SESAME STREET
Sesame Street is an iconic educational children's media franchise created in 1968 by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett alongside the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop). Featuring Jim Henson's legendary Muppets alongside human cast members in an urban New York setting, the franchise spans over 56 television seasons, multiple feature films, spin-off series, retro video games, and over 1,500 published books.
Cronologia
Panoramica
Sesame Street is a groundbreaking educational children's media property created in 1968 by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett through the Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop).
Premiering in 1969, the franchise revolutionized children's television by combining Jim Henson's Muppets, live-action sequences, animation, and short comedy sketches with early childhood educational research.
Across its history, the main series has broadcast over 50 seasons—transitioning across networks from NET/PBS (1969–2015) to HBO/Max (2016–2025) and globally to Netflix starting in mid-2025 alongside PBS broadcasts, with renewals extending through Season 62. The franchise encompasses two theatrical feature films, numerous television specials, several spin-off series, over 1,500 published books, and a vast library of video games spanning from 8-bit home computers to modern platforms.
Origini
The franchise originated in 1968 when Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett founded the Children's Television Workshop to create a television show that could educate young children while keeping them entertained.
The main setting was designed to resemble an idealized urban New York City neighborhood, complete with a brownstone stoop at 123 Sesame Street, Hooper's Store, the Fix-It Shop, a central courtyard yard, Big Bird's nest, and Oscar the Grouch's trash can.
Integrating Jim Henson’s Muppets with human residents, the series established a shared space where puppets and humans interacted naturally. Over the decades, the physical set at Kaufman Astoria Studios expanded, eventually adopting 360-degree digital renders in Unreal Engine by Season 53.
Personaggi
I PEZZI DI SESAME STREET
Collezionismo
For collectors, Sesame Street offers a rich landscape rooted in vintage print media, physical retro software, and classic merchandise featuring the franchise's iconic green 123 Sesame Street street sign lamppost.
Printed collectibles are anchored by early Little Golden Books, most notably the 1971 classic The Monster at the End of This Book written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin, as well as 1970s Golden Shape Books and Sesame Street Storybooks anthologies. Video game collectors actively seek out early 8-bit home computer games from 1983 such as Alpha Beam with Ernie and Cookie Monster Munch, along with classic Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges like Big Bird's Hide and Speak (1990) and Sesame Street: 1-2-3 (1989). Additionally, fifth-generation console titles like Elmo's Letter Adventure on Nintendo 64 and PlayStation represent iconic pieces of late-1990s edutainment history.
The Monster at the End of This Book, published in 1971, became one of the best-selling Little Golden Books of all time.
