HBO Max’s big shakeup continues. The latest victim: ‘Sesame Street’
It’s a not-so-sunny day for “Sesame Street” as Warner Bros. Discovery continues to shake things up at HBO Max.
Friday, the media giant shocked and angered fans of “Sesame Street” by removing nearly 200 episodes of the seminal children’s series from the streaming platform. The move comes on the heels of mass layoffs at HBO and HBO Max, among other efforts by the merging company to rebrand and cut costs.
According to Variety, the number of “Sesame Street” episodes available to stream on HBO Max shrunk on Friday from 650 to 456. Most of the deleted episodes hailed from the first 40 years of the show, which has been educating young children for 52 seasons and counting since 1969.
At press time, only “Sesame Street” installments from seasons 39 through 52 — as well as select episodes from seasons 1, 5 and 7 — were viewable on the streaming service. The 53rd season of the beloved series is set to premiere on HBO Max this fall.
The 70 positions cut account for about 14% of staff overseen by HBO and HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys. The group affected includes reality TV programming.
“ ‘Sesame Street’ is and has always been an important part of television culture and a crown jewel of our preschool offering,” an HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. “We are committed to continuing to bring ‘Sesame Street’ into families’ homes.” (WarnerMedia did not immediately respond Sunday to The Times’ request for comment.)
In addition to the flagship program, several “Sesame Street” specials and spinoff series — from “Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Celebration” to “My Sesame Street Friends” — remain on HBO Max. More “Sesame Street” content can be found on PBS Kids and the Sesame Street YouTube channel.
HBO and subsequently HBO Max have been the exclusive, first-run home of “Sesame Street” since 2015, when the premium channel inked its first five-year deal with Sesame Workshop, which produces the children’s series. That deal was extended another five years in a 2019 agreement to move “Sesame Street” from HBO to HBO Max. The partnership has ignited criticism from those who view the pact as antithetical to the spirt of public children’s television.
HBO Max will merge with Discovery+ to become one streaming service next year, and creators such as Issa Rae are concerned about the future of their shows.
In recent weeks, the streamer has come under additional scrutiny as Warner Bros. Discovery has made a series of controversial content and staffing cuts leading up to the 2023 launch of a new streaming service combining HBO Max and Discovery+.
Among the first HBO Max casualties of the summer were the acclaimed sitcom “Gordita Chronicles,” which got canceled after one season, and the highly anticipated DC film “Batgirl,” which had already been filmed and was slated to debut exclusively on the platform. Warner Bros. Discovery has also quietly scrubbed a number of existing titles — including several HBO Max original movies and animated series — from the streaming service.
By mid-August, the media conglomerate had laid off about 70 people — or 14% of — the team overseen by HBO and HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys. More layoffs were expected at CNN, TBS, Turner Classic Movies and various Discovery reality channels after Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav promised Wall Street $3 billion in cost savings from the merger.
On Thursday, CNN pulled the plug on “Reliable Sources,” a respected media criticism program hosted by senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. The series aired its final episode Sunday.
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