The guest list for the 41st season of Sesame Street premiering Sept. 27, reads like a who’s who of Hollywood hipness. Just a few of the actors: Jude Law, Amy Poehler, Jennifer Garner, Kyra Sedgwick, Collin Farrell, Wanda Sykes and Terrence Howard. But wait, there’s more, such as music superstars Katy Perry, Usher, will.i.am and NFL players Reggie Bush and LaDainian Tomlinson. And fans of the gory/sexy HBO series True Blood, stay tuned for its Sesame parody, “True Mud.”

Tavis Smiley does not own a cell phone.

The Anchorage Daily News has confirmed that former Republican Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, 86, a longtime public broadcasting champion, died in a plane crash in southern Alaska Monday night (Aug. 9). Stevens served in Congress from Dec. 24, 1968, to Jan. 3, 2009. He was chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee from 1997 to 2005. He also chaired the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in 2005 and ’06. The Washington Post’s obituary called him “one of the most powerful congressmen of his generation.” Stevens received the 2002 Ralph Lowell Award from CPB, recognizing outstanding individual contributions to public television.

Community radio station KABF (88.3 FM) in Little Rock, Ark., currently under audit by CPB, “may be broke in a matter of weeks. KABF could cease to exist as we know it,” board member Jay Jensen told station volunteers in a recent email, according to the Arkansas Times on Aug. 5. KABF began in 1984 as an affiliate ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and the controversial nonprofit remains a presence on the station’s board. An emergency KABF board meeting was convened last week to create a community advisory board for the station, which is a requirement for CPB support.

WNET.org has signed a lease for midtown Manhattan office space half the size of its present quarters near Penn Station, the licensee said Monday. Recession-driven staff reductions and the opening of a studio facility at Lincoln Center have reduced the licensee’s space needs to 100,000 square feet. After 13 years at 450 W. 33rd St., the operation is signing a lease for 15 years in the Worldwide Plaza Building at 8th Avenue and 50th Street. WNET said the space, to be designed by a+i design corp., will be “fully open plan, with no private office spaces.” The station’s technical side cleaned house with an equipment auction last week and netted $250,000, said spokesperson Kellie Specter.

A consultant’s study of public TV’s crowded Los Angeles market, commissioned by CPB, predicts a highly integrated collaboration among the area’s four stations would provide hefty financial savings and grow revenues for all four. The eight-week study by Booz & Co. — a major consulting firm spun off by Booz Allen Hamilton — said the present structure of the market has stunted the four stations. They’ve suffered a 10 percent revenue decline since 2005 and a 26 percent drop in net assets since 2007. All have average audiences below the PBS national average rating of 1.1 percent. San Bernardino’s KVCR averages 0.1.

Sesame Workshop is partnering with the Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy to produce “Reach for the Sky,” a science event beginning this month in Abu Dhabi, according to Al Bawaba, a Middle Eastern news site. “In addition to learning about planets, galaxies, the Earth and stars, children will explore the phases of the moon and their relationship with Arabian months, including the month of Ramadan, and Islamic achievements in the fields of science and astronomy,” Al Bawaba reported. “Reach for the Sky” activities run nightly starting Aug. 12, the first day of Ramadan, and continue through the Islamic holy month.

Snap Judgment, one of three new shows conceived from the CPB-backed Public Radio Talent Quest, has become a whirlwind of multimedia production with the launch of its weekly radio programs in July, live stage shows, and television piloting. “We kind of just go-go-go all the time,” says Mark Ristich, co-executive producer with Glynn Washington, a Talent Quest winner who is host and creator of the series. “We’re going to try to keep the content as fresh as possible, because we’ll lose people if we don’t.” The small production team is busy creating 26 weekly radio episodes and a series of live storytelling performances, the first of which was recorded in June at San Francisco’s Brava Theater.

After negotiating with PBS for eight months over a proposal to reduce its dues and remake public TV in the Los Angeles market, the city’s biggest public station announced last week that it is preparing to completely drop out of the network. If KCET proceeds with its back-up plan for financial relief, as of Jan. 1 PBS would be left without a station committed to air the bulk of its schedule in the nation’s second-largest media market. It would be the first departure of a major-market member in the network’s history. KCET President Al Jerome told Current in an extended interview that he’d prefer to remain with PBS, but — if the network doesn’t budge — he has unanimous board backing to forgo the PBS brand and the icon series from its National Program Service.

A bill introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) authorizes a spectrum auction but guarantees that the bandwidth turnover would be voluntary, according to Broadcasting & Cable. Its primary purpose is to allocate spectrum and funds to create a national public safety network, which is favored by the White House.

Yoko Ono generated news from the PBS stage Thursday (Aug. 5) during the TCA Summer Press Tour, saying she still opposes parole for her husband John Lennon’s killer even after 30 years. As for the American Masters production of “LennonNYC,” premiering Nov. 22, Ono said it contains footage even she hasn’t seen. “Yes, it seems like you know everything about us. I thought so too,” Ono said. Ono cooperated with the production and narrates the prologue. American Masters e.p. Susan Lacy said the doc features music and images never released in public, including home movies. (PBS photo, Jake Landis) UPDATE: Here’s an interesting overview of Ono’s full press session, titled, “An hour with the calm-combative yo-yo that is Yoko Ono,” courtesy of Canada.com.

The “Circus” came to town today (Aug. 5) courtesy of PBS at the ongoing TCA Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles. The six-part series from the folks who brought you “Carrier” premieres in November. We get the feeling that PBS provided the only upside-down balancing gentleman onstage in the entire Press Tour. Because if PBS didn’t do it, who would? (PBS photo, Jake Landis)

For our RSS subscribers, don’t miss the story just posted on current.org on KCET’s possible departure from PBS as of Jan. 1, 2011. The move could leave the network without a station committed to air the bulk of its schedule in the nation’s second-largest media market. And it would be the first departure of a major-market member in the network’s history.

After negotiating with PBS for eight months over a proposal to reduce its dues and reconfigure pubTV in the Los Angeles market, the city’s bigget public station announced this week that it may drop out of the network by Jan. 1. If KCET proceeds with that option, PBS would be left without a station committed to carrying its primetime and children’s schedules in the nation’s second-largest media market. It would be the first departure of a major-market member in the network’s  history. KCET President Al Jerome told Current that he’d prefer to remain with PBS, but says — if the network doesn’t budge — he has unanimous backing from the station’s board of directors to forgo the PBS brand and the icon series of its National Program Service.

A roomful of TV talent assembled Wednesday (Aug. 4) at a panel and reception for PBS’s “Pioneers of Television” at the TCA Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles. Generating the star wattage was, in front, Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek and Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West. Back row, Mission Impossible‘s Martin Landau, Mike Connors of Mannix and Linda Evans of Dynasty. (PBS photo, Jake Landis)