“A prime piece of TV real estate is hitting the open market: new episodes of Sesame Street. The long-running children’s series is looking for a new home for its original episodes, after Warner Bros. Discovery opted not to renew the Sesame output deal with HBO and Max…. Sesame Street will get a new look, dropping the ‘magazine’-style format it has had for years, and leaning into longer narrative-led segments.” —The Hollywood Reporter
A24
Season 56 centers on the duo Safdie and Bert. A new Muppet serving as an emotional proxy for swarthy, neurotic young viewers, Safdie takes over from 55-year Sesame Street mainstay Ernie. When a sketchy new landlord (Eric Bogosian) acquires 123 Sesame Street, roomies Safdie and Bert face a choice between a steep rent hike and eviction. By befriending a sentient egg sandwich (voiced by Natasha Lyonne) who teaches them how to count cards, Safdie and Bert make a fortune at Mohegan Sun and return triumphantly to Sesame Street with 10 years’ rent.
Hulu
Was Mr. Hooper actually murdered? Season 56 takes the form of a true-crime documentary series that begins with Biff and Sully, the Muppet construction workers, making a curious discovery beneath the floorboards of Hooper’s Store while performing renovations: an old note, written in Mr. Hooper’s hand, bearing a mysterious numerical sequence, 77345663 5317, and a drawing of a set of jacks. The current operator of Hooper’s Store, Alan (Alan Muraoka), quickly realizes that Sully and Biff have been looking at the note upside down—it actually reads EGGSHELL LIES, and the drawing is of a skull and crossbones. What could it mean? Was Big Bird’s grief in 1983’s classic “Farewell Mr. Hooper” episode an act? Did he poison the beloved shopkeeper? No one on the street is above suspicion, with fingers and feathers pointed everywhere.
CBS
Season 56 of Sesame Street, overseen by veteran producer Chuck Lorre, sees the program renamed Sesame’s House and presented as a three-camera sitcom set entirely at a kitchen table cluttered with coffee mugs, book bags, and body-positive actors. Every three minutes, Cookie Monster says “Me want cookie!” to canned applause.
Netflix
Conceived and directed by Guy Ritchie, Season 56 finds Elmo’s Uncle Ray (Ray Winstone) opening a bespoke tailoring shop ’round the corner in Sesame Row. Elmo learns the difference between houndstooth and barleycorn tweed and looks dead smart in his fancy new clobber. But ev’ryfing goes pear-shaped when a roight coupla bovver boys (Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham) come ’round Uncle Ray’s brandishing a furry red arm. The message to Uncle Ray is clear: turn over a load of dosh or the little red geezer gets it. The old gang of Gordon, Susan, and Maria (Roscoe Orman, Loretta Long, and Sonia Manzano) come out of retirement and help Ray put fings roight whilst spattering their tinted Persol specs and ascot cravats wif bovver-boy blood. (Not suitable for children under 16.)
PBS
Thanks to corporate largesse and contributions from viewers like you, Season 56 finds Sesame Street returning to its original home, “magazine”-style format, and 90-minute running time. The longer narrative is that a new generation of kids learns about letters, numbers, problem-solving, tolerance, and diversity, thereby growing into compassionate, community-minded adults who break the ongoing cycle of American dysfunction.
David Kamp is a Writer at Large at AIR MAIL and the author of several books, including Sunny Days: The Children’s Television Revolution That Changed America
