OT: should Sesame Street characters have WDT-style DVD releases?

[speedy fast]

I've been wondering for a long time, should there be Sesame Street DVD releases similar to the Walt Disney Treasures releases, where character collections include all appearances in chronological order (depending on whetehr Sesame Workshop considers chronological order to be broadcast or production order)?

I've thought for a few eyars now that this would be a good idea. On april fools day, 2006, I posted a thread on Muppet central claiming that there would be a collection of two-disc "Sesame Street Treasures" releases, including a two-disc "Complete Ernie and Bert: 1969-1974" release. Of course, after Muppet Wiki posted info on Sesame Street episodes and segments found at the University of Maryland's CTW Archives, it seems like there were a lot of Ernie and Bert segments in the first season. I wonder if two discs would be enough for every Ernie and Bert sketch from the first season. And another thing to take into account would be whetehr it would jsut be sketches with both characters, or if solo appearances by both should be included. Sure, there could be individual "Complete Ernie" and "Complete Bert" releases, but a "Complete Bert" set would probably be redundant, since while Ernie has appeared in a lot fo skits without Bert, Bert hasn't been in as many sketches without Ernie. And one thing that could make a "Complete Ernie and Bert" collection tricky would be whetrh it'd really be "complete". I know that there was one skit where Ernie sings "Happy Birthday" to a letter U. It's known that Old School Volume 2 cut the song, which was breifly sung in episode 796. I don't recall seeing the sketch in question, but I figure it would look weird for that sketch to be released with the song cut.

Still, complete sketch releases for Sesame Street characters like Ernie, Bert, The Count, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, and others would be great. I don't know the chances of Big Bird or Oscar having these kidns of sets, as they were usually seen in street scenes as opposed to inserts, though it seems like in the early years that most street scenes didn't really connect with each other. It would be great (though I doubt Sesame Workshop would consider sucha thing) if there were such sets for supporting characters like Herry, The Amazing Mumford, Forgetful Jones, Guy Smiley, and Roosevelt Franklin. And a Kermit set would be good, but I don't know if Disney would allow it (I know that Sesame Workshop has permission to release Kermit sketches from the show, but I don't know if he can be the main selling point).

Then again, if Sesame Workshop decided to make collectible sets compiling every insert with it's many characters, I wonder if it'd be best to be like the Walt Disney Treasures sets, the Popeye sets, or the Woody Woodpecker and Friends sets. The latter might be better than a Treasures-style set, as the sets can focus on certain characters, in addition to supporting characters. So, for example, there could be a four-disc Grover set, each disc with 15-20 minutes worth of Grover sketches, in chronological order, and perhaps disc 1 can also include 10 minutes worth of Guy Smiley sketches, in order, then 5-10 minutes worth of Roosevelt Franklin sketches in order. Disc 2 could have 10 minutes worth of Herry Monster sketches in order, five minutes worth of Harvey Kneeslapper sketches, and three minutes worth of Professor Hastings sketches. Disc 3 can have 10 minutes worth of Kermit sketches (that don't have Grover), 5 minutes worth of Two-Headed Monster sketches, 5 minutes worth of number sketches (maybe all ten of the baker films, and/ or all ten Jazz Numbers segments, or just a random selection of number segments), and 5 minutes worth of alphabet segments. And for disc 4, five minutes worth of non-Muppet films from the show, five minutes worth of animated segmnets, all 13 Teeny Little Superguy segments, and 5-10 minutes worth of Anyhting Muppet segments.

[BloodyChamp]

I'd buy it. I've recently rediscovered Sesame Street and how FUNNY the muppets could be when they did things besides sing the alphabet. That's why I bumped up the old Sesame Street thread.

[nickramer]

I'm not sure about having WDT style sets. However, I heard the rumor that the next Old School set, Vol. 3, is going to be an inserts only set in honor of the show's 40th anniversary. Now I'm not sure if that's mean they are going to repeat things that were in "Classic Cuts" section on the past set's bonus sections. I wouldn't mind if they repeat stuff that was only in the episode itself ("Doing the Piegon", for example) or different versions of songs like the original version of "Rubber Duckie" as a small of clip of it was shown in the special, "The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years". I do hope it means they put the classic Erine and Bert sketch where Erine explains why he put a pot on Bert's head.

