More vs. Different Sesame Street Content

[minor muppetz]

Back when The Street We Live On premiered and What's the Name of That Song? was released, Danny Horn wrote an article at tough pigs saying that fans want more than they get. Do you think that's true, or do you/ we/ I just want different things?

I think it's good to settle for a certain amount of things, but sometimes I want things other than what I get. Using Sesame Street's two 35th anniversary specials and Songs from the Street as examples...

I think it would have been great if Songs from the Street had more non-celebrity performances that hadn't been released on any audio format. Maybe Lena Horne's version of Bein' Green, instead of either How Do You Do or the original Bein' Green. Instead of African Alphabet, I would have liked for it to have included either A Song From Kermit or I Love my Elbows. I don't think the album needed two versions of I Love Trash or Sing. The celebrity remakes could have been dithced in favor of Fat Cat and Do De Rubber Duck. And I would have rather had That Grouchy Face than Jellyman Kelly. And I would have rather had something with Chris and the Alphabeats or Little Jerry and the Monotones than Sweet Little Baby and Tweet in the Morning.

Regarding The Street We Live On, I think it would have been better if that had more clip montages than full clips, though full clips are nice. The tough pigs article mentions that Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting focused on more of the history because there was less to cover, but I feel like that special had more clips, and that special was broadcast with commercial interruptions, whiel The Street We Live On wasn't. And most of the newly created footage in that special was much better than the newly created footage from The Street We Live On (did any of us want to watch a random segment where Sesame Street is animated in place of a section that could have been a straight-forward segment on how the show began? Did we want to see a new clip of Snuffy teaching a dance instead of more older clips?). The 20th anniversary special had quite a few clip montages, and some clips were close to being full, though still edited. One drawback about the 20th anniversary special is that it hardly featured clips with any past cast members. The clip where the adults discuss Mr. Hooper's death is edited in a way that Olivia is removed from almost the whole clip, save for the shot at the end where the adults and Big Bird hug (where she can hardly be seen). Stars and Street's Forever and The Street We Live On both feature clips with characters who are/ were at the time no longer on the show. That article I have been referring to mentions that back in 1989 there was room to include am the Robot, but Sam didn't appear in any clips in that special, and I don't think he was in any anniversary special.

Regarding What's the Name of That Song? I guess that was trying to be like Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration, where for the most part the songs are shown in full. While it's good that this features more random b-list songs as opposed to true classics, it would have been great if more non-celebrity clips that hadn't been released on video previously were included. If I was in charge, and was required to avoid 1970s segments, I would have included Have You Ever Looked at a Paper Clip? instead of Doin' the Pigeon (yes, I know that's from the 1970s and was included), D-U-C-K-I-E instead of Do De Ruber Duck, I Wonder About the World Above Up There instead of Get Along, Gonna Rock You to Sleep instead of Eight Balls of Fur, and Eight Beautiful Notes instead of Counting Vacation.

 

[sesameguy]

I think we all have different favorites that we enjoy and want to see more of. It's very difficult to please everybody. After more than 30 years, the best they can do in an hour-long show is touch on the big "highlights," which means they have to leave out an awful lot. If I were doing a tribute show, the clips I might want to include may not be the same as the clips you'd want to include.

For example, if my favorite character were Don Music, I would be really disappointed with the tribute shows if Don isn't there. But that doesn't mean that they're not fine shows. We have to "take it with a grin of salt" as Yogi Berra would say, and just enjoy what they have to offer. I'm just thankful for what favorites we do have on video, so if I wanted to see Don Music, I could put on "Old School volume 2" and enjoy it.

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Check out the bottom of this post for a list of some lost skits that I like (and see if you can find the one that is available on the Sesame Street video player!)

http://heroshaven.blogspot.com/2007/10/hey-lets-rent-out-theater.html

 

[CensoredAlso]

It's really up to our own individual needs. Some of us can just enjoy what they offer. And some of us can say "Well, it could have been better."

 

[Drtooth]

I think we all have different favorites that we enjoy and want to see more of. It's very difficult to please everybody. After more than 30 years, the best they can do in an hour-long show is touch on the big "highlights," which means they have to leave out an awful lot. If I were doing a tribute show, the clips I might want to include may not be the same as the clips you'd want to include.

For example, if my favorite character were Don Music, I would be really disappointed with the tribute shows if Don isn't there. But that doesn't mean that they're not fine shows. We have to "take it with a grin of salt" as Yogi Berra would say, and just enjoy what they have to offer. I'm just thankful for what favorites we do have on video, so if I wanted to see Don Music, I could put on "Old School volume 2" and enjoy it.

Exactly the point. Don never was a major major character. He was only featured on one long forgotten Cassette album. Most of the other characters were on record albums at least once. So minor characters like that would of course be shoved in the back. You can only highlight so much of a 40 year, 4000+ hour history in a half hour and make it paletable to everyone. You can't please everybody, but I thought that certain parts of the "Street we Live on" worked while others clearly didn't. I give them credit for having the Gaul to feature Baker #10 in the special. And I liked the part where Grover gives Elmo a breif look back at certain events. And the Animated segment was pretty funny too. But the best part was the 35 years in 2 minutes bit at the end, which sadly was dropped from the DVD for no good reason.

"What's the Name of that Song" was like a loose sequal to "A Musical celebration." That's why it worked. Thankfully the celeb appearances were in tact (though I'd rather see the original "Everybody's Song" over that klunky one they had there). I thought it was the better paced and better feeling special. Where they went wrong with "Street we live on" was trying to make everything fit an actual TV episode. Had it been a special retrospective for adult fans, or something more, I think people would have liked it better on the whole. But then again, there are a few special looks back like that on various programs, like A&E Biography, and CBS Sunday Morning.

In short, there is just too much Sesame Street to make everyone happy. A little over a hundred episodes per year (averaged in) for 40 years (Rough approximation). If someone figured in the true ammount of original, non-repeated footage that exists, that's pretty much a lot to work with.

That's what I love about Old School sets. You can see the history of SS as it happened without condensing it. I say that the 40th anniversary deserves a proper celebration and look back. Mayhaps Big network Prime time.

 

[minor muppetz]

While with many video and album releases I'd like for more unreleased stuff to be included, when there are documentaries or anniversary specials there are often clips that I hope are included, even if I have 20 or more copies of the same clip elsewhere (and uncut, while the documentaries and anniversary specials usually edit clips).

When I heard about Great Performances: The World of Jim Henson, there were certain clips that I was hoping/ expecting to be included (like Mahna Mahna and Rubber Duckie), even though I had copies of those scenes elsewhere. Now, I haven't seen most of the ending (I'd recorded it but the tape stopped, and I managed to see the very end), so these scenes could have been included and I just didn't see them.