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The first episodes of ‘Sesame Street’ were tested on city preschoolers on this week in Philly history

Over five days starting July 21, 1969, producers of Sesame Street broadcast hour-long test-pilot episodes on WHYY-TV’S UHF Channel 35 to 70 homes throughout Philadelphia.

Cast members of 'Sesame Street' on the set with some of Muppets circa 1969 (from left): Will Lee, Matt Robinson, Bob McGrath, and Loretta Long with Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Ernie, Bert, and Oscar the Grouch.
Cast members of 'Sesame Street' on the set with some of Muppets circa 1969 (from left): Will Lee, Matt Robinson, Bob McGrath, and Loretta Long with Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Ernie, Bert, and Oscar the Grouch.Read moreHulton Archive / Getty Images

On July 20, 1969, man landed on the moon.

And the next day, on July 21, 1969, the Muppets landed on televisions across Philadelphia.

But unlike the moon landing, the Muppets’ debut was a test run.

Over five days, producers of Sesame Street broadcast five hour-long test-pilot episodes on WHYY-TV’S UHF Channel 35 on televisions spread across 70 homes throughout the city.

So, why Philly?

“The station is one of the country’s top public TV stations,” Edward Palmer, then Sesame’s director of research, told The Inquirer in August 1969. “It has displayed great interest in the [Children’s Television] Workshop and has been most cooperative. And it has Channel 35.”

Those first few episodes, set at the fictional Manhattan meeting place at 123 Sesame Street, paired a snappy theme song with a cast of unusual and friendly oddballs.

The presentation offered children a venue where “everything’s A-OK.”

The program, which can trace its roots to the mid-20th-century civil rights movement, would go on to delight, instruct, and entertain, thanks to the worldview and genius of Jim Henson.

But it wasn’t a complete home run.

The Philly research showed that of course the kids loved the Muppets, but they were bored by live-action street segments featuring only human actors.

This taught the producers that they had to integrate the Muppets with the human cast, and have them interact, rather than keep the Muppets and humans separate.

“Test audiences of preschoolers in Philadelphia had rejected live-action sequences shot on a mock urban street, with trash cans on the curb and laundry hanging from tenement windows,” according to Michael Davis’ book Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.

The human-operated puppets would go on to charm millions of children and parents, and their names would become iconic: The Count, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Oscar, Miss Piggy, Elmo, Kermit, and many others.

And they would later be joined by an endless A-list of guest stars.

It officially debuted on Nov. 10 of that year.

But in Philly, we remember those pilot episodes where the show made its first giant leap for Muppetkind.

    Tommy Rowan
    I am a programming editor who helps oversee The Inquirer's homepage, alert notifications, and social media channels. You'll also see me regularly writing about cheesesteaks, Philly history, and the Jersey Shore.