Sesame Street was conceived in 1966 during discussions between TV producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Carnegie Foundation vice president Lloyd Morrisett, who wanted to harness television's addictive qualities for good, such as helping prepare young children for school.

After two years of research, the newly formed Children's Television Workshop received a combined $8 million grant (about $70 million in 2025 dollars) from the Carnegie Foundation, Ford Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the U.S. federal government to create the show.

According to Joan Ganz Cooney, the name 'Sesame Street' came from the phrase 'open sesame,' evoking a place where exciting things happen.

The show was originally given just a six-month trial run to determine whether it was effective enough to continue airing.

Jon Stone, who cast the show's first actors, deliberately aimed to cast white actors as the minority among an ethnically diverse cast, and did not hold auditions until spring 1969, just weeks before the five test episodes were filmed.

Auditions were videotaped and then shown to children in the field by researcher Ed Palmer; actors who received the most enthusiastic reactions from kids were cast, such as Loretta Long, chosen to play Susan after children stood up and sang along with her rendition of 'I'm a Little Teapot.'

Jon Stone himself admitted that casting was the only aspect of the show that was 'just completely haphazard,' with most cast and crew hired through personal relationships with the producers.

Child psychologists initially advised producers that human actors and Muppets should not interact on screen, fearing it would confuse young viewers, so early Street segments were filmed without such interaction.

When early testing showed that children's attention dropped during human-only 'Street' segments but stayed high during Muppet segments, producers asked Jim Henson to create characters like Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch to interact with the human cast, and the Street segments had to be re-shot.

For the show's first 24 years, tapings took place in Manhattan, after which production moved to the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens.

Jim Henson was initially reluctant to join Sesame Street but agreed to waive his performance fee in exchange for full ownership of the Sesame Street Muppets, splitting any resulting revenue with the Children's Television Workshop.

Producer Dave Connell insisted that no child actors be used on the show; the children appearing in scenes were non-professionals who were unscripted and spontaneous, and their on-air mistakes and hesitations were kept in as they served as relatable models for young viewers.

The show's first musical director Joe Raposo and other songwriters were allowed to retain the rights to the songs they wrote for the show, an unusual arrangement that helped attract top composing talent.

In May 1970, Mississippi's state PBS commission voted not to air Sesame Street because of its highly racially integrated cast of children, feeling the state 'was not yet ready for' it.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who had previously appeared on the show, called for a boycott of Sesame Street in 1998 after it accepted its first corporate sponsorship (from indoor playground company Discovery Zone), accusing the CTW of 'exploiting impressionable children.'

Sesame Street holds the record for the most Emmy Awards of any television series, with 222 Emmys and 11 Grammy Awards as of 2022.

Critic Richard Roeper noted that one of the strongest indicators of the show's cultural influence has been the enduring urban legends surrounding it, particularly speculation about the sexuality of Bert and Ernie.