DAVID BIANCULLI

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SESAME STREET
January 16, 2016  | By David Bianculli

HBO, 9:00 a.m. ET

 

NEW NETWORK PREMIERE: The first new episode of the Sesame Street season is here – but here isn’t where it used to be. After 45 years on PBS, Big Bird and his buddies have migrated to the upscale, gentrified neighborhood of HBO. These new episodes – 30 minutes each, with two of them premiering today, and one new and one repeat appearing each subsequent Saturday – will get to PBS eventually, about nine months later. The good news is that this three-year exclusive head start on new Sesame Street episodes gives the series a guaranteed funding source it hasn’t had of late. The bad news is that the whole reason Sesame Street was created was to give all preschoolers, including if not especially disadvantaged ones in inner cities and poor rural areas, a chance to get an early jump on learning – and now, the freshest and newest episodes are being reserved, for a while, for those who can afford premium cable. I’ve previewed the first new episode, and it’s awfully clean and bright, with a major emphasis on Elmo – but it’s not bad. Tune in now, or wait nine months, and decide for yourself. For a full story, see Monique Nazareth’s MNtv.

 
 
 
 
 
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