The future of Sesame Street

When I was in the target demographic, Sesame Street didn’t exist. I did watch Captain Kangaroo a few times, but that’s not the same thing. My daughter did watch Sesame Street, along with Reading Rainbow and other PBS kids shows when she was stuck at home with me because of illness. I certainly have a fondness for the Sesame Street of that time.

“In 1969, “Sesame Street” was created largely as a way to help challenge the negative narrative about Black and brown children in the wake of the civil rights movement, similar to the motivation behind Head Start years prior. “I was like, all these great minds are gonna get together and fix the problem of especially children of color lagging behind in schools because of what can be perceived as lower literacy rates,” Jiménez García said.

 

“That was in part by showing human cast members of color exploring topics beyond literacy, like empathy and equity, alongside the Muppets that now make up so much of the show.

“I think that they lost touch with a certain kind of human aspect,” Jiménez García said. “It was all about your friendly neighbors on ‘Sesame Street.’ The puppets were cool, but the puppets were really like representations of children. They’re not necessarily the neighbors themselves.”

 

“And the neighbors — like Loretta Long as Susan, who joined the show in its first season, and Sonia Manzano and Emilio Delgado, who were cast as Maria and Emilio in 1971 — were fundamental to helping teach young children what inclusion and compassion actually look like.

 

“It was really about looking at these amazing, friendly, different people that live around you and embracing that,” Jiménez García said. “And, like, everyone has something to bring to the table and we’re all in the same situation.”

In 2016, Sesame Street moved from PBS to HBO. Of course, that meant that kids could no longer watch it for free, and that HBO valorized entertainment over social messaging. My daughter was already an immigration attorney by 2016, so the fact that we never had cable TV made no difference.

I’m sorry to see Sesame Street disappear, if that’s what happens. I’ll certainly pitch in to save it, if there’s a fundraiser, but I’m not Elon Musk, so I can’t fund it on my own. Maybe it’s an anachronism. If so, I hope something will take its place.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/future-of-sesame-street-abandoned-audience_n_6765f50de4b09e10a4365d90