hey media companies, your streaming bubble is about to burst. HBO Max is a mess, I for sure ain’t watching any trashy Discovery branded programming. TV Line should do an article about Zaslav’s track record on his failure of rebranding cable channels under Discovery: Planet Green, The Hub, OWN….Travel Channel is now a shell of it’s former self airing mostly paranormal programming. Looks like the Zaslav hammer is doing the same thing with all of Warner Bros., what a pity.
You’re definitely right about the Travel Channel! They used to have some interesting shows pop up. Now it’s unrecognizable.
same. i’m not interested at all the discovery side of things. if that’s mainly what hbomax becomes, i’m cancelling. heck, might to it anyway just to protest. there’s nothing i’m watching on it right now anyway.
This is not a surprise as they indicated they would shift away from kids’/children’s programming.
I wonder if new episodes will now revert back to PBS for the premiere.
I was bothered when HBO bought the first-run exclusive rights for Sesame Street. It seemed like they were putting this public good in a walled garden. But to be honest, they have been a good steward of the IP for the last few years, even expanding to new shows. It’s really disappointing to see WBD cut into that, and if they aren’t going to be the good steward anymore, I’d rather them hand over the reigns to someone else.
Wow. Unreal. Terrible news. Seriously.
I’m about ready to winnow down my streaming services, Max.
.
It’s really looking like you’re going to turn Max into a hollowed out husk shove its remains into Discovery+, then charge me $20 for it.
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Nah.
This sounds more and more like a total cluster duck
Well Zaslav is a Republican, he know doubt hates PBS with a passion like the rest of them and wants to stick it to em this way.
Maybe you can suggest some ways to get 3 billion out of debt.
He could try to make movies and television shows people are interested in and want to spend money to see or stream.
Cutting content eliminates any possible future revenue stream from that content, all in the name of a one-time tax break or not having to pay residuals to creatives. It’s stupid and short-sighted.
Don’t buy something that puts you so far into debt. He’ll quick cut this debt, reward himself with a massive bonus and then run the debt back up again, putting most of it in his pocket. At the end the company will be left a shell and likely end up in bankruptcy. . Republican Romney created the model for destruction of jobs while enriching himself, in the 80s.
I was hoping regarding any cuts anything related to Seasame Street would be off the table. The one good thing about HBO getting involved with Seasame Street is that it would provide them revenue especially when you politicians bashing Elmo on Twitter and try to cut public funding as retaliation.
It seemed like a win-win for Seasame Street where HBO provides them funding for the catalog and first-run episodes, then they are still allowed to air stuff for free on PBS for the community.
I think they are making a mistake purging all their family shows… that’s a big chunk of viewers they are just throwing away….. and their obsession with saving the 3 billion doesn’t bode well for their future ability to produce large scale films.
If anything they could’ve pulled the plug on Sesame Street Mecha Builders that show is not all that.
I was okay with some of the movies, but this just feels so wrong. I feel like my childhood died a little.
WHAT is HBO Max doing? Rather than attract new subscribers/viewers, it looks more like their (presumably unintentional) aim is to drive them away.
This shows all the signs of a quick money grab. If it follows the normal path he will dump the purchase debt as fast as he can. Then while declaring success with the stock holders he will use the WB as collateral to bury the company in debt and put the money in his pocket. Then retire to a life of luxury. It’s the standard con these crooks run.