Fun Facts About Sesame Street for 2026

Sesame Street is a landmark American educational children’s television series that premiered on November 10, 1969. Created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, the show was designed to make learning engaging—helping kids build early literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional skills through a mix of live-action, animation, music, and puppetry.

Set in a friendly (and fictional) New York City neighborhood, Sesame Street introduced generations to iconic characters like Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch. It also helped pioneer research-based children’s programming, pairing entertainment with educational outcomes at a scale few series have ever matched.

Facts About Sesame Street

• Production Company: Sesame Workshop (formerly Children’s Television Workshop)
• Creators: Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett
• Original Network: PBS
• Premium-TV Era (U.S.): HBO / Max (beginning January 16, 2016)
• Current U.S. Home for New Episodes: Netflix + PBS / PBS KIDS (same-day)
• Max Library Availability: Older episodes remain on Max through at least 2027
• Theme Music: Joe Raposo, Jon Stone, and Bruce Hart

Additional Sesame Street Fun Facts

1. Oscar the Grouch was originally orange.
2. Cookie Monster wasn’t created specifically for Sesame Street—he appeared earlier in commercials.
3. Guy Smiley’s full name is Bernie Liederkrantz.
4. The first guest on Sesame Street was James Earl Jones.
5. Elmo has testified before Congress.
6. “Rubber Duckie” (sung by Ernie) reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970.
7. The Sesame Street theme is commonly known as “Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?” and was written by Joe Raposo with Jon Stone and Bruce Hart.
8. Big Bird is about 8’2″ tall.
9. Mr. Hooper’s first name was Harold. Actor Will Lee died in 1982.
10. Grover was originally a greenish-brown character sometimes referred to as “Gleep.”
11. Superman and Batman appeared in Season 1 of Sesame Street (see: Superman and Batman).
12. In 2025, Sesame Workshop announced a new distribution era: new episodes would debut on Netflix while continuing to be available in the U.S. on PBS stations and PBS KIDS platforms.
13. Season 56 was described as a “reimagined” format, including episodes structured around a single 11-minute story per episode, alongside refreshed segments and presentation.
14. Warner Bros. Discovery chose not to renew the arrangement for new episodes on Max, though the existing library remains available there through at least 2027.