Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 37

[abiraniriba]

Finally saw Cookie's World

They reran the Cookie's World ep of SS today in NYC liked it, but I don't think Cookie will be able to steal the show from Elmo.

Loved Charlie's Russian Restaurant. Watch out for the borscht, it's HOT!!!!

I also liked the claymation sequence of Russia and various other international scenes that followed it.

 

[BEAR]

By the way, all of the music from the first 21 episodes of Sesame Street Season 37 is now playing on Muppet Central Radio. We're also playing some Sesame tunes for the Halloween season. Have a listen and enjoy.

Phillip, do we still have to pay for the MC Radio services, because if so I can't listen to it. I would love to be able to have some of those new songs in my collection though. Especially the one that Big Bird and Snuffy sing to Abby from the premiere.

 

[mikebennidict]

What do you mean we having to pay? Unless it's a preferred membership station, which MC radio insn't, then you don't have to pay to listen to it at all.

 

[BEAR]

I did.

 

[minor muppetz]

By the way, that cartoon could not have been more than 12-15 years old (between the animation style and the number it taught). Older episodes wouldn't have had a cartoon specifically about 15: the numbers 0, 1, and 13-21* never "sponsored" Sesame Street until the early 1980s.

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* Yes, two episodes in the mid-90s had 21 as the number of the day (I saw both myself). It's a shame that never happened again, though!

I wonder why certain numbers were skipped. So you're saying that one didn't start sponsoring the show untill the 1980s? That would explain why so many recurring counting sketches (Pinball Number Count, Jazz, Country Fiddler, Number Painter) didn't have individual segments for one (though The Baker Films series had a one segment, albeit one that was rarely shown). This would also explain why the first episode was not sponsored by one (it would have made sense, as that was the first episode, and I always thought it was weird that it was sponsored by 2 and 3 but not 1).

And you say that both 21 sketches aired in the mid-1990s? I thought I've read that there was a number of the day sketch about 21, and that segment didn't begin untill 2002.

 

[ISNorden]

I wonder why certain numbers were skipped. So you're saying that one didn't start sponsoring the show untill the 1980s? That would explain why so many recurring counting sketches (Pinball Number Count, Jazz, Country Fiddler, Number Painter) didn't have individual segments for one (though The Baker Films series had a one segment, albeit one that was rarely shown).

That's exactly why most older counting series lacked a "1" segment: according to the Muppet Wiki, the first episodes sponsored by the number 1 aired in 1986. (Sesame Street expanded their sponsor range from 2-12 to 0-20 in that same year...and began showing segments that counted to 40, even if it never appeared as a number of the day.)

I too have seen the "Baker #1" film (only once in my life, appropriately enough). Harvey Kneeslapper also starred in a sketch about 1, by the way: he pretended to offer his victim a cookie from a nearby platter, asking "Would you like one?" before slapping the numeral onto the victim's shirt.

What always confused me as a girl, though, was that both "1" segments aired in episodes sponsored by the number 2 (what the...?!?). According to some fan sites I read years later, the earliest episodes often did show clips about more letters/numbers than the ones announced at the end. (Just because a preschooler might not know what the word "confused" means, that doesn't mean he won't feel confused about that kind of lesson!)

This would also explain why the first episode was not sponsored by one (it would have made sense, as that was the first episode, and I always thought it was weird that it was sponsored by 2 and 3 but not 1).

You have a point, although Episode 1 didn't use A, B, or C as a letter of the day either. (First-season eps sometimes taught as many as three letters and two numbers each.)

And you say that both 21 sketches aired in the mid-1990s? I thought I've read that there was a number of the day sketch about 21, and that segment didn't begin untill 2002.

According to the Muppet Wiki, both segments about 21 ("Ernie's 12/21 Poem" and "Numberella") first appeared in 1986. The only episodes to use 21 as a sponsor, though, aired in the 90s. I'm unsure of the exact year, but they'd date back to 1994 at latest: both shows had two letters of the day, and no one had even thought of "Elmo's World" yet.

 

[ISNorden]

On a different note: are any other fans disappointed about the wait for new episodes? Even the Season 37 shows get repeated now; the national PBS cable station showed Gina's graduation for the second time. I'm disappointed in Sesame Workshop for building up expectations (new characters, new themes, new recurring sketches!) and then delivering "same old, same old" on the stations.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I wonder why certain numbers were skipped. So you're saying that one didn't start sponsoring the show untill the 1980s? That would explain why so many recurring counting sketches (Pinball Number Count, Jazz, Country Fiddler, Number Painter) didn't have individual segments for one (though The Baker Films series had a one segment, albeit one that was rarely shown). This would also explain why the first episode was not sponsored by one (it would have made sense, as that was the first episode, and I always thought it was weird that it was sponsored by 2 and 3 but not 1).

And you say that both 21 sketches aired in the mid-1990s? I thought I've read that there was a number of the day sketch about 21, and that segment didn't begin untill 2002.

Funny thing is, they never showed That Number of the day 21 sketch.

 

[ISNorden]

Funny thing is, they never showed That Number of the day 21 sketch.

As far as I know, "Letter/Number of the Day" didn't exist as recurring segments until sometime after Season 30; none would have been made before the show changed to its recent format. Before then, most episodes just showed letter/number sketches without a special introduction. The few exceptions usually had "sponsor as Muppet character" plots, or plots with some regular character showing more interest in the things-of-the-day than usual.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Yeah, But I wonder why they never aired 21 with the count?