In the meantime, if you really need a Muppet fix, I suggest getting "The Muppet Show: Season 3". It's uncut and you don't need to sell your soul for it (that's a Muppet reference by the way).

[speedy fast]

I'm not sure about having WDT style sets. However, I heard the rumor that the next Old School set, Vol. 3, is going to be an inserts only set in honor of the show's 40th anniversary. Now I'm not sure if that's mean they are going to repeat things that were in "Classic Cuts" section on the past set's bonus sections. I wouldn't mind if they repeat stuff that was only in the episode itself ("Doing the Piegon", for example) or different versions of songs like the original version of "Rubber Duckie" as a small of clip of it was shown in the special, "The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years". I do hope it means they put the classic Erine and Bert sketch where Erine explains why he put a pot on Bert's head.

In the meantime, if you really need a Muppet fix, I suggest getting "The Muppet Show: Season 3". It's uncut and you don't need to sell your soul for it (that's a Muppet reference by the way).

Where did you hear that? I saw a post on Muppet central recently from somebody who heard the same thing, and I can't remember the user (and don't feel like checking, or doing research as to if it was you or someone else). A few months ago I posted a thread about an idea for a 4-disc 40th anniversary set of clips. I don't know if that thread was how the rumor got started, but that was just a wishlist/ idea-list I had, not anything official from Sesame Workshop.

And I do have The Muppet Show: Season Three. I've watched many of those episodes at least four times.

[nickramer]

Where did you hear that? I saw a post on Muppet central recently from somebody who heard the same thing, and I can't remember the user (and don't feel like checking, or doing research as to if it was you or someone else). A few months ago I posted a thread about an idea for a 4-disc 40th anniversary set of clips. I don't know if that thread was how the rumor got started, but that was just a wishlist/ idea-list I had, not anything official from Sesame Workshop.

And I do have The Muppet Show: Season Three. I've watched many of those episodes at least four times.
I read that on the Muppet Central fourms myself. And I mention the Season 3 set because there might be some people who might be reading this thread and didn't know about the DVD.

[speedy fast]

I wonder why Old School Volume 3 would be a clip-only set to tie in with the 40th anniversary. I think that if a collection of skits was released to celebrate the anniversary that it should represent all 40 seasons (okay, so season 40 hasn't been produced yet...), though I'd obviously want to emphasis the first 20 seasons. The Old School sets have represented the early years, and it'd be a shame if it was called "Old School" and included something from every season.

It sort of makes me wodner if it's been getting harder/ longer for Sesame Workshop to get all clearances needed for individual hour-long episodes. I figure it's easier to get clearances if it's just a release of sketches, because then the sketches are chosen, and if the company can't afford to includesomething, at least it's not cut from an existing episode.

[speedy fast]

If Old School Volume 3 is just going to have clips, and be released in honor of the 40th anniversary, I wonder if there'll also be other clip-only releases for other time periods. Different releases, but representing almost every year. And I wonder if a clip-only release of the early years will even have the "Old School" title. I'd be surprised if it only consists of clips and still moves forward to 1979-1984, unless 1969-1979 are included in addition.

Though reading this, I thought it would be a bit neat to see a three-disc set of clipsf rom 1969-1979. Disc 1 can have segments from seasons 1 and 2 (and also a feature like the second test pilot, This Way to Sesame Street, the rare SS/Electric Company crossover Out to Lunch. Julie on Sesame Street, or the original cut of the pitch tape), disc 2 can have segments from seasons 3-6, and disc 3 can have segments from seasons 7-10.

