Your Thoughts: Ed Sullivan Muppets Magic DVD

[frogboy4]

The licensing 20 or so songs can get expensive. It's like dropping a thousand or two for each. That could get up to 40,000 for a ten dollar niche DVD. The Muppet Show eps are much easier to move and probably have fewer songs per disk. Come to think of it, that could be why there are only three eps per disk.

I wouldn't think the song would be that expensive either, but I do know that licensing songs is a very serious business. When even singing Happy Birthday on the air costs upwards of two grand. There's really no other reason for the edit that I can think of. It's why cuts have been made in the past.

 

[scarecroe]

I threw an advertisement for the DVD on the back of that clip with the intentions of encouraging those who might not have made a final decision on whether or not to make the purchase yet.

 

[beaker]

I'm surprised (but happy) that the Big Bird clip and the prototype Cookie Monster clip are on here. I guess Henson worked it out with Sesame Workshop to allow this.

Oh I didnt even think about that aspect. I dont think twice about Sesame being anything other than Muppets. Most of America and the world sees Sesame Street as the Muppets...I guess as hardcore fans we see a distinction between "Muppet Show" Muppets and SS muppets. But its great they have those on there.

Im curious...who the heck is gonna buy it? It will probably be in the family section, but kids these days arent much into Muppets, let alone rare archival stuff from the 60's. I sure hope they do though...I had heard JHC decided against releasing such a dvd knowing its a very niche market (seems Elmo and company are pretty much the Muppet dvds that sell).

I have come to realize it is the older folks who seem to really have a strong passion at all for the Muppets, though Hot Topic is helping to change the perception, making it 'cool and hip' for the younger crowd.
I await a time when the Muppets truly are back, not just all over the map but really back int he spotlight. As then, I can just imagine what kind of dvd goodness we shall see. At any rate, I cannot wait to get this, and am looking forward to this vastly more than the other two JHC dvd releases that week. (I did get the new Bear in the Big Blue House Seasons dvd which rocks...I passed on Sesame Karoke tho)

 

[Luke]

Oh I didnt even think about that aspect. I dont think twice about Sesame being anything other than Muppets. Most of America and the world sees Sesame Street as the Muppets...I guess as hardcore fans we see a distinction between "Muppet Show" Muppets and SS muppets.

You'd think so, but no. I actually think the divide is much bigger than you think and it's the other way around. In the states people make a lot less distinction between Muppets and Sesame because the relationship was always hyped a lot more and the two shows became such a big part of the American culture. Here in the UK, and other places in Europe that i've been there is a LOT more of a gap between people identifying Sesame as a 'Muppet' show. I think Kermit is really the only connection between the two most people make outside of the states, and nowadays not even that. Sesame is pretty much dead here now - it was buried for years in a graveyard slot and even Elmo's World that is on here isn't doing well against the homegrown kids shows. I think our pre-school original TV programming is so much stronger now than the stuff coming out of the USA that even your channels are full of it. It makes Sesame and Elmo seem bland and boring after all this time - it's about time they cancelled both of them, i'd rather see it go out on a high.

 

[Luke]

I wouldn't think the song would be that expensive either, but I do know that licensing songs is a very serious business. When even singing Happy Birthday on the air costs upwards of two grand. There's really no other reason for the edit that I can think of. It's why cuts have been made in the past.

Amen sir, and it gets even more serious when celebrity guests start bursting into unexpected songs while live on air - i've seen plenty of cases of suicidal directors and producers on occasions like that.

I think Chilly mentioned the rights issue between Henson and Sesame - it doesn't come into it so there would be no need for permission. Obviously being guest appearances the Ed Sullivan people are the ones holding the broadcast rights and i'd assume that at the time there was nothing in the guest releases that disallowed them releasing the stuff commercially.

 

[Ryan]

Loved the advertisement, Scott.

One thing that really bothers me is that this clip was released on another Sullivan tape (Best Of). This clip is also the dited version. In the orignal, he plays 3 songs, the first being with a Snerf.

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

It looks like a fantastic DVD, some of those sketches are so great! Thats a DVD that we would be extremely lucky to see in Australia, I doubt we ever will actually. I'm just going to get all the region 1 discs like this little beauty from now on.

 

[Chilly Down]

Oh I didnt even think about that aspect. I dont think twice about Sesame being anything other than Muppets. Most of America and the world sees Sesame Street as the Muppets...I guess as hardcore fans we see a distinction between "Muppet Show" Muppets and SS muppets. But its great they have those on there.

No, I'M not making a distinction. I'm just talking about the legal necessities. It's great that most of the nation, and Muppet fans, and maybe even Henson themselves, still see Sesame characters as part of the Muppets. But the fact is that if Sesame characters are used in a "regular" Muppet production these days, certain contracts have to be signed to allow that to happen.

Or so it would seem anyway. Thanks for the update, Luke. It's kinda weird how that works out -- Sullivan's copyright holders own the rights to the guest appearances since it was on Sullivan's show, yet they still had to get the blessing of Henson (but not Sesame) to put out the disc. Or more to the point, we're told Henson gave their blessing for this disc to be put out -- wonder if maybe it could have been put out anyway even if they didn't give their blessing?

 

[Luke]

wonder if maybe it could have been put out anyway even if they didn't give their blessing?

Yeah that's what i meant - maybe they did get permission from one or both just for the sake of it but i don't see them in TV terms actually needing it to go ahead in putting out the matierial on the DVD. Quite possibly they needed it to use the term 'Muppets' in the title. I thought the "permission" had come from the Henson Foundation though and they focused mainly on the use of Jim. Strange.

It would be nice to actually see the Sesame and Muppet characters in some crossover again, maybe that's whats been missing and what would help people forget about whatever distinction seems to have developed. Of course as you say there would need to be agreements worked out and when you are talking actual broadcast shows rather than just the odd guest appearances it could get pretty sticky in the legal department. Then again, i'd have to think that in these days of brand awareness and media strategists Sesame Workshop might actually prefer there to be at least some kind of established divide between themselves and Henson - they had that clause removed a while back to enable them to compete with JHC in all areas wheras before they were limited and had to stick to education.

 

[Erine81981]

So it won't come out until spet.2?