brought to you by the letter...

[lizzyr]

Hey guys, anyone know how the segment " brought to you by the letter.. and number.." goes - as in who says it, what's said before that and after, or if thats it? And where does the Count come into the counting of the brought to you by number? Any information concerning that segment would be great, sorry for the broadness
Thanks!
PS If anyone knows where I can get transcripts of sesame street epis I would be ever so greatful!

 

[BEAR]

If you are talking about how the number and letter sponsors are announced at the end of each episode, it has always been presented by someone different with each episode. I hope that helps. Maybe I am not fully understanding what you are asking for.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Yeah. Most recently it's been Trash Gordon announcing the letter and the number sponsors and of course the Count has his Number of the Day segment, but it used to be a different Muppet or human character who announced it. I remember a lot of times, they had a voice over and didn't actually show whoever it was.

 

[BooberFraggless]

Yeah. Most recently it's been Trash Gordon announcing the letter and the number sponsors and of course the Count has his Number of the Day segment, but it used to be a different Muppet or human character who announced it. I remember a lot of times, they had a voice over and didn't actually show whoever it was.

Yes now that Trash Gordon is here, we will never again here a voice over, or see any other charachter besides Gordon say the letter and number of the day. It's just another bummer that ruins one of the shows traditions. I remember back when they had people announcing the sponsors as a voice over, it was usually somebody who appeared sometime during the episode. But Once in a while they would have a charachter or human announce them who wasn't in the episode at all. Also I remember some rather Funny Sponsor Announcement Voiceovers. Once the Honkers did it, and all you could hear was their Honks while the letters and number appeared on the screen. Another time Linda appeared in a little circle at the very end of the show and signed the sponsor announcement. I remember an episode in the 1989/1990 Season when Big Bird and Oscar announced the sponsors together in a voiceover. Another time Biff and Sully announced the sponsors in a voiceover Biff would say "Okay Sull, are you ready, Sesame Street has been brought to you today by the letters X and........ Very good Sull, The letter U and by the number........ That's right Sull! The number 2" After posting this, I can't help but wonder what some of the Sponsor Announcement voiceovers were like in the 70's. There must have been some interesting ones. Mabye some of our Sesame Street Veterans can tell us.

 

[ISNorden]

I think the "same character does same segments" formula has been run into the ground ever since the Workshop realized their audience was getting younger. Children that age may need some order and regularity, but they also enjoy surprises: part of my enjoying Sesame Street as a girl included not knowing what the "sponsors" would be, how they'd be taught, or who would announce them in the end. With the same three or four characters handling most of the letter/number clips and announcements now...that surprise element is nearly gone.

Thank goodness for the few shows which don't use Trash Gordon at the end; having a character from the main story announce the things-of-the-day feels more traditional. Having the anonymous voice-over announce them while characters minded their own business felt even more traditional: the classic letter and number clips rarely used characters from the street scenes, so the things-of-the-day were beyond their control or choice.

I can recall only one exception to the unwritten rule "Thou shalt not choose nor question The Sponsors": a late 90s episode centers on Elmo's attempts to change the letter of the day from O to E. He barges into letter segments unannounced, begging characters to make "the first letter in Elmo's name" the center of attention. Worse yet, he rewrites some O clips to teach E and performs them alone. The anonymous voice-over still warns him: "The letter O won't go away...O is still the letter of the day." When the show ends, "Mr. Voice" (as Elmo calls him) suggests that the two of them cooperate; he points out that O is the last letter in Elmo's name, gives both letters equal billing, and mentions the number of the day (3) as an afterthought.

Granted, that episode makes my least favorite Sesame character the star and has a sponsor-driven plot (which I normally dislike). Yet Elmo acts like a typical child who'll try anything to get his wish; he even brags to "Mr. Voice" about how hard he'd tried to change things. (Since the show usually teaches that trying to do things independently is good, the voice-over agreed with Elmo.) Endings like those have a stronger link to the whole episode than the "Trash Gordon" clips do: his adventures rarely have anything to do with the sponsors, and the bedtime-story framework feels artificial when the main plot doesn't last a whole day.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Yes now that Trash Gordon is here, we will never again here a voice over, or see any other charachter besides Gordon say the letter and number of the day.

Well, you never know. I'm not sure how long TG will last. Roscoe Orman's not as young as he used to be, so he might not stay with that regular segment. Besides, Big Bird said the letter and the number in the "Little Big Bird" episode and probably in the magic ukelele ep as well. Plus we still see season 34 episodes where various characters say the letter and number at the end. Maybe, they'll at least go back to that.

 

[furshur]

Hey guys, anyone know how the segment " brought to you by the letter.. and number.." goes - as in who says it, what's said before that and after, or if thats it? And where does the Count come into the counting of the brought to you by number? Any information concerning that segment would be great, sorry for the broadness
Thanks!
PS If anyone knows where I can get transcripts of sesame street epis I would be ever so greatful!

I can tell you something about it from the olden days. "Sesame Street was brought to you today by the letter _ and by the number_. Sesame Street is a production of the children's Television workshop."

A few notes of music, then a sad sinking feeling that it's over.

 

[ISNorden]

Back in the days before season 29-30, the typical episode had two letter sponsors; "brought to you by the letters ___ and ___, and by the number ___" would have preceded the "production of the Children's Television Workshop" announcement. Some of the earliest episodes even covered three letters and two numbers, though I think the 2/1 rule began in the early 70s.