AILSA CHANG, HOST:
It's official. "Sesame Street" is looking for a new home. This comes after Warner Bros. Discovery decided to not renew a deal for new episodes of the children's show on HBO and Max. You will still be able to watch old episodes for a while. "Sesame Street's" library will stay on Max through 2027, but the show's future is up in the air. So we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the show's legacy with Marilyn Agrelo. She's the director of the 2021 documentary "Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street." She joins us now. Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
MARILYN AGRELO: Thank you so much for having me and for inviting me to speak about this.
CHANG: Well, yeah, I mean, what was your initial reaction when you first heard the news that HBO was not going to be renewing its deal with "Sesame Street"?
AGRELO: You know, my reaction was deep disappointment. I am frustrated that Max is looking at this as just any children's program. They said it was not in the core of our strategy, and they're not seeing really what "Sesame Street" is. It is so much more than that.
CHANG: How did you feel about the whole move to HBO originally?
AGRELO: You know, the core philosophy of "Sesame Street" was always to reach the inner city child, to reach the kids that were not able to have the same level of education as other children. So moving to HBO in the first place was problematic for me because it put "Sesame Street" out of reach for kids whose parents couldn't afford premium cable. So that's already the beginning of the problem, I think.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, you know, so many of us grew up with the show, including myself. So we kind of take it for granted that it'll always exist. But back when it all first started, "Sesame Street" was kind of a revolutionary idea, right? Like, can you talk about that?
AGRELO: Revolutionary is exactly the right word. I know that I'm a little biased because I made this documentary about the origins of "Sesame Street," but to me, this is so much more than a children's show. It was started by activists. It was intended always as a force for social justice. And this show that was created for 3- and 4-year-olds was the first television show in television history to feature an integrated cast - Black and white people living in the same neighborhood, in the same building, even. This had never been seen before on television and initially created some problems for "Sesame Street."
CHANG: How so?
AGRELO: Well, in Mississippi, the show was banned because many viewers felt that it was unacceptable to have this mixed-race cast. Another thing that blows me away is that within three months of "Sesame Street" airing, you had movie stars, sports stars, musical stars, even heads of state knocking on the doors to be on this program. It was that...
CHANG: Yeah.
AGRELO: ...Wildly successful.
CHANG: "Sesame Street" was a destination if you had made it.
AGRELO: Absolutely. And, you know, now there are grandparents who grew up learning to read and learning about numbers from "Sesame Street" whose grandchildren are now the beneficiaries of this program. To think that it could disappear off the airwaves is really sad to me.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, you know, a spokesperson for Max says that the company's just prioritizing its focus on stories for adults and families. But obviously, programming just for kids is important, too, right? What do you think we lose when we focus on content for, quote, "adults and families" rather than just solely for children?
AGRELO: We lose the purity of a message that is intended to help society, not just to make money. You know, this is the same thing that's happening in Hollywood, where independent films that have an important message are being sidelined for franchises and, you know, money-making blockbusters. "Sesame Street" is so much more than all of that, and it has touched so many people's lives. I am very hopeful that it will find a home because it is revolutionary still today. We can remember back in the '90s, when the right-wing members of Congress were threatening to slash PBS' budget, and "Sesame Street" had the audacity to send Big Bird to walk down the halls of Congress.
CHANG: (Laughter).
AGRELO: And senators were literally running away from him 'cause they were afraid to be photographed next to Big Bird...
CHANG: Right, right.
AGRELO: ...'Cause the headlines would be so damaging. I mean, that's the clout of "Sesame Street," and it always has been, and I trust that it will continue to be so.
CHANG: I hope it does find a new home. Marilyn Agrelo, director of the 2021 documentary "Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street." Thank you so much, Marilyn.
AGRELO: Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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