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The Best Episodes of Sesame Street

Every episode of Sesame Street ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Sesame Street!

Best episode
S15E4 The adults explain Mr. Hooper's death to Big Bird
9.8180 votes
Worst episode
S43E6 A Song For The Letter
5.431 votes
Top season
Season 30
9.4avg
Binge time
7d 0h
2877 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons56

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Sesame Street Season 15 Episode 4 - The adults explain Mr. Hooper's death to Big Bird
    9.8/10(180 votes)

    S15:E4

    When Big Bird eagerly presents drawings he made of his adult friends, he's devastated to learn that Mr. Hooper has died. The adults gently explain what death means, reassuring Big Bird that they'll help care for him and David will run the store. Big Bird tearfully says goodbye to Mr. Hooper's portrait as his friends comfort him. Sponsors: J, M, 5

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Sesame Street Season 6 Episode 1 - The Count Counts Streetlights (0666)
    9.4/10(44 votes)

    S6:E1

    Season premiere; the Count counts streetlights. Sponsors: E, 2

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Sesame Street Season 39 Episode 1 - The Golden Triangle of Destiny
    9.0/10(82 votes)

    S39:E1

    Chris welcomes the viewer to Sesame Street, as he serves Telly his lunch: a grilled-cheese sandwich, which is cut into Telly's favorite shape: a triangle. Suddenly, heroic music plays as Minnesota Mel, a swashbuckling hero, makes a swinging entrance. He's on one of his "patented high-stakes adventures," this time in search of the Golden Triangle of Destiny.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Sesame Street Season 47 Episode 15 - Meet Julia
    9.1/10(37 votes)

    S47:E15

    Elmo and Abby play with Julia, and Alan helps Big Bird understand more about Julia's autism.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Sesame Street Season 11 Episode 59 - Episode 1374
    9.0/10(45 votes)

    S11:E59

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Sesame Street Season 1 Episode 35 - Shoe Shuffle
    9.1/10(34 votes)

    S1:E35

    Sponsors: C, F, I, 2, 3

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Sesame Street

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  7. Sesame Street Season 14 Episode 4 - Episode 1709
    9.1/10(32 votes)

    S14:E4

    Big Bird at Camp, part 4

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Sesame Street Season 35 Episode 18 - Telly's Letter Dilemma (4074)
    9.0/10(34 votes)

    S35:E18

    Telly joins the Letter-Of-The-Month Club. Image and description courtesy of MuppetWiki and used with permission under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Sesame Street Season 40 Episode 14 - The Rainbow Show
    9.0/10(29 votes)

    S40:E14

    Elmo is drawing when he looks up in the sky and sees a rainbow! Wow! Elmo rushes to show everybody, but when Rosita arrives, the rainbow has disappeared. Elmo asks Leela if there is something he can do to bring the rainbow back. Leela offers to draw a picture of a rainbow. Leela can’t remember all the colors of the rainbow, but uses the acronym Roy G. Biv to help her remember the colors. Rosita likes the picture, but she wants to see a real rainbow. Elmo gets an idea! What about a rainbow of monsters? Elmo gathers monsters of all different colors; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. After many attempts, the monsters finally line up in appropriate order. Rosita enjoys seeing a rainbow of different colored monsters, but still wishes she could see a real rainbow. Abby hears Rosita and recites a magic rhyme to grant Rosita’s wish. Poof! Oh no! Instead of making a rainbow appear, raincoats appear on Elmo and Rosita! Abby tries again and again. Her magic rhyme still doesn’t work. Abby makes a rainstorm, instead of a rainbow. Everyone rushes inside, where Gordon makes a rainbow appear using a flashlight, a glass of water, and white paper. Afterward, as Elmo and Rosita are playing outside, Rosita looks up and sees something special, a rainbow! Elmo and Rosita sing all about the beautiful rainbow in the sky.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Sesame Street Season 1 Episode 87 - The Magnificent Block Building
    8.9/10(35 votes)

    S1:E87

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Sesame Street Season 17 Episode 1 - The adults on Sesame Street finally meet Mr. Snuffleupagus
    8.9/10(34 votes)

    S17:E1

    Big Bird reveals to Snuffy that something special is going to happen today: all his grown-up friends will finally get to meet his best friend face-to-face! Big Bird explains how tired he is of hearing everyone humor him about his "imaginary friend." Sponsors: J, S, 6

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Sesame Street Season 36 Episode 14 - Mexico on Sesame Street (4096)
    9.0/10(27 votes)

    S36:E14

    Rosita is feeling homesick for her abuela and for Mexico. Seeing how much Rosita misses Mexico and her abuela, Big Bird and friends decide to bring Mexico to her by decorating Sesame Street to look just like Mexico! They also bring in authentic Mexican food and Luis sings a traditional Mexican song. Rosita is truly surprised and grateful when she realizes what everyone has done. To everyone’s surprise, Rosita’s abuela shows up too! She missed Rosita so much that she had to fly in to see her. Rosita couldn’t be happier! They all continue the fiesta together.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Sesame Street Season 42 Episode 8 - Goodbye Pacifier
    9.0/10(27 votes)

    S42:E8

    Curly Bear is unsure about giving up her binky, so Elmo tries to help.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Sesame Street Season 1 Episode 1 - Gordon Introduces Sally to Sesame Street (0001)
    8.6/10(107 votes)

    S1:E1

    In the first episode of Sesame Street, Gordon takes a girl named Sally on a tour of Sesame Street, introducing her (and the viewers) to the various characters on the show. On the street, Sally meets the human cast -- Gordon, Susan, Bob and Mr. Hooper -- as well as two Muppet characters, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.

