2021 Directed by Marilyn Agrelo
Take a stroll down Sesame Street and witness the birth of the most influential children's show in television history. From the iconic furry characters to the classic songs you know by heart, learn how a gang of visionary creators changed the world.
Joan Ganz Cooney Jim Henson Jon Stone Frank Oz Caroll Spinney Bob McGrath Sonia Manzano Emilio Delgado Lloyd Morrisett Sharon Lerner Christopher Cerf Roscoe Orman Brian Henson Lisa Henson Loretta Long Fran Brill Norman Stiles Holly Robinson Peete James Earl Jones Stevie Wonder Muhammad Ali Matt Robinson Odetta Jesse Jackson Joe Raposo Nick Raposo Johnny Cash Dizzy Gillespie Johnny Carson Show All…
Citizen Skull Productions Macrocosm Entertainment HBO Documentary Films Screen Media Films JustFilms / Ford Foundation
SUNDANCE 2021: film #9
“we’re trying to sell the alphabet to preschool children”
i laughed, i cried, i learned, and what more could i possibly want from a documentary about puppets?
Is it possible to post cringe on Letterboxd? I definitely saw the “Mr. Hooper Died” episode in real time as a young child and it’s probably not overstating things to say it was a monumental gateway to understanding mortality. Anyway, Sesame Street is bedrock for a lot of people like me and should be constantly celebrated. Decent, fun, intelligent, and creative as a way of life.
75%
Sundance
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street is just a delightful documentary. I grew up with Sesame Street so this was really enjoyable for me. It’s heartwarming and sweet. It was interested by it and that’s really what all documentaries should strive for. It’s just so cute. It was such a great way to start my day! Now it’s not necessarily presented in the most original looking away. It’s the standard documentary style. But I just love it. So enjoyable. So fun. So interesting. Definitely a must watch for any fan of Sesame Street! Overall Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street is really great.
🔙The Intouchables
🔜❓
A documentary just to hang,
With all of the Sesame gang.
They'll go over,
How Kermit and Grover,
Came up with the songs that they sang.
The amount of love I have for Sesame Street and all of the muppets is beyond words, so I was gonna love this regardless.
The doc is a pretty standard presentation of the early days of Sesame Street, but you can tell how much love and passion is imbued in this project (from the people they interview to the actual production of the doc), and the end result is an immensely caring portrait of one of the most important shows ever made. It also tackles two of the most emotional moments ever broadcasted with extreme care, and even if it was more the content of the doc than the actual way it was presented, I was still crying buckets at points.
Anyone who holds even the faintest kernel of love for Sesame Street should see this!
If you weren't vibing to Put Down The Duckie during the credits, I just feel sorry for you.
Based on the book Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street by author Michael Davis, this documentary version relates how the beloved Sesame Street came into existence in the late nineteen sixties.
It charts how the civil rights movement inspired it and how it arose as a reaction to live-action shows that were merely created to sell products to youngsters. It takes full advantage of outtakes and excerpts, both recent and archival, focusing specifically on the early years of the iconic program, illuminating who, beyond Muppets creator Jim Henson, established it as one of the most illustrious programs in television history.
It limelights interviews from the founder, and first executive director of the Children's Television Workshop, Joan Ganz Cooney,…
Ain’t no preschool for dis fool! Big Bird taught my ABC’s, Grover got my spatial awareness in check, the Count got my number game on point and Bert and Ernie showed me gay couples did just as much bickering as mom and pops!
But wait…this doc only covers the first few years of life on da street?!? No Elmo? No Follow that Bird?!??
Release the Snyder cut!
It’s hard not to adore a documentary centered around one of the most formative American television programs of the past five decades. From a general viewpoint and from a personal one, I had such a pleasant time returning to one of the first streets I knew by name.
Street Gang is a well-polished, broad documentary centered primarily around the first few decades of the beloved Sesame Street and the visionaries behind its creation. While covering a lot of information I didn’t know, I also found myself feeling left on the outside to the true candidness of the issues it brings up. There’s some considerably serious subject matter touched on but only lightly.
All the same, Street Gang is a lovely watch and would make a great companion to Won’t You Be My Neighbor.
SIFF 2021 Watch #7
"I remember thinking 'who the hell's going to watch this shit?'" -Producer,
- 2021 Ranked: boxd.it/aL2Ys
- Sundance 2021 Ranked: boxd.it/b1NDo
Educational Heroes.
What a fantastic tale. It's a group of people that said "fuck educational inequality we are going to bring learning to everyone" and then they fucking did it and in some ways it worked. They did research to figure out what was best for children, when they didn't know the answer they used social science to figure it out, when the community had problems they would listen and try to respond in a helpful way. So few groups of people really help to change the world and they did.
This doc does such a good job of…
when i was 3 years old my parents asked me what they should name my little sister and i said Kermit and they went with Renee and i'm still mad about it
