The show's format consists of a combination of commercial television production elements and techniques which have evolved to reflect changes in American culture and audiences' viewing habits.

Sesame Street was conceived in 1966 during discussions between television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Carnegie Foundation vice president Lloyd Morrisett.

In 1981, when the federal government withdrew its funding, CTW turned to and expanded other revenue sources, including its magazine division, book royalties, product licensing, and foreign broadcast income.

[29] In late 2015, in response to "sweeping changes in the media business"[30] and as part of a five-year programming and development deal, premium television service HBO began airing first-run episodes of Sesame Street.

[31] At its 50th anniversary in 2019, Sesame Street had produced over 4,500 episodes, two feature-length movies (Follow That Bird in 1985 and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland in 1999), 35 TV specials, 200 home videos, and 180 albums.

"[34] From its first episode, Sesame Street's format has utilized "a strong visual style, fast-moving action, humor, and music," as well as animation and live-action short films.

On recommendations by child psychologists, the producers initially decided that the show's human actors and Muppets would not interact because they were concerned it would confuse young children.

[39] They requested that Henson and his team create Muppets such as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch to interact with the human actors, and the Street segments were re-shot.

"[48] Gerald S. Lesser, the CTW's first advisory board chair, went even further, saying that the effective use of television as an educational tool needed to capture, focus, and sustain children's attention.

[15][57][58] During Sesame Street's first season, some critics felt that it should address more overtly such affective goals as social competence, tolerance of diversity, and nonaggressive ways of resolving conflict.

[61] Starting in 2006, the Workshop expanded its outreach by creating a series of PBS specials and DVDs focusing on how military deployment affects the families of servicepeople.

[64] As a result of Cooney's initial proposal in 1968, the Carnegie Institute awarded her a $1 million grant to create a new children's television program and establish the CTW,[16][18][65] renamed in June 2000 to Sesame Workshop (SW).

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who had previously appeared on Sesame Street, called for a boycott of the show, saying that the CTW was "exploiting impressionable children.

"[71] Its producers soon began developing what came to be called the CTW Model, a system of planning, production and evaluation that did not fully emerge until the end of the show's first season.

[72][note 3] According to Morrow, the Model consisted of four parts: "the interaction of receptive television producers and child science experts, the creation of a specific and age-appropriate curriculum, research to shape the program directly, and independent measurement of viewers' learning.

As Peter Hellman wrote in his 1987 article in New York Magazine, "The show, of course, depends upon its writers, and it isn't easy to find adults who could identify the interest level of a pre-schooler.

[83][84][85][note 4] Early in their history Sesame Street and the CTW began to look for alternative funding sources and turned to creating products and writing licensing agreements.

[99] In order to attract the best composers and lyricists, the CTW allowed songwriters like Joe Raposo, Sesame Street's first musical director, to retain the rights to the songs they wrote, which earned them lucrative profits and helped the show sustain public interest.

For the first time in 20 years, "an extensive catalog of Sesame Street recordings" was made available to the public in a variety of formats, including CD and vinyl compilations, digital streaming, and downloads.

[101] Sesame Street used animations and short films commissioned from outside studios,[102] interspersed throughout each episode, to help teach their viewers basic concepts like numbers and letters.

Jon Stone was responsible for writing, casting, and format; Dave Connell took over animation; and Sam Gibbon served as the show's chief liaison between the production staff and the research team.

Morrow reported that the Muppets were effective teaching tools because children easily recognized them, they were stereotypical and predictable, and they appealed to adults and older siblings.

[116] Sesame Street is best known for the creative geniuses it attracted, people like Jim Henson and Joe Raposo and Frank Oz, who intuitively grasped what it takes to get through to children.

Although the producers decided against depending upon a single host for Sesame Street, instead casting a group of ethnically diverse actors,[118] they realized that a children's television program needed to have, as Lesser put it, "a variety of distinctive and reliable personalities,"[119] both human and Muppet.

Many of their reactions were unpredictable and difficult to control, but the adult cast learned to handle the children's spontaneity flexibly, even when it resulted in departures from the planned script or lesson.

[131][107] In 2021, however, the Sesame Street documentary "50 Years of Sunny Days," which was broadcast nationally on ABC, did not fare well in the ratings,[132] scoring only approximately 2.3 million viewers.

"[144] Critic Richard Roeper said that perhaps one of the strongest indicators of the influence of Sesame Street has been the enduring rumors and urban legends surrounding the show and its characters, especially speculation concerning the sexuality of Bert and Ernie.

[154][note 9] Historian Robert W. Morrow speculated that much of the early criticism, which he called "surprisingly intense,"[13] stemmed from cultural and historical reasons in regards to, as he put it, "the place of children in American society and the controversies about television's effects on them.

"[13] According to Morrow, the "most important" studies finding negative effects of Sesame Street were conducted by educator Herbert A. Sprigle and psychologist Thomas D. Cook during its first two seasons.

By 1971, the CTW hired Hispanic actors, production staff, and researchers, and by the mid-1970s, Morrow reported that "the show included Chicano and Puerto Rican cast members, films about Mexican holidays and foods, and cartoons that taught Spanish words.