Sesame Street moves to HBO

Submitted by david on 8 April 2005 - 6:21am

Sesame Street Moves to HBO
Misguided News Service, April 7, 2005,

Washington: In a move that shocked parents and PBS viewers everywhere, the cultural icons of Sesame Street have moved to a far seedier town. The town of HBO.

"It's a money issue," PBS's Chief Financial Officer Peter Peterson said. "That, and puppets just aren't that interesting anymore. And the fact that we just don't have the money to hire ILM (Industrial Lights and Magic) makes it a losing proposition for us."

Thus comes HBO, known for racier (and more popular) shows than public television comes up with.

"I just couldn't resist!" Executive Producer Beau Beauty said. "I grew up with the characters, learned to count. It's my way of bringing these exciting characters to a new generation."

Details on storylines are still being worked out. What has been released are details of the first story arc, involving Big Bird going to prison for pecking Gordon to death, and Grover going to trial for assaulting Elmo.

It wasn't just HBO that was gunning for Sesame Street. Showtime was rumored to propose a "Queer as Sesame Street" series, with Bravo going for "Queer Eye for the Straight Puppet," and Oxygen Channel with a pitch for "The Women of Sesame Street (An empowerment for young puppets"

Sesame, the new name of the series, is scheduled to air Tuesday nights at 10pm starting in August.