Old School DVD set ideas

[minor muppetz]

While this wouldn't neccessarily be an "old school" release, I wonder if it'd be good if all the season 40 street stories with appearances by long-gone "Old School" characters were released on one DVD. Of course that'd be five street stories on one set (six if you want to count Lulu's appearance in the rainbow episode which has already had a DVD release), and it would probably be hard to promote to kids (as they alll contain different types of plots). Could you imagine a DVD with a title like "Spot the Characters" (still... I could imagine small circle images of Sherlock Hemlock, Biff and Sully, Forgetful Jones, and Harvey Kneeslapper on the cover, maybe with Elmo looking around)?

Still, a release like that should also contain segments that focus on the "hidden gem characters".

Perhaps start the release with the "Wing in a Sling" episode followed by sketches with Herry and Sherlock Hemlock, then the "Jack be Nimble" episode followed by a Biff and Sully sketch, then the Cookie Tree episode followed by a Forgetful Jones sketch, then the Seven episode followed by a Harvey Kneeslapper sketch, and then the Worm Cup episode followed by a Bip Bipodotta sketch (hopefully not another release of Fat Cat.. That's been released four times already).

 

[ISNorden]

Still, a release like that should also contain segments that focus on the "hidden gem characters".

Perhaps start the release with the "Wing in a Sling" episode followed by sketches with Herry and Sherlock Hemlock, then the "Jack be Nimble" episode followed by a Biff and Sully sketch, then the Cookie Tree episode followed by a Forgetful Jones sketch, then the Seven episode followed by a Harvey Kneeslapper sketch, and then the Worm Cup episode followed by a Bip Bipadotta sketch (hopefully not another release of Fat Cat.. That's been released four times already).

My suggestions for each character:

1. Herry: "I Can't Help It" (a musical number set on the street, in which Herry apologizes for the damage that a strong-but-clumsy monster can cause)
2. Sherlock Hemlock: Ernie and Sherlock reach different conclusions about a party-related mess in Ernie's yard
3. Biff and Sully: Sully wants to hear music while he works, so Biff builds a piano
4. Forgetful Jones: Buster tries to remind Jones to brush his (own) teeth, but Jones ends up brushing Buster's instead
5. Harvey Kneeslapper: a closet full of toys is rigged to fall on whoever opens the door, but the prank backfires three times
6. Bip Bipadotta: either his "Air" song or his "Opposites" song

I tried to find sketches that emphasized each character's personality and typical role on the show. (That was harder for Bip Bipadotta than for the others, I admit!) Unfortunately, I don't recall any older sketches in which Herry and Sherlock Hemlock appear together, unless you count non-speaking crowd cameos; so I gave each of them a separate sketch.

 

[minor muppetz]

My suggestions for each character:

1. Herry: "I Can't Help It" (a musical number set on the street, in which Herry apologizes for the damage that a strong-but-clumsy monster can cause)
2. Sherlock Hemlock: Ernie and Sherlock reach different conclusions about a party-related mess in Ernie's yard
3. Biff and Sully: Sully wants to hear music while he works, so Biff builds a piano
4. Forgetful Jones: Buster tries to remind Jones to brush his (own) teeth, but Jones ends up brushing Buster's instead
5. Harvey Kneeslapper: a closet full of toys is rigged to fall on whoever opens the door, but the prank backfires three times
6. Bip Bipadotta: either his "Air" song or his "Opposites" song

I tried to find sketches that emphasized each character's personality and typical role on the show. (That was harder for Bip Bipadotta than for the others, I admit!) Unfortunately, I don't recall any older sketches in which Herry and Sherlock Hemlock appear together, unless you count non-speaking crowd cameos; so I gave each of them a separate sketch.

I guess I should have worded what I said differently. I meant one sketch with Herry followed by something with Sherlock. And I thought that Sherlock Hemlock sketch featured Prairie Dawn, not Ernie.

In the case of Harvey Kneeslapper, I feel it'd be better to include one of his typical pranks, involving wordplay on letters or numbers (like the "ya know where I wanna B?" segment). Honestly, I feel most of Harrvey's segments that don't follow that formula are a bit weak (interestingly, most of the Harvey Kneeslapper sketches at sesamestreet.org are ones that follow different formats; could this be an attempt to prove he wasn't a one-note character?).

In the case of Biff and Sully, I would have listed "We Coulda" or the sketch where Biff and Sully get angry.

 

[minor muppetz]

Today I've thought of an idea that I'd call "Sesame Street Seasons Party Mix", which would group clips by five-year periods (or maybe more... I doubt we'll get such a release by season 41).

