Sesame Street is an American children's television series created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. The program is known for its educational content, creatively communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets, animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. The series premiered on National Educational Television (NET) stations on November 10, 1969, and by its 40th anniversary in 2009 was the 15th-highest-rated children's television show in the United States. A 1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers had watched the show by the time they were three years old. In 2008, it was estimated that 77 million Americans had watched the series as children.