There are a lot of classics that were overlooked on the first two Old School releases, like Grover's "Near and far" routine (though he did perform it in "Over, Under, Around, and Through", I consider the seperate sketch from the 1970s to be the true classic, though I would have liked to have seen the original seaosn 1 version as well), the original version of Sing (I wonder what the original was like, and I'm amazed that no verisons of that song were on either release), Somebody Come and Play, James Earl Jones reciting the alphabet (which I consider to be more classic than Jones counting to 10), Grover serving a hamburger at his resturaunt, Grover attemting to sell Kermit earmuffs, Kermit talkign about "next to", Ernie's "banana in the ear" sketch, The Count sleeping over at Ernie and Bert's apartment, Kermit's interview with Pinnocchio, and many others. Maybe these will be released.

Though I think confirmation on the first two sets was heard by this time when they were announced, and I haven't heard any official confirmations. Of course, both confirmations were given to fans who posted the info on Muppet Central.

[MarkTheShark]

Where did you hear that? I saw a post on Muppet central recently from somebody who heard the same thing, and I can't remember the user (and don't feel like checking, or doing research as to if it was you or someone else). A few months ago I posted a thread about an idea for a 4-disc 40th anniversary set of clips. I don't know if that thread was how the rumor got started, but that was just a wishlist/ idea-list I had, not anything official from Sesame Workshop.

And I do have The Muppet Show: Season Three. I've watched many of those episodes at least four times.

This is why reading that stuff on the Muppet Central forum gives me a headache. Every once in a while, there will be a great post with solid info (either answering a question about something on one of the shows, or info about some kind of forthcoming show or video release) but for every one post like that, there are 100 speculative posts (which eventually, someone down the thread sometimes takes as official info) or one of a hundred individuals' carefully-compiled "wish list" of what "should" be on some speculative DVD release. Or the one about how, since full Sesame Street episodes hadn't been released on DVD (up to then), there must be some giant conspiracy to suppress the older shows and push their current product...and they were lying about legal and/or licensing issues being worked on to make such releases a reality. (A sad shame that this person actually didn't live to see the Old School releases happen.):(

[CueBallCat79]

This is why reading that stuff on the Muppet Central forum gives me a headache. Every once in a while, there will be a great post with solid info (either answering a question about something on one of the shows, or info about some kind of forthcoming show or video release) but for every one post like that, there are 100 speculative posts (which eventually, someone down the thread sometimes takes as official info) or one of a hundred individuals' carefully-compiled "wish list" of what "should" be on some speculative DVD release. Or the one about how, since full Sesame Street episodes hadn't been released on DVD (up to then), there must be some giant conspiracy to suppress the older shows and push their current product...and they were lying about legal and/or licensing issues being worked on to make such releases a reality. (A sad shame that this person actually didn't live to see the Old School releases happen.):(

And that's pretty much why I don't hang out there anymore. There are about 2 or 3 members there that have real discussion skills. Everyone else either makes those wish lists, posts stuff like "OMG Janice is so hot!" or are actually convinced that the Muppets are still relevant and the world has a vendetta against them.

[MarkTheShark]

And that's pretty much why I don't hang out there anymore. There are about 2 or 3 members there that have real discussion skills. Everyone else either makes those wish lists, posts stuff like "OMG Janice is so hot!" or are actually convinced that the Muppets are still relevant and the world has a vendetta against them.

Yeah, that too. Actually, mainly that. "Do you remember when Kermit did this?" (Yeah, and your point is?) "WHAT HAPPENED ON SHOW #2862? SOMEONE POST IT ON YOU TUBE NOW!!!!!" I understand this stuff was aimed at kids originally...but then, so was a good chunk of what we discuss here, and for the most part, I generally learn something every time I come here.

Who's Janice? (Well, maybe that's my problem.);)

[nickramer]

Great, now we're ranting on other fourms. This is an all time low for this fourm. :(

I think Muppet Central is a lot more friendlier than most other fourms. And I still think the Muppets are still relevant myself. And Janice was/is the vally girl member of the Electric Mayham Band.

