My memories of Sesame Street are pleasant but hazy. Much like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, I recall images and feelings of gratitude and amusement rather than any particular message or story. However, while watching Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, it becomes eminently clear that the intentions of its creators were anything but hazy. Sesame Street was, in fact, the brainchild of not only television writers and puppeteers but of experimental psychologists and education specialists. Their goal was outwardly simple, but bold and difficult to execute: to use public television to educate children while also entertaining them. Their target audience was urban Black children.

This is, in itself, not news. The many television interviews contained in this documentary attest that Sesame Street was, in its early years, recognized as revolutionary, and its creators were open about their aims. What this documentary does beautifully is remind us what makes the show unique. 

With a conventional yet effective mix of interviews from the present and the past, as well as both backstage and show footage, director Marilyn Agrelo takes us on a tour of the show’s history, its mission, its principal creators and characters, and the unique problems it posed to its makers. We watch them negotiate how to communicate to children without talking down to them, how to craft lessons without becoming didactic, how to incorporate jokes without eclipsing their message, and how to thoughtfully represent the diverse audience they intended to address.

In one episode, Big Bird learns about death, after the actor who played Mr. Hooper (Will Lee) died, and we watch the writers negotiate this difficult moment, unwilling to lie to children but unsure of how to handle it. The result speaks very well for itself, and is surprisingly difficult viewing. We are also privy to the challenges of moving and maneuvering Jim Henson’s Muppet creations, and much of the pleasure in watching this film is in seeing how these unlikely creatures were brought to life.

While there is much talk of how magical it was to be a part of Sesame Street in the early days, of their glittering successes, of how truly radical head writer/producer/director Jon Stone and creator Joan Ganz Cooney were in their commitment to diversity and their rebuttal of the capitalistic aims of mass media, some of the most striking parts of the movie address the show’s dark side. Predictably, several of the masterminds, such as Stone and Henson, were also absent fathers, and Stone struggled with depression and anger for his entire life. 

We learn that actor Matt Robinson, who originally played Gordon, introduced a Black Muppet, Roosevelt Franklin, in an attempt to further the show’s mission of embracing diversity by openly celebrating Blackness. It did not go entirely well. Many families wrote to the show, outraged, saying that this character reinforced stereotypes. Eventually, Roosevelt Franklin had to go, and Robinson, crushed, soon left as well.

If the above sounds like a lot of subject matter, it is. Though this documentary is entertaining and moving, there is perhaps too much information for a feature-length documentary. Sesame Street is a show with so many moving parts, so many masterminds, and a long history of guest stars and broad cultural impact that it deserves more space, and could perhaps have received a fuller treatment as a TV miniseries. There is also, possibly, just a little too much rhapsodizing about how special it was to be a part of the show. Then again, the characters, and the children’s response to them, remind us that the show truly was, and is, special. Where else, for instance, would we see Cookie Monster welcoming us to “Monsterpiece Theater?”