HBO Teases New Season of ‘Sesame Street’

It was announced earlier this summer that Sesame Street would air it’s next five seasons on HBO after four decade on PBS. When the deal was announced, it was seen as a win for the cash-strapped Sesame Workshop but it also drew a tremendous amount of criticism from many educational television supporters. The chief complaint was that Sesame Street was being removed from public television and turned over to a premium channel that’s known for it’s less than kid friendly content. For HBO it’s a great move because they are now aligning themselves with the most recognizable children’s program in history. That first season on HBO (Sesame Street’s 46th) – will premiere on January 16th, 2016. Two new 30-minute episodes will air back to back that day.

With Sesame Street’s new half-hour format (On PBS they would run an hour long), several other changes will occur along with the show’s move to HBO. Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of a new cast member, Nina, a young Hispanic Woman. Cookie Monster will have a brand new segment where he fights crime with cookies. Elmo will move into a brownstone at 123 Sesame Street (which is a big step for Elmo) , Cookie Monster will move into an apartment above Hooper’s Store ( poor Alan), Big Bird will settle into a new nest ( Big Bird doesn’t handle change well) and Oscar will be in a new garbage can . Scheduled to appear in the first group of episodes are Gwen Stefani, Pharell, Alan Cumming, and Ne-Yo. The HBO version of Sesame Street will also feature a new theme song.

Reruns of the previous seasons of Sesame Street will still air on PBS five days a week. Sesame Street purists won’t have to wait too long to see the new season of the hit children’s show as it will air on PBS in late 2016.