[Studio Toledo]

Yeah, that too. Actually, mainly that. "Do you remember when Kermit did this?" (Yeah, and your point is?) "WHAT HAPPENED ON SHOW #2862? SOMEONE POST IT ON YOU TUBE NOW!!!!!" I understand this stuff was aimed at kids originally...but then, so was a good chunk of what we discuss here, and for the most part, I generally learn something every time I come here.
It's sad when your ealize they are people out there that apparently CARE that much about something we wouldn't. I personally can't tell you anything about Sesame Street as I find it a little out of my league to remember nearly everything or to know of those episode numbers and all that. I'm glad though there are those thatr do whenever such trouble arises.

[speedy fast]

I think that Muppet Central is just as good as this forum. It's just as good and informative for Muppet fans as GAC forums is for cartoon fans. I am a member of both forums, thoguh I haven't posted at Muppet Central lately (for some reason I haven't been able to post due to the site no longer allowing people with AOL e-mails, and I'm not too sure how to make a non-AOL e-mail).

And I think many of those members can carry a conversation. I feel like I can, though I do make wishlist threads and posts there (I have also done so here). There are some message boards (which I will not name right now) that I feel aren't as good quality, though that could be because some of them don't have as many members.

[speedy fast]

Hopefully we'll find out if the rumor is true soon. So far no Old School Volume 3 announcements. Then again, there were 2 volumes of The Best of the Electric Company, and so far no announcements for volume 3 (and it's been two years since volume 2 of that was released). Additional episodes were released on iTunes, but not DVD. I hope that the Sesame Street: Old School sets aren't discontinued. It would be great if some were released on iTunes, though.

The Tough Pigs forum once posted an article about the hawiai episodes from the ninth season, includign quotes from former cast member Buffy St. Marie Wolfchild. That article mentioned that Sesame Workshop had her sign a release form granting permission to release her scenes from those episodes on DVD, and said that Buffy hopes that it gets released in 2008. There haven't been any announcements for such a DVD release, but that could be the contents of Old School Vol. 3 (but don't take that as fact until we get an official press release. Ditto with Old School Vol. 3 being a release of only inserts).

A few years ago, there was a DVD release called Saturday Night Live: The First Five Years, and now there's also a DVD on that show during the 1980s. Maybe for the anniversary there can be something like this, a few DVD documentaries with cast and crew members talking about the show from different time periods. Maybe a DVD on the first 5-10 years, a DVD on changes from the 1980s (or maybe a made-for-DVD documentary on many of the show's biggest changes throughout the show's history), a documentary on the "around the corner" years (1993-1998), and one on the shows recent years, with the new format (2002-present). Another great topic for a full documentary would be one that talks about the show's different curriculums over the years. There could be uncut bonus skits (I would include 10-40 on each DVD), and I would have the documentaries themselves be 50-90 minutes long. If not new documentaries, maybe the 1999 Sesame Street Unpaved special can be released instead, with bonus skits from the first 20 seasons.

[speedy fast]

I think that this would make a good three-disc release of segments from the first ten seasons. Most titles are unnofficial, and some time periods are guesses.

Disc 1: Seasons 1-2
Ernie and Bert's cabnet
Speech Balloon: B-bug
Chickety Chick
Batman: crooks with dirty windows
James Earl Jones: The Alphabet
Professor Hastings: U lecture
Five People in My Family
Ernie makes a friend
Buddy and Jim: a picture falls off the wall
Everyone Likes Ice Cream
Oscar recites the alphabet
Ernie and the U Salesman
Roosevelt Franklin Counts
Henson #1
Jazz #9
Octopuses Garden
Windy
Near and Far
Alice Braitwaite Goodyshoes: shorter and longer
Kermit's rectangle lecture
Rubber Duckie
The People in Your Neighborhood (the original version, with a postman and a fireman)
Crossover Q
Alphabet Bates: S
Bert's "What Happens Next?" game
Cheer Eleven
Mad
Ernie and Bert: the fish in the cowboy hat
empty and full room with monsters
Herbert Birdsfoot and Grover count 3 blocks
Imagination Rain
Somebody Come and Play
Ernie eats Bert's ice cream
Sing
Up and Down
Grover imagines flying a plane
Ernie and Bert: cookies in bed
Harvey Kneeslapper's B prank
Queen of Six
Ernie and Cookie Monster discuss hope
What's My Part?: Foot
Sherlock Hemlock's Twiddlebug mystery
who ate Bert's cookies?
Prairie Dawn invites Grover, Herry, and Cookie Monster to dinner

