Sesame Street sets 56th season with longer stories on Netflix

Sesame Street returns for its 56th season on Monday, Nov. 10, with a slightly retooled format, celebrity guests and a new global streaming home on Netflix while remaining available day and date on PBS. The updated season will center each episode on a single 11-minute main story, expand familiar segments and introduce new ones as the long-running children’s program aims to broaden its reach and classroom-first mission.

Executive producer Sal Perez said the show has continually evolved since its debut in 1969. "In the history of Sesame Street, we've always reinvented in some sort of way over our last 56 years," he said, describing the season as a reimagining designed to invite children more directly into the action. Netflix will stream the new season in 30 languages and drop episodes in groups, while episodes will also appear on PBS stations and PBS KIDS digital platforms the same day.

The first volume features NASCAR champion Bubba Wallace as a guest in an episode that finds Elmo, Abby and Zoe staging three neighborhood races aided by an abundance of puppet chickens and Wallace offering sideline commentary. The format change lengthens the principal story from nine minutes last...