There truly has not been a show with the staying power like Sesame Street. Still going strong after over fifty years, countless generations have grown up learning lessons and bonding with various characters. But how did it get its start? Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street tells the story in a well-paced, engaging documentary.
The film explores the inception and execution of the children's television show in a brilliant fashion. It demonstrates how TV producer Joan Ganz Cooney and psychologist Lloyd Morrisett created the program in order to educate the masses during the late 60s/early 70s.
This documentary does well to avoid full-on reverence to the source material, opting instead for interviews with original cast members as well as archival footage from seminal show figures like Jim Henson and composer Joe Raposo. More recent fans of the show may be dismayed, as the film relies more on its earlier runs. However, it will still entertain any viewer regardless if they met Kermit and Big Bird in 1983 or 2013.
Street Gang is a loving homage that avoids being cloying. It is an absolute smash, one that is sure to delight children, parents, and anyone who’s ever taken a stroll down Sesame Street. Aud: Basically Everyone?