 According to author Louise A. Gikow , Sesame Street 's use of research to create individual episodes and to test its effect on its young viewers set it apart from other children 's programming . Co @-@ creator Joan Ganz Cooney called the idea of combining research with television production " positively heretical " because it had never been done before . Before Sesame Street , most children 's television shows were locally produced , with hosts who , according to researchers Edward L. Palmer and Shalom M. Fisch , " represented the scope and vision of a single individual " and were often condescending to their audience . Scriptwriters of these shows had no training in education or child development . 