Disc 2: Seasons 3-6
Mumford's surprise trick
That's About the Size of it
Mad Painter #5
The Sound of the Letter A
Kermit and Bob: The Alphabet
Grover the waiter: picture menu
Candy Man
Wally and Ralph make a peanut butter sandwhich
Kermit's imagination game
ABC-DEF-GHI
Hi Friend
The Trading Game
Ernie locks Bert out
Grover the waiter: The Count counts hotdogs
the invention of the exit sign
What's My Letter?
Three on Lady's Lap
Sesame Street News: The Count counts three little pigs
Herry and John-John count to 20
Simon Soundman buys a saw
Ernie buys an invisible ice cream cone
Nobody
Roosevelt Franklin gets his class to exercise
Kermit draws a K
Cookie Monster wants something that rhymes with buy
Super Grover: the haircut
Count it Higher
The Golden An
Admiral Bird
Frazzle's Emotions
Ernie and Cookie Monster: same and different
Harvey Kneeslapper and the mailman
Carmen-singing orange
I'm Square
Marshall Grover: front and back

Disc 3: Seasons 7-10
Kermit and Grover: earmuffs salesman
Typewriter: O-owl
Pinball Number Count #7
The Addition Game
Cookie Monster and The Count: three apples
Biff and Sully share a drink
I Just Adore Four
Super Grover: broken bag of groceries
Prairie Dawn's tooth pageant
Don Music rewrites Twinkle, Twinkle
Herry's gym
Hey Food
We All Sing with the Same Voice
Herry Monster and Edith Ann: same and different
Fonzie says the first letter of the alphabet
Ernie and Bert: the blackout
Proud of Me
sign man: school
Bert gives Brad a bath
One and One Make Two
This Frog
Billy Jo Jive and the money mystery
Ringmaster #5
Kermit and Cookie Monster: cookbook

Such a set would probably need more than I listed. It'd probably need more animation skits, and more skits with the humans.

[MarkTheShark]

If they did release a set just consisting of individual segments like that, I'd probably still spring for it, and it would be great to have it. It would make sense in a way, because they reused so much of that material over and over for so many years.

I have really enjoyed both of the Old School sets. A lot of the extra clips are things I haven't seen since they originally aired. But I have to say I guess I was spoiled after what they did with The Electric Company. Those sets are more interesting to me because they have more entire episodes -- I was kind of surprised that they even did a second volume, because with both shows, there are a lot of repeated segments. I was talking with an old friend from high school who mentioned that he got the first set and loved it, and I mentioned they'd put out a second -- he said he knew, but everything he needed was in the first one. And I can understand that. The way that was put together, it really seems like they originally only intended to do that first set, starting with the first episode and with selected others through to the very last one. The second volume seems like an afterthought -- though I like how they got more of the cast involved in the extras, introducing the episodes, etc.

But that's what makes the Sesame Street Old School sets seem like a little bit of a letdown to me. I'd much rather have whole original shows than clips, and those sets are thin on entire episodes. I understand why, but I still would have preferred more of the material to be presented in its original context. (Also, just having the first shows of each season means a lot of repeated material, and shows that aren't necessarily "representative.")

It is great to have it concentrated like that, aimed at those who grew up with this stuff rather than something Elmo-centric aimed at kids. But I'm still baffled by the way they practically tell you not to show this to your kids. I think they need to lighten up on that. A big part of what the show was about back then was just having fun, and that's what made it so successful. As Bill Cosby said on Fat Albert, "if you're not careful, you might learn something before it's done!"

[speedy fast]

But I'm still baffled by the way they practically tell you not to show this to your kids. I think they need to lighten up on that. A big part of what the show was about back then was just having fun, and that's what made it so successful. As Bill Cosby said on Fat Albert, "if you're not careful, you might learn something before it's done!"