Much like the "Seasons 1-5" and so on introductions in the 40th anniversary set, this would break up five-year peridods, grouping the segments in random order (as opposed to season order), maybe with a special introduction for each period (maybe Big Bird for seasons 1-5, Grover for seasons 6-10, The Count for seasons 11-15, Elmo for seasons 16-20, Telly for seasons 21-25, Zoe for seasons 26-30, Cookie Monster for seasons 31-35, and either Abby or Murray for seasons 36-40). A nice touch would be the opening for the first of each five year periods.

 

[minor muppetz]

I've been thinking, with the 40th anniversary ending soon, it would have been great if Sesame Workshop put out a follow-up DVD to "40 Years of Sunny Days", maybe "More Sunny Days".

Here's what I would do on such a release:

Disc 1:

• Jazz #8
• Bert and Ernie: Sandbox Game
• Buddy and Jim: Light Bulb
• Everyone Likes Ice Cream
• Prairie Dawn Invites Monsters
• Bill Cosby: Twins Count to 20
• Seven Monsters
• Operatic Orange
• Grover Needs Help
• Bert and Ernie: Bert Gets Locked Out
• Wally and Ralph: Pants and Belts
• Fix-It Shop Opens
• That's About the Size of It
• The Count and Cookie Monster Co-Operate
• Luis: Aqua
• Cast Alphabet
• The Geefle and the Gonk
• The Golden An
• Nobody
• Roosevelt Franklin: High and Low
• Kermit and Joey: Alphabet
• Willie Wimple: Tree Chopping
• Sam Makes Orange Juice
• Ernie and Cookie Monster: Same and Different
• Lena Horne: Bein' Green
• Grover: Near and Far
• Tell a Joke
• Typewriter: O-Owl
• Sand Animation: X
• What's the Name of That Song?
• Milk Song
• Oscar Blows a Whistle
• The Earmuff Salesman
• Lilly Thomlin: Sing
• There's a Hole in the Bucket
• Buffy Breastfeeds Cody
• Judy Collins: Horse Sense
• Billy Jo Jive: Meatbone
• Bert and Ernie: Brad's Bath
• Two-Headed Monster Story
• Oscar Jogs
• One Potato
• Alphabet Chat: R
• Mystery Guest
• The Leslie Mostly Show: Mumford
• Grover the Messenger
• Deena and Pearl: Underwater
• I Can Do It By Myself
• Long Time No See
• Dance Myself to Sleep
• If I Were
• Grover's Restaurant: Singing and Dancing Waiter
• Everybody's Song
• Monsterpiece Theater: Chariots of Fur
• Scenes from Camp Echo Rock
• Street Garden Cooperation
• Teeny Little Super Guy: Swing
• Ask Oscar: What's the Longest Grouch Word?
• Kermit News: Old MacDonald and the Spaceship
• You Say Hola
• Snuffy on Trampoline
• Detective Series: Hippo
• Kermit and Elmo: Happy and Sad
• Susan and Gordon Adopt Miles
• Miami Mice: The Count
• Twiddlebugs: Smoke Detector
• Write It Down
• Two-Headed Monster: Heavy and Light
• Peligro
• Ookyook Song
• The American Revolution: National Bird
• Billy Joel and Marlee Matlin: Just the Way You Are
• The Word is No!
• Bonus Features:
• From the Vault:
• Chickety Chick (a season one Big Bird song)
• Kermit's Radio (season one Grover sketch)
• Big Bird and Snuffy Sorting Song (an early Snuffy appearance)
• I Want a Monster to Be My Friend
• Richard Hunt as Elmo
• Behind-the-Street Scenes
• Making of Grover's Restaurant: Singing and Dancing Waiter (among other behind-the-scene sclips)

Disc 2:

