'Sesame Street' hits highest ratings in years

In its 40th anniversary season, "Sesame Street" has hit its highest ratings in its core demo in several years.

The program is averaging a 3.5 Nielsen rating for the current TV season in the core kids ages 2-5 demo. A spokeswoman said this is the best season average since 2007 for the show, which airs Monday-Friday. The producers said the show is maintaining its audience among 2-year-olds, but showing double-digit increases among 3- and 4-year-olds (up 21% and 32%, respectively, over last season). For February, the K2-5 rating hit 3.5, compared with 2.2 in the year-ago period.

Given kids' changing viewing habits, "Sesame Street's" 40th season has been reformatted. Murray the Monster Muppet hosts each episode from different locations linking four longer segments with interstitials throughout the hour. The show also has new opening and closing sequences that combine colorful chalk-art animation with the Muppets of Sesame Street and a re-versioned classic "Sunny Days" as musical back-drop.