Sesame Street's Birthday Bash
Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar and Zoe are celebrating their birthday on Monday's The Early Show with a special performance of "Sunny Days" and "Happy Birthday."
Lewis Bernstein, the show's executive producer, visits as well to give a sneak peek at what's new this season and talk about the 35th anniversary celebration.
To mark its birthday, "Sesame Street" has a PBS primetime special premiering Sunday, April 4, at 8 p.m., titled "Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On." The special episode features Elmo and historic flashback moments with cast members including Mr. Hooper, Maria and many others and will re-air in daytime on Monday, April 5, as the season opener on PBS KIDS.
Lots of new features have been added to the new season, including new live action and animation segments, as well as celebrities, to support pre-schoolers in learning more about their ABCs and 123s.
Julianne Moore, Norah Jones, Seth Green, Venus Williams, Martina McBride, Ruben Studdard, Harvey Fierstein, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Franz, Amy Brenneman, Doris Roberts, Wayne Brady, Jason Biggs, Harry Connick Jr. and Cher are some of the stars who will reveal their favorite "Sesame Street Moment" from the last 35 years.
In addition, "Sesame Street" creates some A-list celebrity characters of their own by playing off some of pop culture's news-making icons.
New original parodies include: Dr. Feel ("Dr. Phil"), Joe Hundred Guy ("Joe Millionaire"), TriangleBob Trianglepants ("Spongebob Squarepants"), and a parody of "The Tonight Show."
And some very important "Sesame Street" characteristics will remain in tact such as:
- Two features introduced last season, "Global Grover" and "Global Thingy," return with all-new segments. "Global Grover" was created to help young viewers have an appreciation of other cultures and to understand the world we live in.
- The imaginative, animated short "Global Thingy" puts the emphasis on the importance of social reasoning, cooperation, sharing and empathy.
Produced by the non-profit educational organization Sesame Workshop, Sesame Street is the world's largest informal educator of children around the world.
- In the U.S. alone, there are over 74 million "graduates" of "Sesame Street."
- Over 8 million people in the U.S. tune in to "Sesame Street" each week.
- To date, Sesame Street has won over 90 Emmy Awards - more Emmys than any other television show in history.
- "Sesame Street" and its international co-productions have aired in over 120 countries since its inception, making it the most widely viewed children's series in the world.