It made characters like Elmo, Cookie Monster and Grover household names....and now after more than 40 years, Sesame Street is reinventing itself.
The show is teaming up with Microsoft and producing a motion-sensing gaming tool for Xbox Kinect.
It's called "playful learning" and it's set to revolutionize interactive programming.
Dr. Rosemarie Truglio is in charge of research and education at the Sesame Workshop in New York.
SOUNDBITE: Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, Sesame Workshop, Research and Education VP saying (English)
"With Kinect Sesame Street TV it's a totally different experience because if you're not going to interact, the character is going to prompt you to interact."
The new venture will help children learn lessons in a non-linear, interactive fashion -- with the help of camera technology, voice recognition and depth sensing.
Sesame Workshop content chief Terry Fitzpatrick says the project honours the programme's traditional mission.
SOUNDBITE: Terry Fitzpatrick, Sesame Workshop, Executive Vice-President of Content and Distribution saying (English):
"The promise of interactive video for us is this notion that a child is getting up off the couch and actively participating in the educational content and we think that added layer of involvement and engagement will have deep educational impact."
Kinect Sesame Street TV will launch in the first half of 2012.
And Jerry Johnson, general manager at Microsoft's Soho Productions in London, where it's all being produced, says it may very well change the way that people think about television.
SOUNDBITE: Jerry Johnson, Soho Studios General Manager saying (English):
"I think a few years from now kids are going to think television is broken if it doesn't listen to them and react to them."
Jennifer Marostica, Reuters.
