Sesame Workshop Library to be Digitally Preserved

[Splurge]

and I've even heard a rumor (don't know whether there's any truth in it or not) that there actually was no *new* material produced for the final season of "The Electric Company;" that the 1976-1977 season consisted *entirely* of recycled old segments.

Well, there must have been some new material. After all, there was the final song, "That's All". And in that director skit which focused on "Good night", Rita asked Judy how long she was on the Electric Company. When she was told, she responded, "Six years. And you still don't read the card!"

But a lot of the video bits in which the performers looked like they did in '77 ("That's All" is a good basis, except for Rita), it seems like were a lot of short scenes to introduce us to the concept that was "coming up next". Or stopping in to remind us to "keep watching" for more "if" (or whatever).

There were clearly some new skits apart from alerting viewers, I'm sure the Cinderella "coach" skit was one of them, but clearly, they were winding down. So I guess I understand why someone might think there was no new material, when there technically was.

 

[mikebennidict]

i'm most familiar with the last 2 years of it's run since tEC was reshown up til 1985 and those were the only 2 seasons that were reshown for some reason but i recall seeing many skits from previous seasons reshown and seeing the Noggin reruns where they did show episodes from all seasons, just like SS they always used older segments in the newer episodes.

 

[MuppetQuilter]

It's not like the archive is new. It's the format that's been updated. Much more convienent to have 4000+ episodes archived digitally, where they can be accessed via desktops and searched via episode #, Muppet, actor, guest star, song, or some other topic. It's got to make it much easier for SST to actually work with their library. Before, when a new puppeteer was going to take over an old Muppet some poor slob had to dig through piles of tapes and run a reel of skits with the old character for the new guy. Now they can just type in something (say 'Gladys the Cow' who came back not that long ago) and run the stuff onto a CD.

Beyond that, even if Sesame Workshop never allows any of the old street segments to see the airwaves again (which I find unlikely) it is standard practice to archive footage and store it. Wasn't always the case with television (or movies for that matter) but it definitely is now.

 

[Rosewood]

What is the actual reason that they are doing this!

I revived this thread because this subject has been on alot of peoples minds lately. My question is this: are they truely doing this to save the old vintage clips from destruction, or is there an alterior motive to all this? And how far did this project ever really get? I think this subject would be a good one to start addressing again.

 

[D'Snowth]

Huh, I could've sworn that I already posted in this thread. Oh well, YAY! Classic Sesame DVD's!

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Cool.