Did Ya Know? Sesame Street and Urban Decay

DYK? That the "street" setting of Sesame Street was a conscious response to the squeaky clean suburban setting of Mr. Rogers and the firm desire to create children’s television with "no toy maker’s workshop, no enchanted castle, no dude ranch, no circus."

That was the mandate of Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney and her team at the then newly formed Public Broadcasting Service set for themselves. Born of leftist politics (Cooney was a volunter publicist for "The Partisan Review"), the ideals of President Johnson’s Great Society and the writings of Jane Jacobs, Cooney and Co. envisioned 123 Sesame Street as a reborn urban environment where children of different races and creatures of different species (even those who dwell in garbage cans) play and learn together.

According to a review of "STREET GANG: The Complete History of ‘Sesame Street.", urbanity so imbued the identity of Sesame Street that in the 90s when the backyard-dwelling Barney showed up, conservative commentators sneered that Sesame Street’s resultant ratings slide were the result of its dated clean-up of urban decay. Sesame Street developed a second, cleaner, prettier set called “Around the Corner."

It lasted only a few years.

Sources:

• "STREET GANG: The Complete History of ‘Sesame Street."

• NPR Interview with Joan Ganz Cooney.

• Category: Did ya Know?