Is the time right for a Best of Abby DVD?

[minor muppetz]

I've been wondering lately. Abby Cadabby has been on Sesame Street for about four years now. Does anybody think the time would be right for a DVD highlighting the "best of Abby Caddabby"? Does she have enough moments that'd be considered the "best"?

There are some real good sketches with Abby that I think would belong on such a set, such as "I Like Words" and "Because We're Friends". I wouldn't include any "Abby's Flying Fairy School" sketches, except for maybe as a bonus feature (I wonder if we'll get any "Abby's Flying Fairy School" videos, done just like the "Elmo's World" videos).

Of course I've noticed that it's been awhile since we last got any Sesame Street DVDs with any significant newly-produced footage... I wouldn't be surprised if a "Best of Abby Cadabby" DVD compiled just a few of the best Abby Cadabby street stories and some inserts. Though all the best street stories starring Abby that I know about off-hand have been released on DVD (Abby moves to Sesame Street, Abby starts school, etc).

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I'm not sure if Abby honestly has enough moments to warrant a "Best Of" video. Though I wouldn't turn it down either.
But it seems that there's plenty of other characters with a long history that have yet to get any kind of such tribute from Sesame Street. I'd love to see compilations like that for mainstays like Herry Monster or maybe Prairie Dawn and some of the older retired crew like Sherlock Hemlock, Harvey Kneeslapper, Guy Smiley and the like.

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm not sure if Abby honestly has enough moments to warrant a "Best Of" video. Though I wouldn't turn it down either.

Of course, it seems like most of the "best of [insert character here]" videos have at least one choice that seems random/questionable to me. Many fans seem to think that The Best of Ernie and Bert had more random chocies, but now that I think of it, I think the only real questionable segments there are the doctor visit segment and the camping segment (and maybe also "That's What Friends Are For"). This is the only one of the "Best of" videos to not repeat skecthes from earlier videos, but it probably should have. It needed Rubber Duckie (of course the first season version could have been included) and Doin' the Pigeon, and maybe also La, La, La, Dance Myself to Sleep, and The Rhyming Game. And there are a lot of other great Ernie and Bert skecthes that weren't available on video at the time.

The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street pretty much had great choices (though I'm not that fond of Do Op Hop, which had been released on video before), but the "weather machine salesman" sketch was a bit random. I do like the sketch, and one of the reviews at Muppet Central claimed that it hadn't been seen in years, and I think I liked it more back then because of the fact... But now I wonder if this is really one of Kermit's "best". There's a lot of more memorable sketches that could and should have been included in its place. Kermit's W lecture, Kermit's feeling lectures (both the Cookie Monster one and the Elmo one), the earmuff salesman, next to with shola and fanny, Monsterpiece Theater: Gone with the Wind, several full Sesame Street News segments (a clip montage wasn't enough)... The clip montages helped but could have been done better, and this one needed to be longer than 30 minutes. And it should have featured some of Kermit's pairings with other characters besides Grover.

Ironically, most of the segments that weren't rereleased in Cookie Monster's Best Bites were poor choices (of course it can be debatable whether the videos that don't have "the best of" in the title should count), especially the non-music sketches. It should have had something with Cookie Monster and Ernie (I would have chosen "same and different", "the Cookie Bunny", or Breakfast Time), and a Monsterpeice Theater segment (I woudl have chosen Twin Beaks, One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest, or Twelve Angry Men), and maybe a Kermit and Cookie pairing (the best choices would have been "Kermit's Mystery Box" or "Sesame Street News: Little Red Riding Hood").

A Celebration of Me, Grover! is the best, but does have some odd choices (they don't stick out like sore thumbs, but aren't what I'd put on a "best of"). The clip montages in that one were better than in the Kermit video. But it should have had a different Mr. Johnson sketch than "the wig salesman" (maybe the taxi segment or the bakery sketch), and a different "full" Super Grover sketch. And I wish it had the 1970s "Near and Far" sketch in place of "Over, Under, Around and Through".

I can't think of any really bothersome choices that appear in The Best of Elmo or Big Bird Sings! They do have some that I don't care for... I would have rather seen one of Elmo's team-ups with Kermit instead of "Three" or "The Sound That's in the Air", and Admiral Bird instead of "What a Gift", that clip from Big Bird in Japan, or Big Bird's Song.

But it seems that there's plenty of other characters with a long history that have yet to get any kind of such tribute from Sesame Street. I'd love to see compilations like that for mainstays like Herry Monster or maybe Prairie Dawn and some of the older retired crew like Sherlock Hemlock, Harvey Kneeslapper, Guy Smiley and the like.

In the fan fiction section I have written fan fics for "The Best of Herry Monster" and "The Best of the Count". With the exception of Elmo all "best of" videos were for characters who were around sicne the beginning (even if none of them have anything from the first season). It's a shame that so far there have never even been any "Best of The Count", "Best of Telly", or "Best of Oscar" releases.