I think the media has blown that out of proportions, just like they did around season 36 when people thought that Cookie Monster would give up on eating cookies. First of all, those disclaimers don't say that they are not for kids, just that they may not fit todays educational needs. Second of all, the "disclaimer" is only noted in the introductions on the first episodes on both sets. it is not written on the packaging, or in the booklet. If somebody bought either set without reading anythign about it online, the only way they would know (besides word of mouth) would be by watching the first epsidoe on both disc, assuming that they watch them in order (I did watch the first epsidoes on both sets first, but didn't watch all the shows in order).

[speedy fast]

You know, back when the first Looney Tunes: Golden Collection was released, I thought that there should be a similar Sesame Street DVD set, with inserts being the main feature, and bonus features including full episodes of the show (sort of the opposite of the Old School sets), two episodes of Play With Me Sesame, several featurettes, and for volume 1 the original pitch reel and the first test pilot (and now I have those two features on DVD). Coincidently, this idea first occured in my head around the time of the show's 35h anniversary, so it could have been promoted as a 35th anniversary set.

My idea for volume 1 special features would have included:
Disc 1 - a tribute to Jim Henson, short character documentaries on Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie and Bert, Grover, Telly Monster, Roosevelt Franklin, and Harvey Kneeslapper, the pitch reel, episode 1, and the episode where Big Bird learns of Mr. Hooper's death.
Disc 2 - a tribute to Joe Raposo, character documentaries on Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Guy Smiley, Biff and Sully, Two-Headed Monster, and Rosita, episode 131, the episode where Mr. Snuffleupagus is revealed to be real, and two episodes of Play With Me Sesame.
Disc 3 - a tribute to Jeff Moss, the episodes featuring C3PO and R2D2, character documentaries on The Count, Herry Monster, Forgetful Jones, Benny Rabbit, Simon Soundman, and Hoots the Owl, the first test pilot, the 1970s public service announcement where Cookie Monster promotes healthy eating, unaired segments, the unaired divorce episode, and character design sketches.
Disc 4 - a tribute to Will Lee, two additional full episodes, Out to Lunch, guets appearances by Sesame Street characters on The Electric Company and Between the Lions, and character documentaries on Zoe, Prairie Dawn, Herbert Birdsfoot, and Sam the Robot.

I once posted a thread on Muppet Central like that, and one person thought that the lsit of features sounded unrealistic. I was styling this like the Golden Collections, which had multiple special features on each disc, as opposed to saving all features for the last disc like on many multi-disc releases (though the Old School releases have the non-bonus segment features on disc 1).

At the time that I thought this idea up, Sesame Street had it's format changed for two seasons, and I thought that eahc disc should have a simialr structure (though there'd obviously be many sketches between what comes in). The structure would be: a song at the beginning, a few alphabet segments leading to The Letter of the Day leading to skits with the featured letter, Journey to Ernie leading to an Ernie sketch (my volume 1 idea involved having discs 1 and 3 include the reformated version while discs 2 and 4 had it in it's original format), Global Grover (with Global Thingy following on discs 1 and 3), The Number of the Day leading to number segmnets (in discs 2 and 4 the spots where The Letter of the Day and The Number of the Day are would switch), and Elmo's World, with all four discs also containing Monsterpiece Theater, Sesame Street News, The Spanish Word of the Day, and Grover the Waiter at different points in the releases. My ideas for exact sketches must probably add up to 2 or more hours.

I wonder if an idea like that would work. Unlike the Golden Collections, my idea for the sketch content here wouldn't be themed, jsut a random assortment of sketches from all decades (though the first two decades would be the most represented). But I wonder if fans can digest a lot of classic skits mixed with a lot of newer skits, especially if the discs aren't themed and don't have any wraparound material. Such an idea might work better if each dsic focuses on a different decade, or if certain discs focus on certain characters, and certain discs focus on certain learning concepts, and so on.