• Elmo and Whoopi Goldberg: Fur, Skin, Hair
• Air
• Water Conservation Cartoon
• Don't Throw That Trash on the Ground
• Biff and Sully Babysit Natasha
• Kermit News: The Bird Family
• Super Grover and Super Elmo
• Mysterious Theater: The Case of the Missing Cat
• Grover the Taxi Driver
• Wet or Dry
• Rick Moranis: Stick Out Your Hand and Say Hello
• Barn in the USA
• Mountain of Love
• Grover's Restaurant: CH Sounds
• Jim Carrey: Happy/ Sad Feet
• Oscar Meets Slimey
• Simon Soundman Meets Old MacDonald
• Madeline Kahn Opens the Park
• Just Happy to be Me
• Monsterpeice Theater: Dances with Wolves
• Bert and Ernie: Ernie Catches Fish
• Savion: Rhyming Game
• Bubble on my Snuffle
• Felines
• The First and Last Cookie
• You Tickle Me
• Suzie Kabloozie: Letter F
• Robert McNeil: Worms Land on Moon
• Things That I Remember
• Fran Dresher: The New Nanny
• C is for Cookie
• Elmo's World Transportation: Mr. Noodle
• Telly and Rosita Find Murray Sparkles
• Alphaboy: N
• Hurricane: The Last Twig
• Keb Mo: Everybody Be Yo'Self
• Fix-It Shop Becomes a Mail-It Shop
• Number of the Day: 10
• Spanish Word of the Day: Si and No
• Cookie Monster Meets Cookie Hood
• Jane Tuesday: L
• Nora Jones: Don't Know Y
• Bert and Ernie: Sleep!
• Birdseed Cookies
• Letter of the Day Game Show: Y
• Twiddlebugs: Family Portrait
• Oscar's Car Breaks Down
• Because We're Friends
• American Monster Classics: A Streetcar Named Monster
• Murray Has a Little Lamb: School of Natural History
• Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures: Tiny Town
• Super K Cereal
• Mad Men
• Adam Sandler: Crunchy
• Marshall Grover: Front and Back
• Wing in a Sling
• Bonus Features
• Season 41 Sneak Peek

 

[minor muppetz]

I was thinking of an idea, a two-disc set of early material (let's just say the first 20 seasons) that hasn't been released commercially yet. I'd call it "Sesame Street's Unreleased Classics".

Disc 1 would focus on the real essential segments that haven't been released commercially, but should have by now. Maybe it could be titled "The Best Stuff Not Yet Available Elsewhere!"

Contents can include:

• Bert and Ernie: Cake
• Super-Grover: Computer
• Pinball Animation #3
• Snuffy on Big Bird's Trampoline
• Harvey Kneeslapper: B
• Typewriter: U-Umbrella
• Henson #9
• Cookie Monster and Count Co-Operate
• Teeny Little Super Guy: Redcap
• Kermit and Elmo: Happy and Sad
• Mad Painter #8
• Jazz #8
• Bert and Ernie: Sandbox Game
• Grover's Restaurant: Big Burger
• Luis: Agua
• If I Was a Cloud in the Sky
• Mystery Guest
• Kermit, Shola, and Fanny: Next-To
• Forgetful Jones: Brushing Teeth
• Everybody's Song
• Operatic Orange
• Two-Headed Monster: Same and Different, part 1
• Kermit News: First Day of School
• Two-Headed Monster: Same and Different, part 2
• That's About the Size of It
• Two-Headed Monster: Same and Different, part 3
• Squeal of Fortune
• Proud of Me
• Monsterpiece Theater: Chariots of Fur
• The People in Your Neighborhood (original)
• The Golden An
• The Amazing Mumford: Full and Empty Jar
• Lena Horne: Bein' Green
• That's About the Size of It
• You Say Hola and I Say Hola
• Bert and Ernie: Cookies in Bed
• James Taylor: That Grouchy Face

I know I ommitted some unreleased segments I see as "essential" that I normally always include in such wishlists, but that does look a bit satysfying for now. But for disc 2 I would have the focus be on the lesser-known, more rare, cult classics, fan favorites... Maybe title the disc "The Underappreciated Moments".

And I would include:

• Ernie and the U/V Salesman
• Roosevelt Franklin: Traffic
• Seven Monsters
• Ernie's Dirt Poem
• Milk Song
• Speedy Maria Subtracts Chairs
• The Leslie Mostly Show: Cookie Monster
• Miami Mice: The Count
• Kermit Talks About Necks
• Windy
• My Rock
• The Sound of the Letter A
• Funny Farm
• The Anything-in-the-World Prize Game
• Grover's Restaurant: The Count's Hot Dogs
• Buddy and Jim: Slide
• Henson E Claymation
• Grover, Debo, and Kermit: Secret Letter X
• Billy Jo Jive: Missing Dog
• Prairie Dawn Invites 3 Monsters
• We Coulda
• Simon Soundman: Trumpet
• Kermit Guesses from Clues
• The American Revolution: Surprising the British
• Ringmaster #2
• Wally and Ralph: Glue
• Harvey Kneeslapper: Bucket Joke
• Batman: Dirty Windows
• Danny Devito: Bus Stop
• Kermit News: Slushabouts
• Spring is Here
• Henson Computer #10
• Twiddlebugs: Flowers
• There's a Hole in the Bucket
• Geometry of Circles (one other than the one that's available on the 40th anniversary set)
• Nobody
• I'm a Big Girl Now
• Women Can Be
• Imagination Rain
• Ernie and Cookie Monster: Hope
• Martians: Grandfather Clock
• Peligro
• Danger
• Bert and Ernie: Pigeon Joke Book
• Write It Down
• Poverty U
• Grover and Herbert Birdsfoot Count to 20
• Monsterpiece Theater: Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
• Patti LaBelle: Take the Hand of the One You Love

