Article content

The iconic Muppets of “Sesame Street,” who spent the last 45 years on PBS, will reveal a host of modern touches when they debut Saturday morning at their new home on HBO. Elmo will move into a brownstone, the Cookie Monster will team up with some tablet-wielding crimefighters, and Oscar the Grouch will pop out of not just trash cans, but recycling and compost bins, too.

Yet the biggest changes for America’s best-known children’s series are much subtler – and riskier – than can be seen on set at 123 Sesame Street: Shorter episodes, fewer characters and a sharper focus on winning the millions of preschoolers who don’t get the show turned on for them, but choose it themselves, via a phone or tablet app.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'My first rule is know your audience and we have very tough critics': HBO's modern, 'terrifying' Sesame Street Back to video

A lot has changed since the psychedelic “Sesame Street” first hit family living rooms in 1969, becoming a mainstay of public television and ushering in an age of “nutritious entertainment.”

So as the battle for kids’ attention heats up, the American classic is having to become a different beast: Redesigned, relentlessly field-tested and repositioned to win that increasingly lucrative market, the media-drenched toddler of 2016.