Why haven't some older videos been re-released?

[CensoredAlso]

that would probably be very disorienting/confusing to kids watching.

And we wouldn't want the precious kiddies to ever at any moment of their lives be confused. Then parents might have to actually do their jobs and, you know, answer questions!

(Not directed at you, D'Snowth, just at that mentality SW seems to have)

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, no, it's not just SW, but this seems to be a problem with a lot of long-running kids shows today: as we've talked about in other threads before, older seasons of ARTHUR, particularly the first, are rarely, if ever, shown in reruns anymore, and a lot of it has to do with how outdated the technology is depicted in those episodes now: like in "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper," Muffy accuses him of stealing her new cell-ular phone, which was roughly the size of a brick and looked like a foldable walky-talky . . . remember those?

I mean, this is one of the reasons why Hooper's Store kept being modernized every few seasons, to reflect the kind of little convenience stores kids might find in their neighborhoods today, as those old little mom-and-pop-esque soda shops of the 50s, 60s, and 70s don't exist anymore (I'm surprised they okayed the new retro Hooper's this season).

 

[CensoredAlso]

in "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper," Muffy accuses him of stealing her new cell-ular phone, which was roughly the size of a brick and looked like a foldable walky-talky . . . remember those?

Right, Zack Morris' phone. Oh wait, that wasn't even foldable, lol.

Sheesh though, a ton of over thinking going on with these kid's show. Like I remember seeing those stwo piece 1900s phone all the time on TV as a kid. My brain didn't explode. Somewhere along the line I just learned that was an old telephone. It's obvious what its purpose is by how it's used. Case closed.

 

[D'Snowth]

Like I remember seeing those stwo piece 1900s phone all the time on TV as a kid. My brain didn't explode.

Exactly - I saw those all the time on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW; living in the south, that show's a staple down here, it's never off our TVs, and as a kid, I never questioned those old telephones, nor did I ever question the black and white (notice too that I LOVE LUCY is being colored, "for kids of all ages to enjoy").

 

[CensoredAlso]

Exactly - I saw those all the time on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW; living in the south, that show's a staple down here, it's never off our TVs, and as a kid, I never questioned those old telephones, nor did I ever question the black and white (notice too that I LOVE LUCY is being colored, "for kids of all ages to enjoy").

I never will understand how utterly terrified some adults become about this stuff, that we constantly have to "hide" things from children. It's ironically a very childish overreaction. And then these are the same adults who complain later that their kids don't know or care about anything outside their own little bubble. You'll get no sympathy from me, Mom, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

I really feel we're overthinking the "outdated" reason. I'd say it's more about money, residuals, and of course the more important version of outdated technology...home video itself. SW has a lot of old Sesame Street available online (official or not), why spend so much on restoration and compilation when it's all available for free? I'm utterly convinced they just don't think they can profit off of any video release and essentially make Elmo based compilations and actual TV episodes to keep contract with WB home video. I mean, I haven't seen Ernie and Bert Wordplay re-released either, and that's more modern.

On the other hand, credit where credit's due, at least with the WB releases, they have some of the previous releases on current disks as bonus features. At least that gives them a step up from Sony Wonder's 10+ bucks for 30 minutes of footage releases.

 

[minor muppetz]

I really feel we're overthinking the "outdated" reason. I'd say it's more about money, residuals, and of course the more important version of outdated technology...home video itself. SW has a lot of old Sesame Street available online (official or not), why spend so much on restoration and compilation when it's all available for free? I'm utterly convinced they just don't think they can profit off of any video release and essentially make Elmo based compilations and actual TV episodes to keep contract with WB home video. I mean, I haven't seen Ernie and Bert Wordplay re-released either, and that's more modern.

I thought that Bert and Ernie's Word Play was rereleased by Genius and Warner Home Video. I thought Genius rereleased pretty much everything Sony Wonder put out on DVD, and that Warner Home Video rereleased everything that Genius put out (including the rereleases), though I don't know for sure whether either of the first two Old School releases were rereleased by later companies, though volumes 2 and 3 both have trailers for all previous volumes (and yet I rarely see any of the three in stores anymore, it's even been rare for me to see the first two volumes since Warner took over video distribution).

