Roosevelt Franklin (left), a short-lived "Sesame Street" Muppet championed and voiced by Matt Robinson (right), was designed to represent black youth on a show dominated by white puppeteers.

Very few television programs have the iconic history of musical guests that Sesame Street does: Over the years it’s featured everyone from Stevie Wonder to Tony Bennett, Erykah Badu to the Fugees, ...

It looked a little uncertain for Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird and their friends when Max announced late last year that it would no longer distribute new episodes of Sesame Street. But like every scary ...