1-2-3-4-5..6-7-8-9-10..11-12!

[ISNorden]

They didn't really do a lot of #1 sketches in the '70s and '80s. I don't think they had too many episodes sponsored by the number 1 until about 1988 or so. I think they figured that kids didn't really need to learn about the number 1, and it was so simple, it didn't really need to be taught.

Agreed--as far as I know, only one episode (#121) had 1 as an actual sponsor before the mid-80s. (I suspect it was meant as a special exception to the rules: it began the last ten episodes of that season, which had 1-10 as sponsors in that order.) Several early episodes did show clips about the number, but they were still rare--probably for the reason you mentioned.

 

[minor muppetz]

If only somebody at the CTW Archives could let people see those tapes; getting hands-on confirmation would be great!

As far as I know, the University of Maryland only has paper files from the CTW archives. It would be great if actual videos of episodes were available there for people to view. Muppet Wiki now has info on a lot of episodes thanks to the CTW archives at the university of maryland, but now there are a lot of mysteries because of the information. Like whether the first season episodes really were sponsored by one. There is one epsidoe where Big Bird was blackmailed by a character named Bad Barney, who I don't think any of us know about. And one epsidoe has Tough Eddie and Oscar arguing, leading to Tough Eddie telling Oscar that he'd be back later with something to tell him, yet the ending wasn't revealed there. And there is a plot summary that mentions an unknown human character named Lillian, and a second season epsidoe that features a character named maria (not sure if this is the Maria we all know and love or if it's a different Maria). And there is a first season episode that lists a sketch as "G is for Grover". Could this be our Grover (which would prove that Grover had a name in the first season), or a different Grover (maybe an animated character, or a human, or a different Muppet, or maybe a celebrity with the first name of Grover, though I'm sure that if it was a celebrity the archive files would have mentioned the celerbities last name)? So many mysteries...