Imagine that while watching the "Game of Thrones" title sequence, a neighborhood emerged in the outskirts of Kings Landing with streets dotted with modest brownstone apartments and colorful furry monsters. With "Sesame Street’s" 46th season airing on HBO, the popular children’s show known for its mission to create quality educational television for all children will appear alongside programs which are not so wholesome for young minds, such as "Game of Thrones," "Girls," and "Boardwalk Empire."
HBO is known for making shows that are difficult to watch without a premium subscription, which will make it much harder for young viewers who's parents can't afford cable (let alone an HBO subscription) to watch "Sesame Street." Some have argued that this change will not significantly impact the show because, in nine months, the new episodes will appear on PBS. Nonprofit organizations PBS and the Sesame Workshop were struggling to finance the show in the face of programming competition from other networks and dwindling requests for the licensing of toys and DVDs. With HBO, "Sesame Street" producers now have the resources to improve the show without relying as heavily on merchandising.
That said, appearing on HBO will inevitably alter "Sesame Street's" original target audience. When the show first premiered in 1969, the creators at the Sesame Workshop sought to educate poor kids who were watching more television than rich kids because their parents were so busy working. They believed that "Sesame Street" could bridge the education gap that existed between children of different socioeconomic classes. The show was tailored to the urban poor and their experiences were highlighted on the show. Child were recruited from the inner city as actors on the show, white children were the minority and plot lines revolved around issues that inner city children faced.
The educational and activist components of children's programming are jeopardized by those who seek to make money off of children's programming. Many children's shows target affluent children who will be more active consumers. A more harmful trend is for children's shows to pander to a hip adult audience who will watch for guest appearances from trendy actors or spoofs of popular films, both of which won't appeal to younger viewers but may increase the show's social media presence when older viewers post about it. The gentrification of "Sesame Street" plays into this pattern, where children's programming threatens to exist primarily for the sake of making a profit. Empowering our nation's at-risk youth population will come second.
Arthur Chu of "Salon" remarked, "Every time I see something else tailored to appeal to me and to people like me–educated, well-connected 18-35-year-olds–I wonder what invisible impoverished kid some marketer decided to ignore." Widely accessible outlets like public television and the Internet need to start providing underprivileged kids with television programs that will encourage their educational success. Like kids who's parents can't afford HBO.
