Sesame Street (1969)
Sesame Street is a 1969 kids series created by Lloyd Morrisett and Joan Ganz Cooney. It stars Caroll Spinney, Kevin Clash and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph.
On a friendly stretch of brownstone sidewalk, monsters and neighbors teach small children their letters, numbers and how to share. Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, Oscar in his trash can and Grover carry lessons inside jokes, songs and short cartoons, so learning feels like play. Jim Henson's Muppets share the block with a warm human cast. Since 1969 the show has folded real feelings, kindness, loss, curiosity, into a format a preschooler can follow. It grew up alongside public television and stayed gentle, silly and quietly radical about who gets to belong.
Quick answers
What is Sesame Street about?
On a friendly stretch of brownstone sidewalk, monsters and neighbors teach small children their letters, numbers and how to share. Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, Oscar in his trash can and Grover carry lessons inside jokes, songs and short cartoons, so learning feels like play. Jim Henson's Muppets share the block with a warm human cast. Since 1969 the show has folded real feelings, kindness, loss, curiosity, into a format a preschooler can follow. It grew up alongside public television and stayed gentle, silly and quietly radical about who gets to belong.
When was Sesame Street released?
Sesame Street was released on 10 November 1969.
How many episodes does Sesame Street have?
Sesame Street has 3550 episodes across 56 seasons.
Who made Sesame Street?
Sesame Street was created by Lloyd Morrisett, Joan Ganz Cooney and Jim Henson.
Where can I watch Sesame Street?
Sesame Street is available on DirecTV On Demand, HBO (Via Hulu), HBO Max, MAX (Via Amazon Prime), Netflix and YouTube TV.
Where to watch Sesame Street
Stream: DirecTV On Demand, HBO (Via Hulu), HBO Max, MAX (Via Amazon Prime), Netflix, YouTube TV
Watch free: Hoopla, The Roku Channel, Tubi TV
Official site
Cast
- Caroll Spinney as Big Bird
- Kevin Clash as Elmo / Hoots the Owl / Baby Natasha (voice)
- Leslie Carrara-Rudolph as Muppet
- Martin P. Robinson as Telly Monster / Aloysius Snuffleupagus / Irvine / Slimey (voice)
- Joey Mazzarino as Stinky
- David Rudman as Cookie Monster / Two-Headed Monster
- Suki Lopez as Nina
- Frank Oz as Bert
- Sonia Manzano as Maria Figueroa Rodriguez
- Roscoe Orman as Gordon Robinson
- Violet Tinnirello as Charlie
- Jennifer Barnhart as Zoe (voice)
Similar series
Explore Sesame Street guides
A few thoughts on Sesame Street
The Monster at the End of This Book, the Little Golden Book starring a panicking Grover, carries the same warmth in print and stays a first-favorite for the show's youngest fans. Older viewers chasing the Jim Henson spark should try The Muppet Movie, looser and pitched a few years up.
Jim Henson puppet worlds beyond the Street
Sesame Street shares Jim Henson's whole design philosophy: felt and foam brought to life by performers who make puppets feel like neighbors. The Muppet Show and The Muppet Movie let that same cast loose in variety-show chaos, Fraggle Rock builds an entire underground world out of it, Bear in the Big Blue House softens it for toddlers, and Jim Henson's Animal Show turns real animal facts into puppet-hosted comedy.
Animated shows that turn a lesson into an adventure
Sesame Street hides its ABCs and counting inside songs, sketches and monster jokes so learning never feels like a lesson. Dora the Explorer, Curious George, Little Einsteins, Martha Speaks and Wild Kratts all borrow that same trick, wrapping vocabulary, geography, classical music or animal science inside a story a preschooler actually wants to follow.
Kids' shows where a warm live host guides you through the day
Big Bird and friends work because a warm, familiar host walks kids through each episode's ideas. LazyTown, Barney & Friends, Blue's Clues and Tots TV lean on the same setup, whether that host is a leotard-clad hero, a purple dinosaur, an animated puppy or a trio of puppets, greeting the audience directly and inviting them along.