Neverending Television

Sesame Street, 1969
There once was a time when the idea of television as a pedagogical tool was laughable. Then came Sesame Street, which quickly proved that education and entertainment were not mutually exclusive. With its colorful cast of Muppets — Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo — and a multicultural human cast, Sesame Street has now been teaching kids numbers, the alphabet, sharing and the importance of rubber duckies for almost four decades.

• ER's Long Goodbye