It's not easy being a Classic Sesame Street fan

[ssetta]

Okay, there's something I've been thinking about a lot lately:

We all know how much Sesame Street has changed over the years, to the point where it just is not the same show again. And we all know how they never show old episodes on TV anymore, nor are they available on DVD, iTunes, or even the Internet. Sure, YouTube, Hulu, and SesameStreet.org have lots of clips available, but it's just not the same as having full episodes to watch.

One thing I've noticed lately is that out of almost all TV shows, old Sesame Street episodes are practically the hardest to come across. Back in the show's era that I personally refer to as golden, up until Season 25, they made a total of 3135 episodes. They did 130 shows per season, and each episode only ever aired on TV twice. So like if you're looking for a particular episode from a particular year, it's nothing short of a miracle if someone actually has it. And I have to say I've been pretty frustrated by this a lot lately. I really wish more full classic Sesame Street episodes would be available. I don't understand what keeps iTunes for releasing more. I know that they released a whole bunch of Electric Company episodes on iTunes that cannot be found anywhere else. There's a bunch on Hulu as well. All I wish is that the same thing would happen with Sesame Street, but it hasn't. So now, the big question is:

What keeps them from doing it?

 

[Drtooth]

This is why I'm really disliking WB's distribution of SS home video. I REALLY loved the Old School sets, and was hoping they'd continue it up until the 90's started, but that was to no avail. Now WB's plans are to release Elmo videos with maybe one old skit that's ALL over the internet as a bonus feature.

SW is sitting on an archive of rare stuff us fans want... and I wish they'd have some sort of operation that was a burn on demand that you could pick one to three episodes from the beginning. That would be something. There are so many clips that we need, if anything, to help fill out the wiki.

 

[Censored]

Okay, there's something I've been thinking about a lot lately:

We all know how much Sesame Street has changed over the years, to the point where it just is not the same show again. And we all know how they never show old episodes on TV anymore, nor are they available on DVD, iTunes, or even the Internet. Sure, YouTube, Hulu, and SesameStreet.org have lots of clips available, but it's just not the same as having full episodes to watch.

One thing I've noticed lately is that out of almost all TV shows, old Sesame Street episodes are practically the hardest to come across. Back in the show's era that I personally refer to as golden, up until Season 25, they made a total of 3135 episodes. They did 130 shows per season, and each episode only ever aired on TV twice. So like if you're looking for a particular episode from a particular year, it's nothing short of a miracle if someone actually has it. And I have to say I've been pretty frustrated by this a lot lately. I really wish more full classic Sesame Street episodes would be available. I don't understand what keeps iTunes for releasing more. I know that they released a whole bunch of Electric Company episodes on iTunes that cannot be found anywhere else. There's a bunch on Hulu as well. All I wish is that the same thing would happen with Sesame Street, but it hasn't. So now, the big question is:

What keeps them from doing it?

Those are the points that I've been trying to make on here for some time now. Why can't old episodes of Sesame Street simply be available like any other TV show? Of course, vintage episodes of any children's TV show seem to be difficult to find. Captain Kangaroo is extremely elusive, along with the very early episodes of Mr. Rogers.

But, having said that, in the past ten years, I have seen more vintage Sesame Street than I ever thought I would see again in my lifetime. Before Noggin or the major internet sources, vintage Sesame Street (especially the street scenes) appeared to be a distant memory that was totally unattainable in any form. I even began to wonder if the footage still existed. Now, you can actually see clips of the first two Gordons and Roosevelt Franklin on Sesameworkshop.org! Things have come a long way! I just hope they continue because there are numerous street scenes from the 70's that I would still love to see (such as Oscar getting bewitched with a human nose and Cookie Monster getting amnesia). Let's hope it all comes out, sooner the better, because let's face it, we Classic Sesame Street fans are not getting any younger.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Basically just wanted to say I agree with everything in here. There's tons of vintage Sesame Street stuff I'm still wanting to see- including a number of '80s episodes I remember seeing as a kid. I still want to see the episode with a monster that goes around stealing stuff on Sesame Street- I still remember Telly being the first victim with his orange going missing from the arbor area. I do believe the culprit was cornered by Big Bird's nest and talked to by Maria, whereupon after being told that it was wrong to take things without asking because that's stealing- the monster then was all like, "Okay. I'll ask from now on." And everything was cool! I really want to track that one down someday!

