Oh, they’ll be going back to PBS eventually. All the ones shown on HBO will show on PBS…
…after a nine month time period delay.
Well, as long as all parties are happy and it works out for everyone…
This does give rise to a few jokes, though. Like, will we see Game of Thrones and Sesame Street crossovers?
Will Sesame Street start to have continuing episodes where they show it from different perspectives each season, like the shipyards, the druggies, the cops…ala The Wire?
Will they start having each episode begin with a death and the finale will show how all the characters died, in the future?
Just watched it, and it’s pretty clever (for adults who have seen GoT).
Muppet Jon: “Can we hurry this up? I have a wedding to get to.”
Muppet Joffrey: “Did I lose?” “Yes, it looks like you choked.”
Grover Bluejoy: “Can I get a sweater? I think winter is coming.”
Also note the last chair, a throne made of irons (the kind you golf with).
Actually a great move. There was speculation that PBS would have do the unthinkable and cancel Sesame Street since they can’t really afford it anymore. The HBO deal allows for the show to continue and more episodes to be filmed, and they’ll make it on PBS eventually.
I’m not that surprised. HBO doesn’t have a lot of kids offerings and if they want to grow their market share, that’s a logical direction to move in.
It is ironic that it’s moved from the freely available public station, bypassed all the advertising-supported for-profit TV and went straight to user-paid, subscription-only TV.
If they had to go commercial in some way, this is probably better. Would you prefer to have Sesame Street sponsored by companies selling unhealthy cereals and candy to kids?
If the choice was between this and cancellation, then it’s hard to argue with it. It will still be on PBS for free 9 months later.
I almost wonder if HBO isn’t acting somewhat altruistically in this case. Realistically, how many families will subscribe to HBO for Sesame Street, especially when it will still be available on PBS?
I’m all in favor of it, honestly. Government funding of PBS is the tiniest blip on my political radar, but I’d just as soon axe it. That’s another debate, though.
As for who might subscribe, it will be interesting to see. I have never subscribed to premium cable channels and would certainly not subscribe for a single show… but I know that some people do.
Maybe more important, though: HBO’s content is available on demand or online. Parents might put a lot of value on being able to fire up Sesame Street while they’re running errands, cooking dinner, etc.
This may indeed have been part of the calculus. Now that HBO Now is available (mostly) for those who don’t have cable (or aren’t willing to go to a higher tier to get it), they may figure that this is one of the reasons folks will keep paying for HBO (and not cancel it for a year when Game of Thrones is off the air, for example), along with the back catalog.
HBO does seem a natural fit for it since they already had a relationship with the Jim Henson Company making Fraggle Rock and it gets HBO children’s programing with a built-in audience. It also shifts the production costs off PBS.
Forgive my ignorance, but does Sesame Street do any current events, topical humor, or have any cliffhangers?
If not, I can’t imagine why anyone would care if they saw the latest episode now or nine months later. And if your kid is jonesing for some new episodes, couldn’t you just pop in a recording from before when they were born? Would the kids know the difference?
By the way, it looks like seasons 39 through 43 and various collection of episodes of Sesame Street are free on Amazon Prime. I don’t know if that will change.
Perhaps it’s because if you don’t like capitalism, it’s a pretty emotionally striking sign of its moral bankruptcy (pun intended).
See above. Socialist leaning types feel that it’s one of a million examples of capitalism treating poor kids (for whom the show and PBS was created to begin with) like second class citizens because of the almighty buck.
I saw on the news it will be back on PBS in 6 months . I use to be able to get NH PBS too , and I was told by Comcast that MA. PBS had Comcast remove NH PBS b/c people were donating money to them and not MA PBS . I tired to put on NH PBS channel 11 and kept getting channel 12 . So I called Comcast and found out what was going on. I like PBS and would hate to see it go.
