1 of 1- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline 
Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Apparently, the creators of the now groundbreaking show absolutely hated the name and were worried kids would pronounce it as See Same. They tried hard to find another moniker, but in the end, reluctantly accepted the title. That's just one of the many revelations in the article below.
(Notice in the picture that Oscar the Grouch was originally orange, not green. I guess it was easier being green!)
The Surprising Thing ‘Sesame Street’s Creators Hated About the Show
By the way, did you know the CRTC had to give its approval to get the educational program shown in Canada? I have no real idea why they would have had any say in this, because aren't program decisions up to the individual stations or networks, CanCon rules notwithstanding? And what is that reference to the two soap operas supposedly being forced off Canadian airwaves? I have no memory of that happening. Either way, I'm glad the Commission no longer has that power or it seems we'd be watching nothing but "The Nature of Things" on every channel.
This is from April 4, 1970:
And there's this tidbit from a broadcast magazine, a one sentence weird little mystery from a now defunct AM station in Ajax. What in the world could this have been about in Feb. 1972?
- Retrontario
- Member
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
In my new book "ImagiNation - The Golden Age of Toronto Kids' TV" I cover the CRTC/Sesame Street debacle quite a bit. My favourite revelation is that the shows' biggest champion at the CBC was in fact Knowlton Nash, who also helped mold the eventual Canadianized version
- Easily Amused
- Member
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Living in the Niagara Peninsula, and grabbing television signals out of the air, my children grew up with both the Canadian and US versions. They knew who Mike Collins and Goldie were before they knew some of their distant relatives.
- newsguy1
- Member
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
I was too old to be a Sesame Street kid, but I do appreciate its groundbreaking influence on children's TV programming.
But there was another show that became a Sesame Street imitator for older kids, and it spawned myriad famous stars and showcased current ones.
That was The Electric Company which ran from 1971 to '77.
It starred a young cool black guy called Easy Reader, who read words out loud.
That guy was Morgan Freeman.
There was also a quirky young woman with a nasal gravelly voice.
Julie Kavner.
Her voice lives on to this day as Marge Simpson.
Also featured was Latina actress Rita Moreno.
And, the show featured an actor in a perfect Spider Man costume.
Unfortunately Bill Cosby also appeared.
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
newsguy1 wrote:
I was too old to be a Sesame Street kid, but I do appreciate its groundbreaking influence on children's TV programming.
But there was another show that became a Sesame Street imitator for older kids, and it spawned myriad famous stars and showcased current ones.
That was The Electric Company which ran from 1971 to '77.
It starred a young cool black guy called Easy Reader, who read words out loud.
That guy was Morgan Freeman.
There was also a quirky young woman with a nasal gravelly voice.
Julie Kavner.
Her voice lives on to this day as Marge Simpson.
Also featured was Latina actress Rita Moreno.
And, the show featured an actor in a perfect Spider Man costume.
Unfortunately Bill Cosby also appeared.
But the best character name on The Electric Company had to be a guy who tried to decode the basics of things like grammar and spelling. His name and title? Fargo North, Decoder.
As a fan of great puns, that's genius.
- •
Thread Starter- BowmanvilleBob
- Member
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Uncle Knowlty’s autobiography made reference to his work on Sesame Street. He pointed out that it drove him nuts to hear Canadian kids using “zee” instead of “zed” and felt that Sesame Street was partly the cause. He also used statistics from teachers who said that Canadian kiddos coming into kindergarten had more knowledge of Spanish than French. That helped push him and others to lobby for a domestic edition that eventually became Sesame Park.
Last edited by BowmanvilleBob (November 13, 2025 8:50 pm)
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Uncle Knowlty’s autobiography made reference to his work on Sesame Street. He pointed out that it drove him nuts to hear Canadian kids using “zee” instead of “zed” and felt that Sesame Street was partly the cause. He also used statistics from teachers who said that Canadian kiddos coming into kindergarten had more knowledge of Spanish than French. That helped push him and others to lobby for a domestic edition that eventually became Sesame Park.
Wow, never knew about that! I remember that they introduced French language segments, but I didn't know they'd done a completely different show just for Canuck kids. I learn something new here everyday.
And like almost everything in the known universe, there's a sample of it on YouTube.
- •
Thread Starter- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
In my new book "ImagiNation - The Golden Age of Toronto Kids' TV" I cover the CRTC/Sesame Street debacle quite a bit. My favourite revelation is that the shows' biggest champion at the CBC was in fact Knowlton Nash, who also helped mold the eventual Canadianized version
Haven't gotten to that part yet, but it's a great book and I'm really enjoying it. A real valuable bit of otherwise forgotten Toronto TV history.
- •
Thread Starter- Retrontario
- Member
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Thanks so much RA!
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Must have been fun to work on. I'm wondering what, if anything, you had to leave out for space or rights issues.
- •
Thread Starter- Retrontario
- Member
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Sadly there were 100s of photos that I could not license from the CBC because I could not find anyone related to the performer or representing their estates. Even images of puppets needed to be signed off on. It is a minor miracle I was able to track down the grand children of Bob Homme and with their help get the images of Friendly Giant... Hopefully Volume 2 will follow at some point with the animated series which I had to park, otherwise the size of the book would have been simply untenable!
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Let us know here when it's released and I'm sure Toronto Mike would welcome you back for another go-round.
- •
Thread Starter- mace
- Member
Offline
Re: Why Sesame Street Almost Wasn't Named Sesame Street
Sadly there were 100s of photos that I could not license from the CBC because I could not find anyone related to the performer or representing their estates. Even images of puppets needed to be signed off on. It is a minor miracle I was able to track down the grand children of Bob Homme and with their help get the images of Friendly Giant... Hopefully Volume 2 will follow at some point with the animated series which I had to park, otherwise the size of the book would have been simply untenable!
I too am enjoying the book. I admit to being a bit disappointed there weren't more photos. Now I know why.