“Sesame Street” turns 50: Der, die, das

TThere were tons of great things to see (almost) 3000 times. The fiftieth anniversary of “Sesame Street” could be sung to well-known melodies tomorrow on the North German Radio. On the anniversary of its first broadcast, the children’s program almost cracked the three thousand mark: with 2931 episodes produced to date, the anniversaries hardly coincide. This does not spoil the festive mood, the ARD is waiting for a journey through five decades of television history with a “daily topics special” – moderated by Caren Miosga, but also by Elmo, wool, horse and the cookie monster.

With so much enthusiasm, it’s easy to forget that not everything ran smoothly in the early history of “Sesame Street.” While the children’s program was initially shown in the dubbed American original version from January 8, 1973, the depiction of the rough streets in New York in particular offered cause for discussion.

The Bayerischer Rundfunk withdrew from the start and produced its own program, “Das feuerrote Spielmobil”. The NDR finally responded to numerous complaints from parents and, less than five years after the first broadcast, began to produce its own episodes, including changes of setting and new characters. From the street it went into the house and the good-natured bear Samson and the collector-mad Tiffy took over for the audience favorites Big Bird and Oscar.

Children should be able to grow up “smarter, stronger and more socially competent”.

Stefan Kastenmüller, head of Sesame Workshop Europe, sees great potential in such modifications: “We adapt our cast to the broadcasting areas in order to address regional issues and give socially relevant groups a voice.” Sesame Workshop, then still under the name Children’s Television Workshop, developed “Sesame Street” in the late 1960s, initially for American television. The international response was not long in coming. What the American producers set themselves the task of “helping children to grow up smarter, stronger and more socially competent” is so well received that “Sesame Street” is now broadcast in more than 150 countries and some of it is produced there – how in this country from the NDR.

But this is not a one-way street. From the stock produced in Hamburg, for example, clips with the audience favorites Ernie and Bert are in great demand beyond national borders, says NDR program director Frank Beckmann: “The fairy tales and experiments of the two are broadcast all over the world.”

community and tolerance

At its core, “Sesame Street” is all about community and tolerance. Because being different or looking different is not an obstacle, because in this fictional place, according to Beckmann, “monsters and people of all colors and skin colors have been living together for fifty years”. There were times when it was also about routine. At the beginning of its broadcast, “Sesame Street” had an additional slot on the evening before in addition to the one in the morning. That was revolutionary for a children’s show and bound to become a nightly ritual. In the evening, however, it has long been a long time since the screen has been full of “who, how, what” or “why, why, why”. This is not serious for “Sesame Street”. Digitization is breaking through in the world of children’s entertainment, as Kastenmüller confirms: “More than half of the viewers are reached via the media library of ARD and KiKa as well as YouTube. Ascending trend.”

Neither the NDR nor the Sesame Workshop see this as a threat, “Sesame Street” has always moved with the times, reflecting the zeitgeist and helping to shape it. For parents, the digitization of the offer is a win, says Frank Beckmann. Impatient people should have been pleased that a large part of the birthday program has been in the ARD media library since the turn of the year. If the 50th birthday and the 3000th episode just don’t coincide, tradition and progress are close, or, as Beckmann’s favorite character Grobi could say: On Sunday, “Sesame Street” celebrates nostalgia without losing sight of the here and now lose.

On Sunday, ARD will show a birthday special from 7.20 a.m Sesame Street, an episode airs on the Kika at 5:25 p.m. A journey through time with a prominent cast in five episodes can already be viewed in the ARD media library.