    Director:Neil Smith
    Writers:Carole Hart, Ray Sipherd, Bruce Hart, Dan Wilcox, Jerry Juhl, Jeff Moss

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  15. Sesame Street Season 28 Episode 1 - Maria in the Hospital, Pt. 1 (3526)
    8.8/10(36 votes)

    S28:E1

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Sesame Street Season 33 Episode 20 - The Mark of Elefante
    8.9/10(28 votes)

    S33:E20

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Sesame Street Season 38 Episode 25 - Rosita Gets Upset at Zoe & Abby
    8.9/10(27 votes)

    S38:E25

    Rosita and Zoe are both excited about their play date together. As they start to play hide-and-seek, Abby Cadabby poofs up out of nowhere. Rosita is about to show Abby how they play hide-and-seek, but Abby mentions another game, "jumping rhymes," which piques Zoe's interests. Zoe and Abby are good at the game, but Rosita has trouble thinking of words that rhyme with "chair," and can only think of made-up words (which are acceptable).

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Sesame Street Season 7 Episode 1 - Headline Howie Gets the Scoop on Snuffy (0796)
    8.7/10(43 votes)

    S7:E1

    Headline Howie gets the scoop on Snuffy. Sponsors: P, 2

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Sesame Street Season 1 Episode 33 - Michael Cooney Visits
    8.8/10(31 votes)

    S1:E33

    Sponsors: C, F, I, 2, 3

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Sesame Street Season 44 Episode 5 - Simon Says
    8.7/10(39 votes)

    S44:E5

    Telly prepares for a Simon Says competition.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Sesame Street Season 40 Episode 10 - Grouch Messing Machine
    8.9/10(23 votes)

    S40:E10

    Elmo and Leela are in the laundromat when they hear a loud, clanging sound. Leela explains that the washing machine always gives her trouble and she wants to get rid of it, but Elmo insists that she keep it. Leela asks Luis to try to fix it again. When he arrives, he asks Elmo to find a wrench in his tool box. After a few tries, Elmo finally finds a wrench. Luis opens the lid of the machine to see if it is fixed but it squirts water in his face! Luis decides he needs to put in a new nut in the shape of a hexagon. Elmo finds a nut but it only has four sides. He looks again and finds one with six sides! A hexagon! Luis tightens the nut and tries the machine again. It starts to bang, clang, and hiccup louder than ever! Suddenly, the machine starts to move! Luis suggests that something might be stuck in the spin basket. He opens it and pulls out different objects as Elmo adds them up—seven objects all together! Luis throws in clothes and detergent to see if the machine works. All of a sudden, the machine lid explodes, spewing clothes and soap everywhere! Now Leela really wants to get rid of the machine, but Elmo insists they keep it and reuse it for another purpose. But for what? Oscar announces that he thinks it’s the greatest machine ever! That’s it! The machine can be reused as a “Grouch’s Messing Machine!” All the grouches come running to take turns messing up their clothes. It’s a grouch dream machine!

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Sesame Street Season 11 Episode 61 - Episode 1376
    8.7/10(36 votes)

    S11:E61

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Sesame Street Season 38 Episode 14 - Chris Helps Elmo Write a Letter
    8.8/10(27 votes)

    S38:E14

    At the Fix-it Shop, Abby Cadabby and Elmo watch Maria fix a toaster. ("I love having an audience," Maria says.) An excited Rosita rushes over to show them the letter she received from her abuelita, and asks Maria to read it. In the letter, her grandma says she was looking at a picture of Rosita, and it made her happy. It makes Rosita happy, too, as she imagines a hug from her abuelita. Right then and there, Rosita decides to write a letter back, and runs off.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Sesame Street Season 1 Episode 21 - Big Bird Discovers Balloons / Susan In The Kitchen
    8.7/10(34 votes)

    S1:E21

    Sponsors: A, H, T, 10

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Sesame Street Season 37 Episode 4 - Elmo Learns About School
    8.8/10(26 votes)

    S37:E4

    Gabi and Miles reminisce about their first day of school, telling Elmo about their classroom, the things they did, and how a disagreement over who got to play with a fire truck taught them about sharing.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"The adults explain Mr. Hooper's death to Big Bird" is the best rated episode of Sesame Street. It scored 9.8/10 from 180 votes. Written and directed by Unknown, it aired on November 24, 1983. This episode scored 0.4 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Count Counts Streetlights (0666)".

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