Sesame Street will have several new openings shortly as three long-time cast members will be leaving the show.
According to E! News, the stars that plan to depart the series are Bob McGrath, Emilio Delgado and Roscoe Orman. McGrath had been with the show since it premiered in 1969. Delgado joined the series in 1971, while Orman made his debut in 1974.
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A representative for Sesame Workshop said in a statement, “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.” He continued, “”To us, and for millions of people worldwide, they are a treasured part of Sesame Street. 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.”
Bob McGrath revealed the news of the actors’ upcoming departures during a July 2 Q&A event at the Florida Supercon. The long-time star stated, “As of this season, I have completed my 45th season this year. And the show has gone under a major turnaround, going from an hour to a half hour.” He also mentioned, “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.”
Last summer, HBO announced that it would be airing the next five seasons of Sesame Street on the cable network’s multiple channels: HBO Go, HBO On Demand and HBO Now. The show would air on HBO before heading to PBS, with new episodes that would premiere in fall of 2015.
CEO of Sesame Workshop, Jeffrey D. Dunn said in a statement at the time: “Our new partnership with HBO represents a true winning public-private partnership model. It provides Sesame Workshop with the critical funding it needs to be able to continue production of Sesame Street and secure its nonprofit mission of helping kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder; it gives HBO exclusive pay cable and SVOD access to the nation’s most important and historic educational programming; and it allows Sesame Streetto continue to air on PBS and reach all children, as it has for the past 45 years.”
Bob McGrath, Emilio Delgado and Roscoe Orman will all be sorely missed from the Sesame Street.
