HOLLYWOOD—“Sesame Street” is celebrating the beginning of season 40, which began last week on Tuesday, November 10, and in honor of the milestone, the First Lady Michelle Obama guest starred on the series. The first lady was featured along with some of our favorite characters and she taught the “street” people about the importance of eating properly and also encouraged them to plant a garden. This was part of “Sesame Streets’” Healthy Habits for Life-initiative, which has been ongoing for months now.

Michelle Obama appears with Big Bird, Elmo and Kids

The first lady loved the opportunity to become a part of history. Telling the kids who watch and the street people, which included Elmo and Big Bird, “All these seeds need to grow are sun, soil and water. If you eat these healthy foods, you’re going to grow up to be big and strong, like me.” Then Obama added, “I know you’re going to like these vegetables, because in addition to being healthy, they really taste great!”

Carol-Lynn Parante, the Executive Producer of “Sesame Street” says, “It is truly an honor to have Mrs. Obama join us in our premiere show on this landmark 40^th anniversary season. I feel extremely privileged to produce the gold standard of children’s television, serving up our well-known favorite characters and parodies, while striving to create innovative stories and formats using the latest technologies. This is what keeps the show fresh, exciting and relevant to the needs of today’s children.”

Actor Hugh Jackman appears with Elmo

The 40^th anniversary of this series will also feature a DVD and book soon to be available to viewers and fans of the acclaimed Emmy-winning series. The show which has capitalized on the positive for many years actually made history during its 1969 debut. Because the series always believed in diversity and had a multi-racial cast, the state of Mississippi would not air the first season because during that era in our nation’s history, Mississippi would not air any TV series that had a multi-ethnic or racially mixed cast. On Tuesday night’s ABC World News with Charlie Gibson, my friend David Muir had a special segment on this very story. You can see the news segment at http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9048874. David told Canyon News in December when asked about the historic nature of our 2008 Presidential election, “In the news business, the path ahead is so often dictated by the unknown. Who could have imagined we would have witnessed the extraordinary political storyline that unfolded this past year? We watched as the first African-American and the first woman seriously vied for their party’s nomination and then, of course, Barack Obama’s historic win in November.”

Cameron Diaz with Street puppy and professor Grover

First Lady Michelle Obama joins a list of famous faces which have made guest appearances on the series over the decades. Most recently Australian actor Hugh Jackman, actress Cameron Diaz and ABC’s “Lost” star Matthew Fox all have enjoyed going on the hit children’s series.   "Sesame Street" airs weekdays on PBS.

Matthew Fox with Elmo

Thanks to ABC News for the exclusive clip of their evening news segment. Then a special thanks goes to my friends at "Sesame Street" Productions for use of exclusive photographs offered to Canyon News.