Sesame Street is three familiar faces short this season on HBO.
Longtime cast members Bob McGrath, 84, (who played Bob), Emilio Delgado, 76, (Luis) and Roscoe Orman, 72, (Gordon), will no longer regularly appear on the children's show, according to a statement released by Sesame Street.
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the classic children's show, began a new partnership with HBO in January. The deal includes the next five seasons of the series, which will air first on the premium cable channel and its streaming services. The shows will be made available to PBS, free of charge, after a nine-month window.
McGrath confirmed the cast members' release from the show on the MuppetCast podcast earlier this week. “I have completed my 45th season this year," he said. "And the show has gone under a major turnaround, going from an hour to a half hour. HBO has gotten involved also. And they let all of the original cast members go, with the exception of Alan Muraoka — who is probably 20 years younger than the rest of us — and Chris Knowings, who is also young.”
On Thursday, Sesame Workshop released a statement explaining the changes and denying any HBO influence in the decision.
“Bob McGrath, Emilio Delgado (“Luis”) and Roscoe Orman (“Gordon”) remain a beloved part of the Sesame family and continue to represent us at public events," the statement, released on Twitter, read. "To us, and for millions of people worldwide, they are a treasured part of Sesame Street."
The statement continued: "Since the show began, we are constantly evolving our content and curriculum, and hence, our characters, to meet the educational needs of children. As a result of this, our cast has changed over the years, though you can still expect to see many of them in upcoming productions. As we’ve stated previously, Sesame Workshop retains sole creative control over the show. HBO does not oversee the production.”
Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, reiterated at a Television Critics Association panel on Thursday morning that it was was not PBS who pulled the plug.
“As you know, Sesame Street is produced by Sesame Workshop, which is an independent production company, and the casting decision was made by them," she said Thursday. "We did not know about it beforehand. We found out about it after.”
McGrath had been part of the show since it premiered in 1969, Delgado joined in 1971, and Orman was added to the cast in 1974.