Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

I have lots of memories of watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood when I was a little kid.  After finishing each episode I would immediately watch it again dubbed in French on the French channel (I grew up in Canada) because I loved both shows so much.  Since I enjoyed Won't You Be My Neighbor?, I was really excited to see Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street yesterday.  Like the former, this documentary about the making of the iconic children's show brought back so many childhood memories and I absolutely loved it!  In the late 1960s most of the programming for children was made to sell products to the white middle class parents of the children who watched it and it was also an era when many children were spending most of the day in front of the television while their parents worked (one study showed that even very young children could recite all of the words to a jingle for a beer commercial).  Because many low-income minority children were educationally behind when they started school, a television executive named Joan Cooney had the idea that a television show could use the same principles of advertising to teach letters and numbers to these children to compensate for the deficit.  Writer and director Jon Stone was recruited to develop a show and he had the idea to use an authentic neighborhood street to appeal to the target audience of inner-city children.  Puppeteer Jim Henson was recruited to help the show capture and retain the attention of the children with his puppets.  Composer Joe Raposo was recruited to write catchy songs to reinforce educational concepts (I remembered every word to every song featured in this documentary even though it has been almost forty years since I heard them).  This extraordinary collaboration resulted in one of the most groundbreaking shows in television history which has had a profound impact on generations of children.  Archival footage and contemporary interviews with many involved with the show, including the actors who played the beloved characters Gordon, Susan, Bob, Luis, and Maria, provide a fascinating look behind the scenes and I was especially interested to learn about how intentional each episode was with very specific cognitive and affective goals.  Big Bird is one of my favorite puppets (I was deeply offended as a child when no one would believe Big Bird about the existence of Mr. Snuffleupagus) and I love that his character was developed in order to learn along with the children.  The most poignant learning opportunity was when the characters tell Big Bird that Mr. Hooper has died in order to teach the audience about death.  I had a few tears in my eyes but I also laughed and laughed at the puppet blooper reel.  This was a delightful journey back to the street where I spent much of my childhood and I highly recommend it!