Sesame Street

Sesame Street is a long-running American children's television series created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. The program is known for its educational content, and images communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets, animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. The series premiered on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high viewership; it has aired on the U.S.'s national public television provider (PBS) since its debut, with its first run moving to premium channel HBO on January 16, 2016.

The show has undergone significant changes throughout its history. The format of Sesame Street consists of a combination of commercial television production elements and techniques which have evolved to reflect the changes in American culture and the audience's viewing habits. With the creation of Sesame Street, producers and writers of a children's television show used, for the first time, educational goals and a curriculum to shape its content. It was also the first time a show's educational effects were studied.

Bert and Ernie

Bert and Ernie are two Muppets who appear together in numerous skits on the popular U.S. children's television show Sesame Street. Originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson, the characters are currently performed by Muppeteers Eric Jacobson and Billy Barkhurst, with Oz performing Bert occasionally since 2000.

History

Bert and Ernie were built by Don Sahlin from a simple design scribbled by Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. Initially, Henson performed Bert and Oz performed Ernie, but after just one day of rehearsal, they switched characters. The original idea was to show that even though two people can have totally different characters, they can still be good friends. According to writer Jon Stone, the relationship between Bert and Ernie reflected the real-life friendship between Henson and Oz.

According to A&E's Biography, Bert and Ernie were virtually the only Muppets to appear in the Sesame Street pilot episode, which was screen tested to a number of families in July 1969. Their brief appearance was the only part of the pilot that tested well, so it was decided that not only should Muppet characters be the "stars" of the show, but would also interact with the human characters, something that was not done in the pilot.

The Electric

The Electric may refer to:

The Electric Company

The Electric Company is an American educational children's television series that was directed by Bob Schwartz, Henry Behar (1972–75) and John Tracy (1975–76), written by Christopher Cerf (1971–73), Jeremy Steven (1972–74) and John Boni/Amy Ephron (1972–73) and produced by the Children's Television Workshop (now called Sesame Workshop) for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971, to April 15, 1977. (In many areas, a preview special, Here Comes The Electric Company (pilot episode), was seen in syndication through sponsor Johnson Wax on many local commercial stations during the week before its 1971 debut.) After it ceased production in 1977, the program continued in reruns until 1985, as the result of a decision made in 1975 to produce two final seasons for perpetual use. The Workshop produced the show at Second Stage, located within the Reeves Teletape Studios (Teletape), in Manhattan, the first home of Sesame Street.

Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop (SW, or "the Workshop"), formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-known, Sesame Street—that have run on public broadcasting around the world. Television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and foundation executive Lloyd Morrisett came up with the idea to form an organization to oversee the production of Sesame Street, a television show which would help children, especially those from low-income families, prepare for school. They spent two years, from 1966 to 1968, researching, developing, and raising money for the new show. Cooney was named as the Workshop's first executive director, which was called "one of the most important television developments of the decade".

Sesame Street premiered on PBS in the United States in November 1969, and the Workshop was formally incorporated shortly after, in 1970. Gerald S. Lesser and Edward L. Palmer were hired to conduct research for the show; they were responsible for developing a system of planning, production, and evaluation, and the interaction between television producers and educators, later called the "CTW model". They also hired a staff of producers and writers. After the initial success of Sesame Street, they began to plan for its continued survival, which included procuring additional sources of funding and creating other TV shows. The early 1980s were a challenging period for the Workshop; difficulty in finding audiences for their other productions and a series of bad investments hurt the organization until licensing agreements stabilized its revenues by 1985.