One of JFK’s more positive legacies was his push for more Public Television stations around the US and LBJ helped make it happen with the development of PBS, America’s first “state” network. The other I would go out on a limb would be C-SPAN and maybe NASA, which was always free with DISH.
An immediate benefit was Sesame Street! I grew up with it. My brother did. Practically everyone in Generation X did. It’s easy to keep kids’ attention with the Muppets doing hilarious things.
By mimicking how advertising worked (in the late Sixties), the repetition helped children get a leg up on pre-school and kindergarten on their letters, numbers, colors, shapes and basic social interaction (nowadays, Trumpkins and the Right would call cooperation socialism).
When I was in university, Dr. Thorne said the plan was to help the inner-city and rural poor catch up with the middle class. Overall, it did work well but unfortunately, the affluent pulled further ahead because their parents could afford the additional materials the brand offered. I remember my folks got us this really cool toy in which the letters of the alphabet had legs and they’d walk down a ramp. When they stopped at the bottom, you’d insert this plastic key-like thing to see if you spelled the word correctly. It wasn’t terribly difficult. Even semi-literate people can make symbols match. Anyway, if there was an incorrect letter, these pegs tied to the key would knock the letter over to let you know you misspelled the word. We also had to hardback books filled with illustrations of Bert & Ernie, Big Bird, etc. to reinforce the show’s lessons.
Given the rise of cable, streaming, income inequality and the idiotic litany of “lower my taxes!” (code for, don’t spend money on people darker than me!)…Sesame Street doesn’t have many new episodes made lately. I story I read a few years ago stated it’s a low as 20. Then came a horrible blow to show how much America hates poor people, HBO would be producing new episodes and these wouldn’t be available to Public Television for months. We’re supposed to be grateful that HBO (now part of the AT&T empire) is releasing them at all, in their benign corporate largesse.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has achieved its goal to widen educational offerings yet this material is now in private hands via Disney, Viacom with Nick, Jr. and however else AT&T and Comcast distribute this. It just isn’t free or easily available to those getting by in our bullshit economy; unemployment may be “low” but the wages don’t reflect reality.
I’m still grateful to all the work Jim Henson and his Muppet crew put into this, the writers, all the actors/actresses who’ve come and gone; my Uncle Skip went to high school with Bob! Sesame Street was essential to entertaining us and it was super effective because it was teaching us without us knowing, the best kind of learning since most children are turned off by education.
The show’s essentials laid down the groundwork for what would lead to the next level in Generation X’s edification…Schoolhouse Rock.
Regardless of who gets the nod for the Democratic nomination, I highly doubt getting Sesame Street back into the hands of the people is a priority given all the other things the NeoLiberals and Republicans have let fall into crappiness.