But even if it's the physical video market dying, the fact remains that there are several videos that were not released on DVD when the market was better. I don't think Sony Wonder even rereleased all of the Random House releases on VHS, and none of those ever got DVD releases (maybe some day I'll be proven wrong, even back in the pre-DVD days I was surprised to see a few in Sony Packaging, thinking they were out of print back then). And not even all of the Sony releases were released on DVD (though I recall that The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street had a sticker on the packaging advertising it as a limited release, which could explain why it wasn't on DVD, since very few Sesame Street videos were on DVD at the time).

I know that several of the DVD releases are available digitally (I don't think any are available for online streaming). It's a shame that none of the videos that haven't been on DVD are even available digitally. Sesame Workshop may have made a lot of its content available for free online, but not any of its commercial video releases (excluding free resource videos).

Years ago, it was very common to see many Sesame Street DVDs in stores (and even then, there have been a number of DVD releases that I was unable to find in stores on the days they came out, some taking months or even years for me to find). These days, whenever I go into a store and look at the DVDs, I only see a handful of Sesame Street releases (usually from the last year or two), though I think there are still many in print (I've seen on Muppet Wiki that Warner Home Video has reissued several that I haven't seen WHV copies of in person). Toys R Us is the only place where I see a flood of past DVD titles (which may or may not be unsold copies).

And there's one quote I'd like to address...

SW has a lot of old Sesame Street available online (official or not), why spend so much on restoration and compilation when it's all available for free?

I already pointed out that Sesame Workshop hasn't put any of its commercial releases online for free, but did you mean to say that fans might wonder why they should buy those releases when they are online for free? I don't think Sesame Workshop has restored any of its past titles since they were given DVD releases.

 

[Schfifty]

I know that several of the DVD releases are available digitally (I don't think any are available for online streaming). It's a shame that none of the videos that haven't been on DVD are even available digitally. Sesame Workshop may have made a lot of its content available for free online, but not any of its commercial video releases (excluding free resource videos).

I think us, as consumers, should be able to watch the non-DVD titles digitally. I mean, it's Sesame Workshop for crying out loud. They're one of the biggest producers of children's videos and have been since 1985 - surely we should be able to watch the old titles pointed out in the OP on a newer platform. I really don't get why they can't release, say, Sing-Along Earth Songs or William Wegman's Mother Goose on iTunes. There's really no way they could profit from releasing them on DVDs, so why not digitally? That way it would please fans and also circumvent all the unauthorized uploads of the videos on YouTube (heck, you can't even watch WWMG in its full length anywhere online...only on VHS). There's copies of SAES online to watch, but I'd rather see Sesame Workshop officially release them and their other titles digitally.

 

[Drtooth]

I think us, as consumers, should be able to watch the non-DVD titles digitally. I mean, it's Sesame Workshop for crying out loud. They're one of the biggest producers of children's videos and have been since 1985 - surely we should be able to watch the old titles pointed out in the OP on a newer platform. I really don't get why they can't release, say, Sing-Along Earth Songs or William Wegman's Mother Goose on iTunes. There's really no way they could profit from releasing them on DVDs, so why not digitally? That way it would please fans and also circumvent all the unauthorized uploads of the videos on YouTube (heck, you can't even watch WWMG in its full length anywhere online...only on VHS). There's copies of SAES online to watch, but I'd rather see Sesame Workshop officially release them and their other titles digitally.

That I completely agree with. I'm really hoping the HBO deal means they'll put some of that money back into the behind the scenes upkeep and care for all the older sketches, episodes, and home video projects. Now, I'd say that there's probably a rights and residuals issue with William Wegman's stuff. I dunno how much of it he vs. SW owns. I'm sure that he'd be able to give the go-ahead for some release of it and it just comes down to those residuals (artists need to make money too). Other than that, I don't see why they don't have legal copies online of these things along with the older episodes for purchase.

 

[D'Snowth]

SW has a lot of old Sesame Street available online (official or not), why spend so much on restoration and compilation when it's all available for free?

Uh, preservation? You said so yourself regarding another show in another thread, often times clips online are fuzzy, grainy, snowy, taped-off-TV recordings. Heck, even when clips are posted online from source material, they have to be compressed to conserve webspace and bandwidth anyway.

Not to mention the video section of SW's website is hard to navigate and sometimes you can't find specific videos even when searching by matching keywords. YT not only has the watermaks on them (as does SW's site), but those plugs at the end of each video for other videos . . . I could do without either of those.