#705 Muppets In Moscow - Natasha Lance Rogoff

Muppets In Moscow - Natasha Lance Rogoff

The Not Old Better Show, Author Interview Series

Welcome to The Not Old Better Show, Author Interview Series on radio and podcast. I’m Paul Vogelzang, and today’s show is brought to you by Shady Rays sunglasses and Trivia Star the #1 trivia game in the Apple app store.  As part of our Art Of Living author interview series, we have an excellent program about wild tale of producing the Russian version of Sesame Street (Ulitsa Sezam) in the early to mid-1990s.

Thank you so much for listening. We’ve got a great guest today for our  Art Of Living author interview series with Natasha Lance Rogoff, author of the new book, Muppets in Moscow and I’ll introduce her in just a moment.  But, quickly, if you missed any episodes, last week was our 704th  episode when I spoke to Smithsonian Women’s History Month Series Smithsonian Associate, Emmy award-winning filmmaker Sara Lukinson about the magnificent Barbra Streisand.  Two weeks ago, as part of our Smithsonian Associates Science Literacy series, I spoke to scientist, journalist, and author Kelly Beatty.  For the past 35 years, J. Kelly Beatty has kept his readers on the edge of their front-row seats to much of the exploration of our solar system as senior editor of Sky & Telescope.  Excellent subjects for our Not Old Better Show audience, especially during Women’s History Month…If you missed those shows, along with any others, you can go back and check them out with my entire back catalog of shows, all free for you, there on our website, NotOld-Better.com

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the timing appeared perfect to bring the venerable, long-time popular children’s program Sesame Street to millions of children living in the former Soviet Union. With the Muppets envisioned as ideal ambassadors of Western idealistic values, no one anticipated just how challenging and dangerous this would prove to be. In 1993, the Sesame Workshop hired our guest today Natasha Lance Rogoff, an American, to bring Sesame Street to Russia. The Muppets and Sesame Street are American cultural icons, and introducing them to Russia so soon after the collapse of communism would not be easy. In Muppets in Moscow, our guest today, Natasha Lance Rogoff brings the story to life. Natasha Lance Rogoff , fluent in Russian, is an award-winning American television producer, filmmaker, and journalist who has produced television news and documentaries in Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union for CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS. Natasha Lance Rogoff executive produced Ulitsa Sezam, the Russian adaptation of Sesame Street, between 1993 and 1997

That, of course, is our guest today Natasha Lance Rogoff, reading from her new book, Muppets In Moscow.  Please join me in welcoming to The Not Old Better Show, Author Interview Series on radio, and podcast Natasha Lance Rogoff.

My thanks to Shady Rays sunglasses and Trivia Star the #1 trivia game in the Apple app store, for sponsoring today’s show.  My thanks to Natasha Lance Rogoff for her generous time and reading.  My thanks to the Smithsonian team for all they do to support the show, and of course, my thanks to you, my wonderful Not Old Better Show audience… Let’s talk about better.  The Not Old Better Show Smithsonian Associates interview series.  Thanks, everybody.