Season 1 ( 1969 - 1970 ) After five test shows and years of preparation , " Sesame Street " premiered on NET ( National Educational Television , a precursor of PBS ) on November 10 , 1969 . Characters . During this first season , Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird were the only Muppets to appear regularly in Street scenes , while most of the other Muppets debuted in separate segments . Many of the Muppet characters had designs and / or character traits that would be changed or dropped later on . Big Bird had a much more naïve voice and a smaller head with fewer feathers , and was written as a sort of dopey adult character . Oscar , who would still retain much of his grouchy demeanor almost 40 years later , had orange fur . Monsters , who would become core characters by the second season , had fierce teeth , often destroyed anything in their path , and didn ' t have consistent names . Bob , Mr . Hooper , Gordon , and Susan were the original human cast members . With the exception of Mr . Hooper , who died in 1982 , the other original characters are still with the series as of the 2010s , making them some of the longest continually - running non - soap opera characters in American entertainment . Like the Muppets , the human characters would change over time . Bob , originally a shop teacher , would later teach music , and by the end of the first season Susan would become a nurse . The season also featured live - action segments starring Buddy and Jim , a human comedy duo that failed at such tasks as hanging a picture and making a sandwich . Jennie also made occasional appearances . Format . " Sesame Street ' s " format as established in 1969 would remain virtually unchanged for decades ; live - action street scenes would alternate with Muppet comedy skits , musical numbers and short film segments , all known collectively as " inserts " . Many of the Muppet scenes and films were created so that they could be replayed over and over ( at least one segment would be repeated within any given episode ) ; some of the segments made in 1969 would continue to be rebroadcast into the 1990s . ( Many of these pieces are available for viewing at sesamestreet . org , and continue to be shown in various international co - productions . ) The original episodes had a much more literal , almost lecture - like tone to the Street scenes , closer in style to its original contemporaries like Mister Rogers ' Neighborhood or Captain Kangaroo . With time , the Street - scenes became more natural with a definite plot thrust , with less breaking of the fourth wall . For example , in the first episode , Ernie once addresses the audience as those in " TV land " . While the Muppets would eventually become the biggest stars of the show , they did not appear as frequently as the cast . Cartoon segments aired more frequently than Muppet segments , and as such , some of the original illustrated promotional material featured the cast and Muppets interacting with animated characters , who also appeared in advertisements of the show . Animated segments and live - action inserts featured in the season included Alice Braithwaite Goodyshoes , Jazz Numbers , Speech Balloon s , Alphabet Bates and Numerosity , most of which continued to air many years later . The season introduced many original songs that have gone on to become beloved Sesame Street classics , including " Rubber Duckie " , " I Love Trash " , " Bein ' Green " , " The People in Your Neighborhood " and " One of These Things " . While all of those songs would have multiple performances on the show over the years , the last two would have many different versions during this season . During the first season , many segments had some sort of connection with each other . It would be common for characters in the street scenes to introduce the next segments , various Muppet inserts would directly lead into the next film or cartoon , celebrities would appear in sort tag sequences commenting on the previous segments , and some Muppet inserts would have them commenting on the previous segments . Some episodes during this season would end with live animals appearing on the street set . Many episodes also had segments where one of the adults would read an existing children ' s book . Curriculum . In 1968 , the Children ' s Television Workshop established the original educational concepts that would prepare children for school . Over time these would be expanded into larger fields ( such as women ' s career awareness , medical issues , and science and space ) . The original topics that were focused on during the first season included : Episodes . " Episodes 0001 - 0130 ( 130 episodes ) " Cast . Muppet Characters : Other Characters : Sources . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _