Influence of Sesame Street
A heavily researched program with lasting cultural impact.
Sesame Street, which premiered in 1969, has been the subject of extensive research and controversy throughout its history. By 2001, over 1,000 studies had examined its efficacy, impact, and effect on American culture. The show has also received 118 Emmy Awards by 2009, more than any other television series.
Quick Facts
- Premiere year
- 1969
- Nielsen rating at premiere
- 3.3
- Households at premiere
- 1.9 million
Facts from the source article.
Ratings
When Sesame Street premiered in 1969, it aired on only 67.6% of American televisions but earned a 3.3 Nielsen rating, or 1.9 million households. The Children's Television Workshop (CTW) argued that these ratings were misleading, as about a quarter of all preschoolers watched it regularly, and 90% of households viewing the show had children under six. In winter 1970, a CTW poll of four urban neighborhoods in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. yielded positive results in three of them, confirming high viewership. Ratings increased during the second season, with Nielsen reporting high audience loyalty. By the show's tenth anniversary in 1979, 9 million American children under six watched daily; four out of five children had watched over a six-week period, and 90% of children from low-income inner-city homes were regular viewers. A 1993 survey by the US Department of Education found that out of 6.6 million viewers, 2.4 million kindergartners watched regularly, and 77% of preschoolers watched once a week. The show reached most young children across demographic groups, with 88% of children from low-income families and 90% of African-American and Latino children watching before kindergarten. Children from the poorest communities were most likely to be regular viewers, while children whose parents did not read to them regularly were less likely to be regular viewers.
Effect
According to writer Michael Davis, Sesame Street is "perhaps the most vigorously researched, vetted, and fretted-over program". By 2001, over 1,000 research studies had examined its efficacy, impact, and effect on American culture. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) conducted two landmark summative evaluations in 1970 and 1971, which demonstrated that the show had a significant educational impact on its viewers. These studies provided the majority of early evidence of the show's educational effects and have been cited in other studies of television's effects on young children. Additional studies throughout the show's history continued to show positive effects on young viewers. Gerald S. Lesser believed that Sesame Street research "may have conferred a new respectability upon the studies of the effects of visual media upon children" and had a similar effect on the prestige of producing children's television. Historian Robert Morrow reported that many critics of commercial television saw Sesame Street as a "straightforward illustration for reform". The networks responded by creating more high-quality programs, though many saw these as "appeasement gestures". Commercial television made only limited efforts to emulate CTW's methods, and by the mid-1970s, commercial television abandoned experiments with better children's programming.
Critical reception
From its very first year on air in 1969, Sesame Street drew widespread acclaim. Newsday noted that many newspapers and magazines had offered glowing praise for the Children's Television Workshop and co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney. Time Magazine put Big Bird on its cover—the character had already received more fan mail than any human host—and called the show the best children's program in television history, as well as one of the best for parents. The press, both mainstream and specialized, was overwhelmingly positive. A 2010 survey showed that most parents approved of their children watching Sesame Street and other PBS educational series, and many teachers used them as classroom tools. David Frost called the show a hit everywhere it went. Timothy Green described it as a colorful, original, and vital oasis in the desert of American television. An ABC executive admitted the show wasn't perfect but said it brought taste, wit, and substance to children's TV and created a climate for improvement. By the end of its first season, the song "Rubber Duckie" spent nine weeks on the music charts, and Big Bird appeared on The Flip Wilson Show. In 1970, Sesame Street won twenty awards, including a Peabody, three Emmys, a Clio, and the Prix Jeunesse. President Richard Nixon sent Cooney a congratulatory letter. Dr. Benjamin Spock predicted the program would produce better-trained citizens and fewer people on welfare or in jail. By 1995, the show had earned two Peabody Awards and four Parents' Choice Awards. It was featured in a traveling Smithsonian exhibition and a film exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. In 2002, TV Guide ranked it 27th on its list of the best TV shows ever; in 2013, it placed 30th on the magazine's list of the 60 best series. As of 2018, Sesame Street had won 189 Emmys.
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