Three Veteran Sesame Street Actors Fired

In a disappointing move for many long-time time fans, Sesame Workshop, the company behind the popular children's television series Sesame Street, announced on Thursday they will no longer employ veteran actors Bob McCrath, Roscoe Orman, and Emilio Delgado. The production company released a statement explaining that the show is constantly evolving to meet the educational needs of children, which sometimes results in cast changes. The three actors who were let go were all human characters. Bob McGrath, 84, played Bob the music teacher on the show - he had been with the show since its very first season. Roscoe Orman, 72, played the role of Gordon the science teacher. Garrett Saunders originated the role the first season, but Orman took over the character in 1974. Emilio Delgado, 76, joined the show in 1971 as Luis with Sonia Manzano, who played Luis' wife Maria. Manzano left the show previously in 2015. Sesame Street has been a staple of public television and a well-loved program for children since its first broadcast in 1969. The show began a new five-year partnership with Home Box Office (HBO) in January of this year, which will allow the cable channel to broadcast new episodes exclusively for a nine-month window before they are seen on Public Broadcasting Service, or PBS. The series has gone through some significant changes since the new partnership with HBO. The episodes have been shortened from one hour to thirty minutes, and now also focus on one theme or topic per show instead of a variety of topics as seen in the past. The shows also now has more special effects and a faster pace than during the previous seasons. There is also more of a focus on digital media, which may be an attempt to appeal more to the young people of today. In addition to watching the show on HBO and PBS, there are also many children who view the show on the downloadable program app. Both HBO and PBS also announced casting decisions are made by Sesame Workshop alone, without direct input from either network.