Influence of Sesame Street
The children's television program Sesame Street premiered in 1969 to high ratings, positive reviews, and some controversy, which have continued during its history.
[2] The Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the organization that oversaw the production of Sesame Street, insisted that its seemingly low ratings were misleading.
[3] In the winter of 1970, partly as a response to criticism that they were not reaching their intended audience, the CTW conducted a poll of four urban neighborhoods in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
[5] Gerald S. Lesser, CTW's first advisory board chair, reported rumors about the show becoming a fad among college students.
[12] By 2006, Sesame Street had become "the most widely viewed children's television show in the world", with 20 international independent versions and broadcasts in over 120 countries.
[18] ETS' two "landmark"[19] summative evaluations, conducted in 1970 and 1971, demonstrated that Sesame Street had a significant educational impact on its viewers.
[19][note 1] Additional studies conducted throughout Sesame Street's history demonstrated that the show continued to have a positive effect on its young viewers.
[note 2] Lesser believed that Sesame Street research "may have conferred a new respectability upon the studies of the effects of visual media upon children".
[25] Other critics hoped that Sesame Street, with its depiction of a functioning, multicultural community, would nurture racial tolerance in its young viewers.
[26] As critic Richard Roeper has stated, perhaps one of the strongest indicators of the influence of Sesame Street have been the enduring rumors and urban legends surrounding the show and its characters, especially about Bert and Ernie.
[29] An executive at ABC, while recognizing that Sesame Street was not perfect, stated that the show "opened children's TV to taste and wit and substance"... and "made the climate right for improvement".
[43][note 3] Historian Robert W. Morrow suggested that much of the early criticism, which he called "surprisingly intense",[44] 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".
[44] The "most important"[45] studies that found negative effects of Sesame Street were conducted by educator Herbert A. Sprigle and psychologist Thomas D. Cook during its first two seasons.
[46] Social scientist and Head Start founder Urie Bronfenbrenner criticized the show for being too wholesome, stating, "The old, the ugly or the unwanted is simply made to disappear through a manhole".
[29] He also criticized the show for presenting bland and unrealistic characters, and for failing to teach children about social relationships and how to become a part of the society around them.
[47] Psychologist Leon Eisenberg saw Sesame Street's urban setting as "superficial" and having little to do with the problems confronted by the inner-city child.
[48] Head Start director Edward Zigler was probably Sesame Street's most vocal critic in the show's early years.
Morrow suggested that the basis of Zigler's criticism was concern that the federal government would transfer their funding of Head Start to CTW.
[15] A committee of Hispanic activists, commissioned by the CTW in 1970, called Sesame Street "racist" and said that the show's bilingual aspects were of "poor quality and patronizing".
[53] By 1971, the CTW hired Hispanic actors, production staff, and researchers, and by the mid-70s, Morrow reported that "the show included Chicano and Puerto Rican cast members, films about Mexican holidays and foods, and cartoons that taught Spanish words".
[54] In 1989, Sesame Street created a four-year "race relations curriculum"[55] that focused on introducing its viewers to various cultural backgrounds.
[57] In the spring of 1970, Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman objected to what she considered Sesame Street's portrayal of women and girls as passive.
[58] Another source of friction between the CTW and feminists were the lack of female Muppets, for which they held Jim Henson responsible, as well as his organization of all-male puppeteers, who tended to create male characters.
[59] As an interesting contrast, Sesame Street was also chastised by a Louisiana critic for the presence of strong single women on the show.
[63] The controversy in the U.S. was short-lived, and died down when the public discovered the facts about the South African co-production, and when United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and prominent minister and conservative political commentator Jerry Falwell praised the Workshop's efforts.
