Happy 45th Birthday, Sesame Street! Walk on Down to Where the Air Is Sweet

But it was Cooney's brilliant decision to hire Jim Henson to create characters for the show that really got kids hooked. Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, and Big Bird (whose nest I spotted on the set here) — all there since the beginning — boiled complex emotional issues into preschool-sized pieces to truly make the show a hit.

But don't be fooled by the elementary lessons; Sesame Street continues to win over new generations of fans with a steady stream of current pop culture references that parents are more likely to "get" than kids. From the parade of celebrities who appear on the Street — including White House residents, superstar athletes, and Hollywood royalty — to parodies of current television and movie phenomenons, the show's writers and producers keep the show feeling fresh and kids and parents hooked.

Though the outdoor scenes look like they take place in a Brooklyn neighborhood, almost the entire show is filmed indoors. Originally filmed in a studio in Manhattan, the show moved to Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens during the 25th season and has been filming there ever since. The only scenes filmed outside are Murray Monster's "Word on the Street."

The studio, which is about a quarter of the size of what you'd imagine it would be, is packed with puppets and familiar characters everywhere you turn. From Big Bird's nest to Mr. Snuffleupagus hanging from the ceiling (the only place to store the massive costume when no one is wearing it), everywhere you turn there are pieces of nostalgic Sesame Street to be seen.

For our visit, the puppet cast of characters were filming the new introduction to Count von Count's "Number of the Day" segment that appears on every episode. The musical number required quite a bit of choreography to fit all nine puppets in one frame.

I brought my 4-year-old son — a Sesame Street junkie much like his mom — with me, forgetting that the characters would be controlled by humans. So the first thing I had to do was "explain" why they couldn't stand and move on their own!

Though the opening number's song was recorded by the characters in a studio earlier that day, the video portion required quite a bit of coordination. We watched the puppeteers coordinate their movements during about 10 different takes before they could all fit comfortably on the screen.

Most of the puppeteers also provide the voices for their puppets, so one of the most interesting aspects of the filming was how they stayed "in character" even when the cameras weren't rolling.

And what visit to Sesame Street would be complete without some postfilming fun with our favorite characters. Joey Mazzarino, who voices Murray Monster, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, who voices Abby Cadabby, and David Rudman, who has voiced Cookie Monster since 2001, had a little fun with us after they were through recording.