Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Old School Volume 2

[BillyKal]

Yeah I was going to say that.

Muppet Wiki is your best bet regarding what sketches are on the Old School Sets.

 

[minor muppetz]

Watching these premieres, it seems like starting with episode 536, the season premieres are more like regular episodes, while the earlier ones feel more special, introducing new characters and reintroducing new characters.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder why the Old School DVDs don't have english subtitles. Heck, I don't think any Sesame DVDs have subtitles. I'm not deaf, but I do sometimes turn the subtitles on, especially in scenes where I can't understand what is being said.

 

[minor muppetz]

Somebody mentioend that Noggin cut something out of The Fishermna Song. I don't know if this was just speculation or what, but is that song presented the same way on the DVD as it was on Noggin, or is there something extra?

 

[AndyWan Kenobi]

I noticed that Apple folder superimposed on the photo as well, just above the mailbox. I thought it was pretty hilarious, actually.

I've only watched through a little of the set--my Best Buy didn't have it, so I had to wait for it to be shipped. So far I'm really enjoying it, though. Why didn't I know about the other Gordon in the test pilot?

 

[minor muppetz]

There are a lot of sketches on this set that I expected to be included. They may not have all been on my wishlist, but I actually expected a lot of stuff to be on the set that was (in addiiton to some that wasn't). Stuff like City-Country Song, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, Sing After Me, Bert Teaches Pigeon Checkers, and Letter Y Box of Crayons. I'[d also expected Subway to be included long ago, until I read that the copyright date was 1974 and expected it to have originated in the fifth season.

There are some things that I hadn't noticed before, until I got this set. For example, I hadn't noticed that Super Grover has a strap on his helmet (I rewatched the Telephone Booth sketch on Old School Volume 1 and noticed it there too). I also didn't notice that Biff had eyebrows. And in the Subway song, I noticed that there is an anything mupet sitting on the subway, who doesn't seem to move. Seems kind of creepy. Everyone else moves on the subway, though the cop also sits down. All this time I thought that onyl Bert and the cop stayed on the subway (which I thought seemed a bit awkward... I don't know why, but thought that the cop would arrest Bert or something), but then I noticed this guy sitting in his spot, staying on the subway but being behind Bert. He sort of looks like the Gene Shalit Muppet from The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence.

 

[DTWolf]

Pilot thoughts

I watched the pilot more than a week ago, so I guess I've just been lazy posting my thoughts about it (was my whining about the unskippable ads really more important?). The pilot had lots of problems; I'm really glad they did a test to find out what didn't work so that the real shows came out well.

Everybody seemed pretty lost about transitioning from one segment to another--over and over a person would just be standing staring at the camera with this heavy pause, like he or she was waiting for a director to say, "Right, the animated clip's over, you're on!" Embarrassing! (But maybe they would've edited that stuff out anyway for a real broadcast.)

The interactions with the kids were poor. In the first bit (with the cement writing), Gordon does practically all the talking. The two boys give one-word answers and show no initiative whatsoever. (Whether that's because of bad directing, bad writing, or picking camera-shy kids, I couldn't say, but somebody messed up.) In the first segment with Susan and the kids ("If You're Happy and You Know It") some of those kids seem pretty bored and distracted. The friend I watched this with wondered how many takes they had done to make the kids tired of it.

Watching one segment ("Story About the Letter D") three times in a row is just painful.

The biggest deal of all: nowhere in the whole episode do Muppets and humans interact. Bert and Ernie exist in some separate, alternate world apart from Gordon, Susan, and Bob. (It's true Bert and Ernie are shown in the middle of the dance segment, but they're still on their own set, not on the street with the humans.) Praise and thanks to whoever insisted that Muppets and humans be brought together--especially human CHILDREN. What would Sesame Street be if they'd kept Muppets and humans separate? Well, it probably wouldn't still be around, for one thing.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yeah it's very hard to build up a rapport with kids, it can take time. And also, filming a TV show involves a lot of sitting around and waiting, I'm not surprised if the kids looked bored. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing all this!

 

[CensoredAlso]

About the cut Maria and David thing, it's probably that they just wanted to avoid confusion since kids know Maria is married to Luis. Or maybe it was a copyright issue as has been suggested. I honestly don't believe there was any malice intended.

However, as far as the original relationship, I have to say I have heard in the past that one of the reasons Maria and David's relationship was dropped in the first place was because some viewers objected to it and wanted Maria to be with Luis instead. At least that's what a friend told me she had read a long time ago. It's just one theory and I doubt we'll ever know the truth for sure. But it's not impossible unfortunately.

 

[ssetta]

I actually noticed something that I don't think anyone has pointed out yet. "Here is Your Life" and "Super Grover" in the Season 6 cuts have the more modern, updated intros. I wonder why they did that. And I noticed that on the "Subway" song, for some reason, there was like a "cracking" sound every time they sang the word "subway." And this is the first time I've ever seen the steering wheel closing, and I have to say it was pretty good.