Big Changes for Big Bird: The New Sesame Street

Call it part survival tactic, part reinvention. The producers of "Sesame Street" are debuting a new-look program Saturday on HBO after falling revenues forced it to change strategy. 

Episodes will air first on HBO before airing for free on PBS nine months later. The new program will feature half-hour episodes, rather than the usual 1-hour time slot.

But it's the show's new set that's raising some eyebrows. 

"Sesame Street has been gentrified," said James Poniewozik, a television critic for the New York Time who reviewed the new shows. "If you go back and look at the original Sesame Street, it's a far cry from the very sort of gritty, littered Sesame street you saw in the early days."

Elmo has moved from an apartment to a brownstone. The character, Abby Caddabby, has a new organic garden and outside Hooper's, you'll find a chic, cafe vibe. 

Poniewozik said the show is still focused on kids, but he added there's something off about the changes.

"I think symbolically it's kind of sad that this show that was created in the spirit of providing a head start, free for everybody, even the most underprivileged kids now has sort of a tiered system."

Poniewozik spoke to WNYC's Soterios Johnson.