 

[Drtooth]

Those are the points that I've been trying to make on here for some time now. Why can't old episodes of Sesame Street simply be available like any other TV show? Of course, vintage episodes of any children's TV show seem to be difficult to find. Captain Kangaroo is extremely elusive, along with the very early episodes of Mr. Rogers.

The difference is that we know that there's a huge database of every single SS skit and quite probably episodes as well. A LOT of vintage kid's shows are elusive due to rights and storage. Stuff gets bought and sold, some companies have stuff they're not even aware that they have. I remember that for a time, some of the Filmation shows (or was it another company?) were owned by a shampoo conglomerate.

SS has had the fortune to not only have the show constantly in production for longer than most kids shows, but to have always had ownership.

Personally, I don't see why they don't preserve as many episodes of Mr. Rogers as possible. Sure, there were some DVD's of a few episodes... but I really think that as many shows as possible (not just children's shows) need to have some sort of digital library to preserve them. If not for the fans, for research.

 

[minor muppetz]

I remember before the first "Old School" volume came out, and I don't know whether this user had an actual official source or if it was just a game of "telephone", but somebody said that Sesame Workshop still has to pay residuals to everybody invovled when their work is released, and has to renegotiate the contracts when their work is released commercially (I don't know whether this is true for online releases). And of course Sesame Street has had a lot of outsourced material (films and animation), plus many guest stars. So that very well could slow things down when releasing full episodes.

Somehow I don't think we have to worry about segments featuring just the main cast and performers. So much material with most of the regular cast has been released on video and DVD so many times that I'm sure there's not much to worry about in this case. I am not sure if there are any Muppet performers who haven't been in anything released on video/DVD. There are a few short-lived human cast members who haven't been in any Sesame Street videos/DVDs, such as Miguel, Hiroshi, the original Mr. Handford, and the Gabbi played by Sonia Manzano's daughter (I've read that the baby who played Gabbi in her first appearance was actually the son of one of the crew members). There also haven't been any commercial releases of any George the Farmer or Wally and Ralph segments (if you want to count them as cast members... Wally and Ralph's names did appear in the credits).

I don't think we'd have to worry about them being unable to release material with involvement from long-running crew members like Jeff Moss, Jon Stone, Joe Raposo, and others, but then again, it's hard for fans to know who all was in the crew for each segment. It's also hard for us to know who was a right hand or silent character in this or that scene.

I would expect the hardest things to clear to be songs not written for the show, celebrity guest appearances, and maybe appearances by children. I think the upcoming DVD release of "Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting" will be the first commercial release featuring Fanny, so we'll see if her scenes aren't cut. I'm pretty sure that we don't have to worry about them not being able to release any material with John-John (many of his appearances have been released on DVD). I don't know whether any celebrities have refused to sign off their appearances for video and DVD releases (I have a feeling that somebody invovled with the celebrity Monster in the Mirror has, unless it's just FOX refusing to allow the Simpsons' to be on a commercial release of the segment; and in fact the first commercial release of the celebrity Sing removed some of the featured celebrities). I guess we should be thnakful that we've gotten DVD releases of I Whistle a Happy Tune, If I Knew You Were Coming, and Oklahoma, though I don't know whether all of those songs are still copyrighted (and would the Oklahoma sketch count as parody use? We only hear one verse of the song, and all that's different is the replacement of the O a few different times).

But still, a lot of classic stuff has been released on DVD. Many animation and film segments have been released, and I'd assume it wouldn't be hard for them to get permission to release stuff from the animation/film companies that have had a lot of their work released. I don't think we have to worry about Sesame Workshop beign unable to release any of Jim Henson's films or Bud Luckey's animations (though Ten Tiny Turtles on the Telephone was removed from the DVD release of The Street We Live On, even though that animation was already available on the video Sing Yourself Silly), for example.