HBO Announces ‘Sesame Street’ Premiere Date, ‘Bold’ New Changes

Sesame-Street

Sesame Street is not only headed to HBO in 2016, but the long-running, critically acclaimed children’s series is also getting a makeover as well.

The move was announced back in August and the network has announced that the new season will premiere on January 16th, with two new episodes airing at 9:00am. Every Saturday after that a new episode will air at 9:00am followed by a repeat episode at 9:30am.

The network has some huge changes in place for the show as well, including a new theme song, new segment for Cookie Monster, shorter episodes and more.

You can read more about the changes, announced in a press release, below:

  • Sesame Street’s classic theme song and show open will premiere with “a new upbeat update”. The new open give kids a better look at the Sesame Street neighborhood, but the network promises that “the theme song will have a familiar melody and continue to wonder ‘how to get’ to Sesame Street.”
  • The shows “smarter, stronger, and kinder lessons” will be taught through preschool-relevant themes like “bedtime, boo-boos and animals” and each segment in an episode will tie into the theme of the day, providing preschoolers with a “stimulating and cohesive learning experience.”
  • Cookie Monster will get an all new segment titled “Smart Cookies,” in which kids will see the monster continue working on his “self-regulation skills.” In each segment, Cookie Monster and a team of crime-fighting cookie friends are on-call, day and night, to thwart the continued efforts of The Crumb, a villain with many tricks up his sleeve
  • Every episode will now be 30 minutes as opposed to an hour, in an effort to help children “focus their attention and engage with each story.”

Celebrity guests lined up for the revamped new season of Sesame Street include: Gwen Stefani singing “Be a Good Friend;” Pharrell singing “B is for Book:” Nick Jonas singing “Check that Shape;” 5th Harmony singing “That’s Music;” Sara Bareilles singing “Just Like Magic;” Alan Cumming as “Mucko Polo” the grouch explorer; Ne-Yo singing “You’ve Got a Body, So Move It!;” Aloe Blacc singing “Everyday Hero;” Tracee Ellis Ross learning about bedtime routines; and Gina Rodriguez singing the ABCs in Spanish.

Two new episodes of Sesame Street will debut on January 16th starting at 9am, on HBO.

Photo Credit: Sesame Workshop

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