When the first episode aired on Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street revolutionized the way education was presented to children on television. It has since become the longest-running children's show in history, and today reaches 8 million pre-schoolers on 350 PBS stations and airs in 120 countries.
Street Gang is the compelling and often comical story of the creation and history of this media masterpiece and pop culture landmark, told with the cooperation of one of the show's co-founders, Joan Ganz Cooney. Sesame Street was born as the result of a discussion at a dinner party at Conney's home about poor children's programming and hit the air as a big bang of creative fushion from Jim Henson and company, quickly rocketing to success.
This audio is narrated by Caroll Spinney, the voice of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Spinney is the winner of four Emmy Awards and two Grammys, and has received both a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Library of Congress's Living Legend award for his work on Sesame Street. In 2006, Spinney was honored with the National Academy of Telelvsion Arts and Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award.
Download and start listening now!
"Got a little too "studious" at times, but very interesting to hear all the details that went into planning Sesame Street (and the failures when commercial folks attempted to take over). If you haven't, you should also see the documentary about creating Sesame Street in other countries." — Erin (4 out of 5 stars)
"Got a little too "studious" at times, but very interesting to hear all the details that went into planning Sesame Street (and the failures when commercial folks attempted to take over). If you haven't, you should also see the documentary about creating Sesame Street in other countries."
" Totally cool. I've been waiting for this book for years. I was a bit too old for Sesame Street when it came out, but watched it on occasion w/ my younger siblings. Then I watched it again w/ my kids, and wanted to know more about the back story. I finally found out! "
" I loved learning the back story of how Sesame came to be. It's a show that I took for granted but after reading this I can now appreciate the incredible odds that its creators overcame to get it funded and aired. The book however is really tedious. There are so many people discussed and then randomly referred to throughout that it's hard to keep everyone straight. Some back stories seem really irrelevant to the story at hand. Also other threads gets started or hinted at but then never followed up on. I think overall worth the effort but be prepared for a lot of details. "
" Learned a few interesting things about the goings on behind the veil, but a lot of this was oh so dry. "
" I really enjoyed learning about the start of CTW and what inspired/informed Sesame Street. I thought the book was SO SLOW at the beginning but really picked up when the book explored how CTW came to be and how the first shows were designed. "
" I fully expected to like this book, as I adore Sesame Street and grew up with it. However, it went into such minute detail about every possible person connected to the creation of the show that it bogged itself down. And it contains one of the cheesiest lines ever, "his trip down the birth canal was delayed....." Awful. "
" I think I was hoping for a book more about the characters of Sesame Street and less about the business of getting the show up and running. It went into great detail about EVERYONE, which got old at times. That being said, I learned a lot about children's programming that I would have never known before. It made me want to go back and re-watch some Sesame Street from when I was a kid before it got saturated with stupid Elmo. "
" I now know more about Sesame Street than I ever wanted to know! "
" It was slow going at first. Once the show got going and the people I knew and loved came into play, I enjoyed the book far more. Glad to know there are people in the world devoted enough to what they believe in to get things like Sesame Street up and running. "
" Confession: Didn't finish it, it got weighted down and pendantic telling personal history about behind-the-scenes people. I really wanted to hear more about Henson, Oz, etc. Suppose I could have skipped around but didn't want to persevere -- so many other good reads out there! "
" Exhaustively researched, and for that reason, it is awesome. It's a little heavier on the back story than I'd prefer, which makes the last part of the story feel a bit rushed. Howeva, still a pretty interesting read. "
" The audio book is read by Big Bird. It is amusing at first but over the length of the book it begins to get annoying. "
" I didn't much care for reading about the life story of most of the people involved with the creation of Sesame Street and there were a lot of boring details that I think could have been left out. The parts that actually discussed the show directly were interesting, however. "
" i was very disappointed at how BORING this book was. I had to force myself to finish it. "
" great googley moogley was this a dry read. how an author can take such a cool subject, and turn it into the most boring thing committed to paper is truly beyond me. feh. "
Michael Davis was a senior editor and family television columnist for TV Guide from 1998–2007. A Neiman fellow, he has also worked for the Baltimore Sun and Chicago Sun-Times.
Audiobooks Were Restored to Your Cart
[ShoppingCartItemsAddedOnMerge] audiobook(s) were left in your cart from a previous visit, and saved to your account for your convenience. You may view or remove these audiobooks on the shopping cart page.