Sesame Street/Trivia


 * Acting for Two/Talking to Himself: Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar.
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: Cookie Monster has never used the catchphrase "Cookies are a sometimes food!". It was Hoots the Owl who sang "A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food" to Cookie Monster. After the song, Cookie Monster replied "Me get it, cookie is sometimes food. You know what? Right now is sometime!" and devoured the cookie.
 * Regarding Big Bird's encounter with Sally on Gordon's shoulders in the first episode, Big Bird is always quoted as saying, "Gosh! You're the tallest little girl I've ever seen!" (even Big Bird performer Caroll Spinney says this), however, in the actual episode, Big Bird's reaction is, "Dah! Oh my heavens! She's 8 feet tall!"
 * Cast the Expert: Happens a lot for special episodes.
 * Channel Hop: From National Educational Television to PBS, as NET was leaving the airwaves. Not a literal example, as the educational stations airing Sesame Street were the same in virtually every market.
 * It was, however, literal in Britain (when the show moved from ITV to Channel 4).
 * The Character Died with Him: Mr. Hooper, played by Will Lee.
 * Contractual Purity: Kevin Clash was the Muppeteer of Elmo, Baby Sinclair and numerous others. In 2012, he took a sabbatical from Sesame Street after a young man claimed that the two of them had a sexual relationship when he was 16. Clash did not deny the relationship, but claimed it happened after the young man had turned 18. The accuser later withdrew the allegations, but a series of other accusers came forward in its wake. Sesame Workshop expressed their willingness to support Clash, but he decided to resign to spare them the inevitable media scandal that would have resulted. Ryan Dillon has taken over Muppeteering duties for Elmo since.
 * Cowboy Bebop at His Computer: Given that this is a Long Runner aimed directly at very young children, this kind of thing happens a lot.
 * Before the debut of Kami, the HIV-positive Muppet, news media were in uproar about the situation, believing that this character would be on the American version of the show. However, the character was only ever intended to be used in the South African version, where HIV and AIDS are huge problems.
 * The Danza: Bob McGrath, who plays Bob Johnson on the show.
 * Linda Bove As Herself, and Miles Robinson was originally played by Miles Orman.
 * Sesame Street has had a lot of Danzas. Even Tony himself has appeared as a guest star.
 * Dawson Casting:
 * Chris Robinson is supposed to be in High School or College, making him 17-18 in his first season. His actor, Chris Knowings, was actually 27 at the time his debut aired.
 * Maria celebrated her 21st birthday in 1979. Sonia Manzano, on the other hand, was 29 at the time the episode aired.
 * In reality, Bill McCutcheon, the actor who portrayed Uncle Wally, was only eight years older than actor Bob McGrath.
 * Defictionalization: Outside Philadelphia, there's a theme park in Sesame Place. It includes a perfect, life-size replica of the set of the show, and the characters come out to greet guests constantly. Yes, you can take photos.
 * For the show's 40th anniversary, a corner of Manhattan was temporarily renamed 123 Sesame Street.
 * Directed by Cast Member: By circa 2005, Kevin Clash got more involved behind the scenes, both directing and executive producing (the latter mostly applied to the "Elmo's World" segments, and other Elmo-related projects).
 * Dueling Shows: The street being brightened and cleaned up for Season 25, in addition to the new Around the Corner setting, and the addition of a ton of new human and Muppet characters (Zoe, in particular) was all because of the competition Sesame Workshop faced from Barney & Friends.
 * What Could Have Been: Caroll Spinney was very close to being aboard the Challenger as Big Bird. But the expenses of sending him and the puppet suit into space however were enough to keep him off the Shuttle and its explosive fate.
 * The pilot episodes had the Muppets kept separate from the humans and the street, but since the kids payed more attention to the Muppets in test screenings, they were wisely integrated.