Sesame Street is moving to HBO. They will run this season for 9 months on HBO and then will move the season to PBS. The other change is they are adjusting the format from 1 hour to 30 minute episodes.
What do you think about this change?
Some more info: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/2016/01/12/9350ec70-b491-11e5-9388-466021d971de_story.html?wpisrc=nl_draw2
pomelo / 5678 posts
Are toddlers now really "media drenched?" That's terrible. And why cater to THAT? I guess I shouldn't expect so much and I'm glad, I suppose, that we don't have tv.
I don't really know what to say. Kind of sad, but I guess it figures?
coconut / 8234 posts
I understand the need for a move to HBO to help save the show but this is not in line with why Sesame Street began, to educate low income children. Kids won't care about not getting the new content for 9 months but it's the principle--now families who subscribe to HBO get first dibs over the kids whose parents don't. But hey, principles don't pay the bills.
pomelo / 5573 posts
I find it super frustrating because they took all their episodes down from Netflix. My son loves Sesame Street and keeps asking to watch it but we don't get HBO so now we're screwed.
pomelo / 5678 posts
@mrsjazz: good point! That's kind of terrible.
@erinbaderin: that's really crappy.
honeydew / 7622 posts
I just saw an ad for it yesterday, but it did not register that it's less inclusive since we have always had HBO. The new shooting style/modernization looks like something that will be more appealing to parents but the points here are a bummer. I did not watch much SS, and T is too young for TV, so I can't speak on it/don't know its history.
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
I don't think kids really care if the episodes are "fresh" or not... they will watch whatever is showing. If we're not going to provide public funding for Sesame Street, then I think we don't get a lot of say as to whether or not they can seek private funding to keep their mission alive!
persimmon / 1436 posts
The whole thing gets a WTF from me. I'm fine with cutting the episodes in half but everything else? There are so many licensed SS products that it seems hard to believe they can't keep the show on the air on public tv.
eggplant / 11824 posts
@mrsjazz: YES, so much yes. It really bums me out that SS is moving to HBO because it's such a departure from it's entire original (and continuing) purpose. And one more thing that the "wealthy" get better/first access to.
pomegranate / 3331 posts
I'm interested to see how it differs from the SS we're used to. I'm disappointed they are cutting back on the spoofs of movies/tv shows, because that's always my favorite part, but I do realize i'm not the target audience 
I've been frustrated lately with PBS playing the same episodes over and over the past month or so, so i'm ready for the switch at this point - only so many times i can watch the same episode, and we watch an ep every morning while DH and I get ready for work
grapefruit / 4355 posts
I can't fault Sesame Workshop. If they aren't getting enough money to continue existing at PBS, they have to look elsewhere.
And it isn't like Sesame Street will not be on free TV. PBS will just be showing re-runs (and I've never known a kid to care if the show they are watching is a re-run or a first airing).
nectarine / 2085 posts
Lack of public funding doesn't seem to have been the chief--or even a major--source of Sesame Workshop's financial woes. NYT wrote back when the deal was announced that historically they got less than 10% of their funding from PBS. The rest was DVD sales and such and those had tanked.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/business/media/sesame-street-heading-to-hbo-in-fall.html
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
@erinbaderin: We still have it on Hulu!
I don't really care because LO has no idea what is a new or old episode. We'll continue to watch it on Hulu, iTunes, and PBS Kids.
pear / 1622 posts
We've been watching clips of SS on youtube and LO loves it. I heard the theme song is going to change as well as the set - which bothers me more than PBS not getting the roll out of the new episodes.
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