Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
On July 20, 1969, man landed on the moon.<\/p>\n
And the next day, on July 21, 1969<\/a>, the Muppets landed on televisions across Philadelphia.<\/p>\n But unlike the moon landing, the Muppets\u2019 debut was a test run<\/a>.<\/p>\n Over five days, producers of Sesame Street broadcast five hour-long test-pilot episodes on WHYY-TV\u2019S UHF Channel 35 on televisions spread across 70 homes throughout the city.<\/p>\n So, why Philly?<\/p>\n \u201cThe station is one of the country\u2019s top public TV stations,\u201d Edward Palmer, then Sesame\u2019s director of research, told The Inquirer in August 1969<\/a>. \u201cIt has displayed great interest in the [Children\u2019s Television] Workshop and has been most cooperative. And it has Channel 35.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The presentation offered children a venue where \u201ceverything\u2019s A-OK.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t a complete home run. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n This taught the producers that they had to integrate the Muppets with the human cast, and have them interact,<\/a> rather than keep the Muppets and humans separate.<\/p>\n \u201cTest 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,\u201d according to Michael Davis\u2019<\/a> book Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n And they would later be joined by an endless A-list of guest stars.<\/p>\n