The beloved show’s reprieve from streaming limbo will come with some changes once the new season hits Netflix later this year.
Photo: PBS/Everett Collection
The letter of the day is S — for streaming or salvation, depending on your perspective. Sesame Street, home of beloved Muppets like Elmo, Big Bird, and Abby Cadabby, is coming to Netflix for its next season after spending about five years on Max (née HBO Max, give or take a rebrand) and recently losing its contract with the service. Today, Netflix announced that it has picked up the show for a reformatted 56th season along with 90 hours of back-catalogue Sesame Street programming. The episodes will drop on Netflix later this year, while the show will be available on PBS platforms and air on PBS in the U.S., as it has since 1970.
The new season will be the same Sesame Street parents and kids know and love, but Netflix and the Sesame Workshop have also teased some changes. The biggest change will be to the show’s release schedule: Season 56 will drop on Netflix in three batches of episodes, while individual episodes will get day-and-date releases on PBS and the PBS Kids app; in the HBO Max–Max era, new episodes went to PBS months after their Max release. The half-hour episodes will now center on an 11-minute story, a longer format that, per Netflix, allows for “more character-driven humor and heart.” Added to the episodes this season: the animated segment “Tales From 123,” focused on stories in Sesame Street’s apartment building; new animation overlays and to-camera moments; and the return of fan-favorite segments “Elmo’s World” and “Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck.”
This Netflix pickup ends, for now, the existential uncertainty around the future of one of the most respected children’s TV shows ever created. Max pulling the plug on Big Bird last year cut off a major lifeline to the Sesame Workshop, led to the nonprofit studio laying off 20 percent of its staff a few months ago, and kicked off its search for a new streaming home. The Netflix deal gives the Workshop some breathing room and a larger subscribership that will now be able to access the show in addition to providing free access for the program on another platform. “This unique public-private partnership ensures children in communities across the U.S. continue to have free access on PBS KIDS to the Sesame Street they love,” said Sesame Workshop CEO Sherrie Westin.
Is it a little weird that, per the terms of the deal, “Netflix will also be able to develop video games for both Sesame Street and Sesame Street Mecha Builders”? Yes, but let’s not think too hard about it.
