Sesame Street

There are lots of other small touches--or technical flourishes--along with new cast members, notably Nina. Otherwise, best of luck finding anything radically different because there isn’t all that much that’s changed.... This is a “win-win”--for HBO, public TV, its most iconic series and those kids.

The shorter running time is a little disconcerting, and the ending of the episode feels abrupt. But children are also adaptable, often far more adaptable than adults. So even if these changes throw them off, it should be only temporary. Because almost everything we knew and loved about Sesame Street is there.

Sure, Sesame Street has been gentrified, but it hasn’t lost its charms. How you get to Sesame Street might be different, but the destination? As familiar as ever.

A look at the first pay cable episode of the iconic kids show reveals that it offers the same mix of fun, education and goofiness that has kept Sesame Street a powerhouse piece of programming for 46 years.

Like the newest digital tablet, the latest Sesame Street isn’t an essential. But it’s nice, if your parents happen to have the money.

It’s definitely a shadow of what it once was, but the characters are still classic, and the lessons they teach are given in a way that will stick in the minds of the kids they’re trying to teach.

["Tales from 123" segment is] fun enough to get a new angle on these classic characters, expanding the boundaries of what can easily be depicted on screen, and kids will probably like the cartoon segments fine. But they do flatten out the craft still visible in the show’s puppetry—and moreover, they’re spread thin, which seems contrary to the whole point of adding cartoon versions of the characters.

Oscar the grouch and big bird tried to kidnap me as a child. I don't think I've ever recovered from this traumatic experience of putting rubbish in the bin, Oscar the grouch jumping out, pushing me over, and big bird dragging me by my legs towards his white fan.