“Sesame Street,” which first aired on PBS in 1969, was born of a progressive idea: that children from all socioeconomic backgrounds should have access to free, high-quality, expressly educational entertainment. In the years since, the show has become essential viewing for generations of kids around the world. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz consider the program’s radical origins and the way it has evolved—for better or for worse—over the decades. What do the changes in “Sesame Street” ’s tone and content reveal about how parenting itself has changed? “The way that a children’s program proceeds does give us a hint as to the kinds of people that a society is producing,” Cunningham says. “And childhood is not the same as it was when we were kids.”

Read, watch, and listen with the critics:

“Sesame Street” (1969–)

“Rechov Sumsum” (1983–)

“How We Got to Sesame Street,” by Jill Lepore (The New Yorker)

“Cookie, Oscar, Grover, Herry, Ernie, and Company,” by Renata Adler (The New Yorker)

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