I can't really think of what I'd consider to be good bonus features for a set like this, aside from what I've put on previous wishlists. And somehow I couldn't see this being a collection of volumed sets, unless future volumes were reformatted. There aren't too many pre-1989 segments I see as "essential and unreleased" I didn't list (aside from many individual Sesame Street News, Monsterpiece Theater, Super-Grover and Grover's Restaurant sketches... Hmmm, and it seems there are many well-remembered unreleased Bert and Ernie sketches I left out).
[*]

 

[minor muppetz]

I've been thinking, maybe for febuary it would be good if they released a black history month-themed DVD, featuring segments with black celebrity guests, black cast members, Billy Jo Jive, and maybe also Roosevelt Franklin and Kingston Livingston III. Or maybe that would make a better documentary special, much like the A&E biography and Sesame Street Unpaved.

 

[muppet maniac]

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Elmo_and_Friends:_The_Letter_Quest_and_Other_Magical_Tales

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Elmo's_Rainbow_and_Other_Springtime_Stories

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Firefly_Fun_and_Buggy_Buddies

These DVDs are collections of street scenes from the current seasons of Sesame Street. Which makes me wonder if it's possible for them to do the same for "street stories" from the early 70s. Not the whole hour-long episode (that, we know would be complicated), just the multi-part street scenes from each episode.

Ones like...

*Big Bird opens Hooper's Store (from #198)
*Cookie Monster's amnesia
*Grover becoming Oscar's butler
*Oscar's "NO" signs
*Big Bird's rocket

...some could even revolve around a topic like the DVDs above. Maybe one volume could focus on Big Bird, another could focus on Oscar...

They could also release only the street segments from episodes like #355 (Rainstorm) and #333 (Antonio's birthday fiesta).

 

[minor muppetz]

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Elmo_and_Friends:_The_Letter_Quest_and_Other_Magical_Tales

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Elmo's_Rainbow_and_Other_Springtime_Stories

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Firefly_Fun_and_Buggy_Buddies

These DVDs are collections of street scenes from the current seasons of Sesame Street. Which makes me wonder if it's possible for them to do the same for "street stories" from the early 70s. Not the whole hour-long episode (that, we know would be complicated), just the multi-part street scenes from each episode.

Well while not from the 1970s, the five-part hurricane episode street scenes were edited together into the DVD Friends to the Rescue, and other street stories of the former format were edited into the videos Slimey's Worm Games and Computer Capers.

An ideal choice would be to combine all of the hawaii scenes together.

Just recently I thought it would be cool if they did releases with such titles as "1970s Mix", "1980s Mix", "1990s Mix", and "2000s Mix", featuring several segments from those decades (including 1969 with the 1970s). But these would showcase the sketches in random order as opposed to chronologically (though either way would be fine with me).

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if it would be a good idea if Sesame Workshop/Warner Bros. put out a "100 Greatets Sesame Street Moments" DVD, perhaps allowing the fans (via Facebook, Twitter, or any other means of communnication) to nominate their favorite moments (maybe limit the number of nominations by less than 100... I know that when The 100 Greatest Warner Bros. Shorts book was in development the fans were allowed to nominate up to 50 shorts).

There would be things to consider. Many casual fans would probably nominate many of the segments that have been released on DVD more than twice (hopefully the 100 with the most nominations by fans wouldn't be found in "40 Years of Sunny Days", but I'm sure there are many segments ommited from that release that casual fans would notice the absense of). I could see the majority of votes from casual fans being things found in either the Old School releases, 40 Years of Sunny Days, and 25 Wonderful Years: A Musical Celebration (if not all of them).

Also, I wonder if Sesame Workshop would be able to accept every nomination (though they could always put in certain guidelines). It's always possible that the 100 most-requested segments could include stuff that Sesame Workshop couldn't clear, like song covers SW couldn't secure video rights for, or appearances by non-Sesame copyrighted characters (the only non-SST characters I know of who made appearances on the show who haven't been in any Sesame Street releases are The Pink Panther, The Simpsons, and Lamb Chop), or guest appearances Sesame Workshop could secure rights for (or maybe even celebrity appearances SW wouldn't want to release, like Chris Brown's appearances).

And it's possible that the majority of most-requested segments could be too similar to each other... Too many Sesame Street News segments, or too many Mosnterpiece Theater segments, or most of the Pinball Number Count segments.

But if such a release were done, I'd like to see introductions for most if not all segments, at least the more noteworthy ones. Perhaps give some insight or behind-the-scenes info on them, performers could share memories of working on them. It would be interesting to see Murray Monster interviewing the cast and crew.