page_title: The Robinson family (Sesame Street)
section_title: Recent appearances
hierarchical_section_title: The Robinson family (Sesame Street) / Character and production history / 1974–2016 / Recent appearances
caption_attribution_description: English: Actor Roscoe Orman at the 2007 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas, United States.
context_page_description: The Robinson family is a fictional family in the children's television series Sesame Street. The family consists of husband Gordon, a high school science teacher, and his wife Susan, a nurse. Later, the family expands to include their adopted son Miles, as well as Gordon's sister Olivia, and his father Mr. Robinson. As African Americans, the family was created as leads for the show, originally targeted to underprivileged inner city children. Even as human roles were slowly reduced over the years, their characters maintained a constant presence.
context_section_description: Looking back on his role, over the last 33 years, Orman commented "If I could boast of no other major career accomplishment, having played a central role as I have in the development and continuation of this landmark series would alone have made my life sufficiently meaningful. The historical significance of Sesame Street and its surprising longevity have made my association with the show, in many regards, my life's crowning achievement." However, Orman doesn't credit Sesame Street as having defined himself personally and his overall career; The Free Southern Theater of New Orleans and The New Lafayette Theatre of Harlem collectively take that honor.
  By 2002, Imani Patterson left his role as Miles, and was replaced by actor Olamide Faison. As a recording artist of the mildly successful hip-hop group Imajin, Faison could be used more frequently as a singer on the series. Plot lines like season 36 episode 4089 focused on Miles singing numerous 1960s-style parody songs for American Fruitstand.
  In episode 4112 (2006), Miles graduated high school alongside Gabi, despite the fact that the characters' respective births on the show occurred four years apart. A flashback in this episode also revealed that Miles was shy on his first day of school.
  Loretta Long and Bob McGrath are the only two remaining non-puppeteer actors on Sesame Street from its first episode, as Will Lee (Mr. Hooper) died in 1982 and Matt Robinson left the show in 1972. While neither actor has appeared in a significant number of episodes since about season 38, the longevity of their roles are with few precedents. Of the Muppets from the first episode—Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit the Frog, Cookie Monster, and Bert and Ernie—all except Kermit are still major characters on the show. However, Jim Henson (Kermit, Ernie) died, with Steve Whitmire playing Ernie (Kermit no longer appears); Frank Oz, busy as a director, now only puppeteers Grover, Bert, and Cookie Monster a couple of times each season (David Rudman and Eric Jacobson have largely taken over his characters); and Caroll Spinney retired in 2018, handing over the role of Big Bird to Matt Vogel, and Oscar the Grouch to Jacobson.
  On July 28, 2016, it was announced that Gordon would be dropped from the show as Orman's contract was not renewed as part of Sesame Workshop's re-tooling for the series. Following his departure, the workshop stated that Orman would continue to represent them at public events.
caption: Roscoe Orman has played Gordon from 1974 to 2016. He is seen here at the 2007 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas.
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