HBO removes 36 titles, including classic ‘Sesame Street’ episodes

NEW YORK — HBO Max is trimming its streaming catalog in the wake of its merger with Discovery, with 200 “Sesame Street” classic episodes among 36 titles getting the ax this week.

The content cleanup is the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures from parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, which is preparing to merge HBO Max and Discovery+ into one platform sometime next year.

According to Variety, “Sesame Street” had 456 episodes remaining on HBO Max as of Friday, with the full lineup from seasons 39-52 and selections from previous seasons.

HBO first partnered with Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization that produces “Sesame Street,” in 2015, giving the series a much-needed financial boost and securing HBO the rights to air new episodes of the long-running series before they air on PBS . The current agreement sees new seasons of Sesame Street premiere on HBO Max through 2025, reports Variety.

The titles being removed from the streaming service include 20 original HBO Max shows, much of which is family or children’s content, according to Variety.

Among the cuts are several Sesame Street spinoffs and specials such as The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, children’s show Summer Camp Island, teen drama Generation, and animated series Infinity Train.

Warner Bros. Discovery has made it clear that family-oriented content would not be a focus for the short term as the companies complete their merger. The company’s CFO said on a conference call that children’s and animation content would be cut “without a proper investment case against them,” Deadline reported.

Cutting those titles will allow the company to save “tens of millions of dollars” in leftover inventory, CNBC reported.

Warner Bros. also made headlines earlier this month when it stunned Hollywood by announcing that it would not release the “Batgirl” movie slated for HBO Max, opting instead to leave the $90 million project without a release to put on ice.

Here are the titles leaving HBO Max:

• 12 Christmas dates
• Because of last night
• Aquaman: King of Atlantis
• Near enough
• Detention Adventure
• dodo
• Ellen’s next great designer
• Elliott from Earth
• Esme & Roy
• The mushrooms!
• Generation hustle
• generation
• Infinity train
• Little cubits
• Mao Mao, heroes of the pure heart
• Messy goes to Okido
• Mia’s magical playground
• Powerful magic words
• My dinner with Herve
• My mother, your father
• Odo
• OK KO! – Let’s be heroes
• The Ollie & Moon Show
• Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
• Ravi Patel’s pursuit of happiness
• Choose Sesame Street Specials
• make it big, make it small
• Split
• To squeeze
• Summer camp island
• The Not Too Late Show with Elmo
• The Runaway Bunny – Special
• Theodosia
• Tig n’ Seek
• uncle grandpa
• Victor and Valentino
• Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs