Sesame Street

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Big Bird, politics, and the ABCs: how a television show made to represent New York City neighborhoods like Harlem and the Bronx became beloved by families around a divided country. This episode originally ran in 2022 as "Getting to Sesame Street."

To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This message comes from 48 hours.
0:02.5	Want more 48 hours?
0:04.4	Four days a week, the 48 hours podcast is bringing one of TV's most popular true crime series straight to your ears.
0:11.8	Listen for original reporting and exclusive insights.
0:14.9	Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts.
0:34.4	It's the late afternoon afternoon on a Monday.
0:39.6	I'm four years old, sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor of my parents'
0:47.0	apartment. The carpet is shaggy, ugly, and brown. I have a cherubic face and bowl haircut,
0:52.2	you know, like the one Jim Carrey has in the film Dumb and Dumber. In front of me is a TV with an antenna and dial.
0:55.6	It's the late 1980s.
1:00.1	And on this screen is my daily companion, Sesame Street.
1:12.7	Today is a very special day because today's the day when my little sister Alice meets my best friend, Bird.
1:15.3	Ah, Bird!
1:21.8	My family had only recently moved to the U.S. from Iran, and I was lonely.
1:23.7	I couldn't speak English.
1:27.3	I couldn't make sense of where we were or what had brought us here.
1:34.0	In that moment where I needed a lifeline, Sesame Street with its weird cast of characters was there.
1:35.8	The giant animals, monsters, Muppets, the kind adults and children everywhere on the street.
1:43.4	It's a puppy!
1:45.0	Oh, Ernie! You're right, Bert!
1:46.0	Oh, look at him.
1:48.0	I learned English watching Sesame Street.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.