Sesame Street Directs Fans to YouTube Account After HBO Max Episode Purge

Earlier this week, fans were stunned to discover that HBO Max had removed more than 200 legacy episodes of the iconic children’s program Sesame Street from the streaming platform with no indication of when — or if — the episodes will ever return. The move makes Sesame Street just the latest series to experience some sort of removal from the platform as Warner Bros. Discovery makes sweeping changes and while Sesame Street does still have a presence on the platform, the removal of these classic episodes has fans deeply concerned. Now, Sesame Street is directing fans to YouTube where they can “visit the neighborhood any day of the week”.

“Your friends on Sesame Street will always be here when you need them. Visit the neighborhood any day of the week with full episodes on YouTube channel,” the post read. Following the link in the post takes you to a playlist of free full episodes of the series, though it doesn’t appear that the playlist includes any classic episodes.

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Sesame Street is just the latest to be impacted by major changes in strategy at Warner Bros. Discovery which has seen numerous series cancelled and stripped from the platform as part of the company’s overall efforts to cut costs as well as bring the various content platforms owned by the company together. The company previously announced plans to merge HBO Max and discovery+ in 2023.

“As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+. That will include the removal of some content from both platforms,” the company previously said in a statement. “At the same time, we’re already starting to bring our content catalogs together like the launch of the new CNN Originals Hub on discovery+ and a curated collection of Magnolia Network content coming soon to HBO Max.”

Here is a list of everything that’s most recently been removed from HBO Max: 12 Dates of Christmas, About Last Night, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Close Enough, Detention Adventure, Dodo, Ellen’s Next Great Designer, Elliott From Earth, Esme & Roy, The Fungies!, Generation Hustle, Genera+ion, Infinity Train, Little Ellen, Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart, Messy Goes to Okido, Mia’s Magic Playground, Mighty Magiswords, My Dinner with Herve, My Mom, Your Dad, Odo, OK K.O.! – Let’s Be Heroes, The Ollie & Moon Show, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness, Select Sesame Street Specials, Make It Big, Make It Small, Share, Squish, Summer Camp Island, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, The Runaway Bunny – Special, Theodosia, Tig n’ Seek, Uncle Grandpa, Victor and Valentino, and Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs.

What do you think about HBO Max removing a large swath of classic Sesame Street episodes? Let us know in the comment section.