For the last several years I have desired some insert-only collections focusing on characters, whether they be like the Walt Disney Treasures "Chronological [insert character here]" sets or like the upcoming Looney Tunes Super Stars sets, or maybe something like the Woody Woopecker and Friends releases (which I have not seen).

I will be disapointed if we get a "Best of Murray Monster" before a best of Count, Oscar, Snuffy, Zoe, Telly, or Abby set, unless Murray gets used better.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I will be disapointed if we get a "Best of Murray Monster" before a best of Count, Oscar, Snuffy, Zoe, Telly, or Abby set, unless Murray gets used better.

I love Murray Monster but I don't think I want to see a compilation of him introducing various Sesame Street segments. (When he's paired with Ovejita- that I can see a bit better.)

 

[Drtooth]

There hasn't been a best of X character since the VHS era, if you think about it. Maybe you could count the Celebration of Grover DVD (something that should have and could have been continued further with other characters).

I agree... Cookie Monster's Best Bites doesn't make any sense... I mean, it's nice to see "C Drives Me Crazy" on DVD, but it doesn't even feature Cookie at all. So even if we had an Abby best of release, it would be full of nonsequitor or related skits she wouldn't even be featured in.

That said, if they did a best of Telly DVD that actually featured segments with Telly (Telly with other characters of course, but only segments that feature Telly) that were not edited together, I'd buy it.

 

[minor muppetz]

There hasn't been a best of X character since the VHS era, if you think about it. Maybe you could count the Celebration of Grover DVD (something that should have and could have been continued further with other characters).

A Celebration of Me, Grover! was made near the very end of the VHS era. It's the only one released on both VHS and DVD at the same time.

There were four Play with me Sesame DVDs focusing on the show's main characters. Only one of them, Playtime with Grover, was released in the US, but I assume they all follow the same format of having the featured character in every clip. I'm not sure whether these should count as honorary "best of" DVDs, though. Though Playtime with Grover is one of the best of the five US-released Play with Me Sesame DVDs (I'd put it in the top 2, along with Let's Play Games), I only think a few of the features sketches would belong on a "Best of Grover" collection.

It would also be great if we got a sequel to one fot eh existing "Best of" videos... Maybe a second "Best of Ernie and Bert", though I think the first should get a DVD release first (it would be weird to see a "Best of Ernie and Bert Vol. 2" without the first being widely available. Then again, considering how companies these days don't put much thought into sequel titles, they very well could call it "The Best of Bert and Ernie").

 

[minor muppetz]

I love Murray Monster but I don't think I want to see a compilation of him introducing various Sesame Street segments. (When he's paired with Ovejita- that I can see a bit better.)

Actually I would expect a "Best of Murray" to be filled with Murray Has a Little Lamb, What's the Word on the Street, and his interractiosn with kids. I'd be surprised if his "[insert sketch title] is coming up next..." were included, though they could cut out that part and include the topics that came after announcing them. But that would still be a bit weak. Though I wouldn't mind seeing an all-Murray Has a Little Lamb DVD (I wonder if the guessing game portion would be included).

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Oh wow- it just hit me. I can't believe that I just now got the "Murray Has a Little Lamb" thing (i.e. Mary)-wow! [Of course, I hadn't really thought of the name of the segment until just now either.]

 

[Drtooth]

Considering they're releasing DVD's of episode segments, I wonder if Best ofs that don't focus on earlier characters even makes any real sense. Again, I think I'd rather see a release of an original storyline or at least with longer linking material (like Do the Alphabet and Sing Yourself Sillier at the Movies) than a clumsily constructed best of that features sort of kind of similar segments without the character in them.

 

[minor muppetz]

Considering they're releasing DVD's of episode segments, I wonder if Best ofs that don't focus on earlier characters even makes any real sense.

It took me awhile to understand what you were saying. Were you saying it makes more sense to do "best of" releases that focus on characters who were around since the beginning (or close enough to the beginning, like The Count and Snuffy)?

I figured it would make sense to do "best of" sets for current characters who have been on for at least ten years, since they are known by today's kids. But as I was thinking about this, I can't think of many moments for many of those characters that would be considered "the best", for either the characters or the series. I mean, Telly's been on the show since season 10, but I can't think of many Telly moments that would be the best. It would be cool if it had as a bonus feature all the street scenes from Telly's first appearance, for notability sake. It would be weird for "Television Monster" clips to be included within the body of the release.

I also can't think of many "best" Zoe segments. A lot of her best moments feature her with Elmo or Abby and Rosita. I recently saw a few very funny pairings with Cookie Monster, but although I like them, I don't think they should be classified "the best of Zoe".