Documentary
Take a stroll down Sesame Street and witness the birth of the most influential children's show in television history. From the iconic furry characters to the classic songs you know by heart, learn how a gang of visionary creators changed the world.
Directors
Joan Ganz Cooney
Self
Jim Henson
Self (archive footage)
Jon Stone
Self (archive footage)
Frank Oz
Self (archive footage)
Caroll Spinney
Self
Bob McGrath
Self
Sonia Manzano
Self
Emilio Delgado
Self
Lloyd Morrisett
Self
Sharon Lerner
Self
Christopher Cerf
Self
Roscoe Orman
Self
Brian Henson
Self
Lisa Henson
Self
Loretta Long
Self
Fran Brill
Self
Norman Stiles
Self
User reviews1
Review
Featured review
The terrific documentary “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street” features awesome archival footage that takes viewers behind the scenes of the hit children’s television show. Based on the best selling book by Michael Davis, director Marilyn Agrelo‘s film explores the origins of the show and dives deep with intimate video clips from the past, classic scenes from the PBS series, and extensive interviews with the creative visionaries that changed the world of kid’s t.v. forever.
Even if you aren’t a fan of “Sesame Street,” there is so much to love about this film. There’s an extensive history about how the show came to be, including the earliest ideas of using advertising techniques to educated instead of sell to children. There’s Joan Ganz Cooney, who had the brilliant idea of using the medium as a tool to make a quality program that could teach young children through entertainment. One by one, talented innovators were added to the roster, including legendary puppeteer Jim Henson and director Jon Stone, two men who had a huge amount of influence and impact on the show’s success.
The documentary is fast paced and packs in a ton of information in a neat and orderly way. It’s assembled well and is so compelling that I wish the film had been longer. There are countless nuggets of information revealed here, like the fact that the show’s target audience was inner city black children, and that this multicultural representation that was years ahead of its time was actually once banned by broadcast stations in Mississippi. It’s a treasure trove of trivia that will delight anyone familiar with Big Bird, Maria, Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit, Gordon, and the crew.
“Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street” is a time capsule celebration of the revolutionary cultural phenomenon.
screenzealots09 Mar, 2021
Top picks
TV shows and movies just for you
Box office
Budget
$0Gross worldwide
$0More to explore
Editorial lists
Related lists created by IMDb editors
- The Billion-Dollar Film Club: 50+ Movies to Reach $1 Billion Worldwideupdated 1 day ago • 52 images
- The most anticipated sequels, prequels, and spin-offs coming in 2023updated 4 days ago • 26 images
- The best things to watch this weekend: Dec. 16 - Dec. 19updated 2 months ago • 7 images
- December Picks: The Movies and TV You Can't Missupdated 2 monts ago • 20 images
- New and upcoming sequels, prequels, and spin-offsupdated 3 monts ago • 45 images
