Sesame Workshop
With networks deep into their Fall schedules at this point and Thanksgiving on the horizon in the US. a time when many shows take a break to make way for special event programming, there is not much new under the sun this week through the decades. But there is one program that premiered in 1969 that endures today. Do you know how to get there? Read on to find out more!
1959
- No new series premiered this week in 1959.
1969
- November 10 — Children’s educational series Sesame Street premieres on PBS. The show was produced by the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW), now Sesame Workshop, and was created by Joan Ganz and Lloyd Morrisett. The show combines live action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry from Jim Henson’s Muppets. First run episodes of the show aired on PBS until 2015 with new episodes becoming available on HBO starting in January of 2016 (new episodes would debut on PBS nine months after the HBO broadcast). Beginning in 2020, the show will move once again to the HBO Max streaming service. The show was conceived to ‘master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them’ such as helping children prepare for school. By the show’s 50th anniversary, there were over 150 versions produced in 70 languages. Over the years the show has faced severe financial issues leading CTW to branch out into publishing with over 6,500 book titles published to date. When approached to market the Muppets, Henson was reluctant but agreed when CTW promised profits from Muppets products would be used exclusively to fund CTW and its outreach efforts. CTW demanded complete control over all products, declaring them to be educational and inexpensive before going to market, and could not be advertised on the show. The show is also known for its music and songs, and was able to attract songwriters like Joe Raposo to the show by guaranteeing they would retain the rights to their work. By 2019, there have been 180 albums of the show’s music released with 11 Grammys awarded to the songwriters. A new deal with Warner Music Group in 2018 brought an extensive catalog of Sesame Street music to various formats for the first time in 20 years. With the show’s popularity and the enduring appeal of the Muppets, Sesame Street has attracted a wide variety of celebrity guests including Paula Abdul, Amy Adams, Buzz Aldrin, Jason Alexander, Muhammad Ali, Julie Andrews, ALec Baldwin, Kristen Bell, Tony Bennett, Beyoncé, Carol Burnett, Lauren Bacall, David Beckham, Samantha Bee, Harry Belafonte, David Bowie, James Brown, Sid Caesar, Cab Calloway, John Candy, Jim Carrey, Henry Cavill, Carol Channing, Cher, Glenn Close … and many, many more. To date there have been nearly 4,500 episodes produced. Two Sesame Street theatrical films have also been produced: Follow That Bird in 1985 and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland in 1999.
1979
- No new series premiered this week in 1979.
1989
- No new series premiered this week in 1989.
1999
- November 12 — Animated horror comedy series Courage the Cowardly Dog debuts on Cartoon Network. The title character is a pink, anthropomorphic dog who lives with an elderly couple in a farmhouse in the middle of Nowhere. In each episode, the characters experience bizarre and disturbing paramormal or supernatural misadventures. A pilot episode for the series titled ‘The Chicken from Outer Space’ was produced for Cartoon Network’s ‘What a Cartoon!’ showcase and was released theatrically, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short (it lost to the Wallace & Gromit short ‘A Close Shave’). Cartoon Network greenlit the series based on the success of the short. The show’s premiere was the highest in Cartoon Network’s history at the time. The show ran for four 13-episode seasons, producing 53 episodes in all. The show aired in reruns on Cartoon Network from 2002-2015 making it the longest rerunning Cartoon Network original. The show is currently available to stream on the Boomerang subscription service.
2009
- November 16 — Reality series Chef Academy debuts on Bravo. The series featured Chef Jean Christophe Novelli as he opened a test program for a culinary institute in Los Angeles. Nine students competed in weekly tests varying from desserts to gutting a fish or recreating one of Novelli’s dishes. At the end of the test, the students would receive a pass or fail grade, and if a student failed three tests they were dismissed from the Academy. Only two of the nine failed three times but Novelli gave them another chance. By the eighth week, only one student, Suzanne Winn, had been eliminated but was asked back to host the gala for the final challenge. The show did not have a true winner but Kyle Daley was given the title of Best Chef on the final episode of the season. Only one season of nine episodes was produced. The finale aired on January 11, 2010.
Did you or do you watch any of these show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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