Apple can point to a lot of great accomplishments over its nearly 50-year history. As the company itself isn't shy about pointing out, it helped usher in the personal computing era with the original Macintosh. Its iPhone popularized smartphones and mobile apps. Tablets, smartwatches, spatial computing headsets — Apple's got its fingers in a lot of pies.
And yet, the company's greatest accomplishment could happen if it helps spare Big Bird from the chopping block.
The 55th season of "Sesame Street" premieres on Max later this month. But unless the long-running children's show finds a new distribution partner, that soon-to-start season will be its last on the air.
The crisis emerged last month when Warner Bros. Discovery — a company that regards entertainment programming the way you and I might regard chewing gum stuck to our shoe — announced that it was ending a 10-year partnership with Sesame Workshop to produce new episodes of "Sesame Street." Warner Bros. Discovery chalked the decision up to a different focus on programming, which I take to mean "We could be making a buck-fifty instead of just $1.45."
Regardless of the reason, "Sesame Street" finds itself in need of a streaming partner who can help pick up the costs of producing the show in exchange for new episodes that can air on a streaming service. And you'd imagine that Apple TV Plus, one of the best streaming services out there, would be an ideal home for Big Bird, Cookie Monster and the gang.
Why Apple TV Plus makes sense for 'Sesame Street'
Apple TV Plus has built up a strong reputation for delivering quality programming, particularly when it comes to TV shows. (Original movies? Eh, not so much.) And programming doesn't get much higher in quality than "Sesame Street," a show that's been teaching generations of kids their numbers, letters and a whole lot more about getting along in this great big world of ours.
That legion of viewers includes the author of this diatribe who once counted among his prized possessions vinyl copies of "The Count Counts" and "Sesame Street Fever," and whose parents once ordered him, upon pain of grounding, to "stop laughing like Ernie."
So yeah, I'm a fan.
Apple has worked with Sesame Workshop before, commissioning a show called "Helpsters" where monsters taught kids about teamwork and problem solving. "Helpsters" racked up three seasons worth of episodes, so you'd imagine that both Apple and Sesame Workshop got something out of the deal.
That said, it's one thing to green-light an original show and another to pick up an existing one, especially one with the relationship "Sesame Street" enjoys with its viewers. While many an episode of "Sesame Street" espouses the values of learning to share, that's something streaming services typically don't like doing with programming that they're paying for. And I'm sure the folks behind "Sesame Street" will be quite eager to make sure that the series remains viewable on PBS. Under the Warner Bros. Discovery arrangement, new episodes of "Sesame Street" dropped on Max first, airing on PBS after a window of exclusivity closed shut.
Maybe that's all right with Apple, though naturally there's another complication. Though the Warner Bros. Discovery deal with Sesame Workshop is coming to an end, it will still have access to a back library of "Sesame Street" episodes through 2027. I'd imagine any subsequent deal with a service like Apple TV Plus would have to take that into account, though considering Max unceremoniously pulled 200 "Sesame Street" episodes off its service in 2022 as a cost-cutting measure, it doesn't sound like Warner Bros. Discovery is terribly sentimental about the show.
Free 'Sesame Street'
Given "Sesame Street's" public television roots, there will likely be some complaints about putting the show on a $9.99/month streaming service, just as there was when "Sesame Street" went behind HBO's paywall. I have a proposal for that, too — let anyone stream "Sesame Street" on Apple TV Plus for free.
There's some precedent for this. Apple locked up the beloved Charlie Brown specials for the launch of Apple TV Plus, including the great "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the acceptable "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving," which we all should just admit is dross. Every year, Apple takes down the paywall on "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for a couple days, letting people stream a holiday standard they grew up watching on free TV. It's a nice gesture that I would argue earns Apple some goodwill.
Well, imagine the goodwill Apple would earn just by putting "Sesame Street" out there. And even if that doesn't give Apple executives the warm glow that comes with making sure the widest audience possible sees a foundational children's TV show, the bottom-line types can take comfort in the knowledge that such a gesture would put Apple TV Plus front of mind for a lot of consumers who might not otherwise think about the platform. And maybe it might even convince some of them to try out a paying subscription to see what else the service has to offer.
In reality, "Sesame Street" may have other options when it comes to a post-Max home. Show business industry publications have floated names like Amazon Prime and Netflix as possible landing spots. But in my mind, "Sesame Street" just fits in with the Apple ethos in a way that sticking Big Bird next to "Is It Cake?" or, lord help us, "The Boys" does not. And it would position Apple to make a move that's far more valuable long-term than a few extra monthly subscriptions.
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