Sesame Street
Ranked 2 of 7 children's TV shows by recommenders
Long-running children's show that people recommend for positive values, inoffensive characters and language and social skills. Critics say it taught watching TV more than a love of learning.
Long-running children's show that people recommend for positive values, inoffensive characters and language and social skills. Critics say it taught watching TV more than a love of learning.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Positive value, not engagement-driven
“The producers of shows such as Mister Rogers and Sesame Street did not have a profit motive to increase "engagement" numbers.”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “The Dopamine Trap” “they were delivering positive-value content”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “AI-generated videos to maximally drive a target brain region” Teaches language, social skills, respect
“It has interesting inoffensive characters teaching useful language and social skills.”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Doomscrolling ourselves to death” “He has seen how adults interact with each other and respect one another through Mr Rogers and (older) Sesame Street.”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “Building a real-time AI tutor for 5-year-olds”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Taught watching TV, not love of learning
“By educating kids with Sesame street you didn't teach them to love education”
Comment from 31 Dec 2025 in “France targets Australia-style social media ban for children next year” “the Sesame Street didn't teach people anything but how to watch television”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “Doomscrolling ourselves to death”
Other children's TV shows people recommend
The four most recommended other children's TV shows, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluey | 20 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Sesame StreetThis page | 8 | 2 | 80% | 5 | — | — |
| Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood | 7 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Peppa Pig | 6 | 4 | 60% | 4 | — | — |
| Numberblocks | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It has interesting inoffensive characters teaching useful language and social skills.”
“the Sesame Street didn't teach people anything but how to watch television”
“He has seen how adults interact with each other and respect one another through Mr Rogers and (older) Sesame Street.”
“they were delivering positive-value content”
“Seemed fine and even good.”
“I default to showing my kids shows from the 90s that didn't use cuts, aggressive cuts, to keep attention going.”
“educational content taught her this”
“You can see it clearly in long running shows, such as Sesame Street.”
“The producers of shows such as Mister Rogers and Sesame Street did not have a profit motive to increase "engagement" numbers.”
“By educating kids with Sesame street you didn't teach them to love education”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.