The closing themes of Sesame Street

[gutchman]

ssetta, I have a question about SS season 34. Were there ever any episodes where the nighttime version of the SS theme was heard at the end of any of them?

 

[ssetta]

Actually, the premiere episode of the season, the karaoke episode, did end at night, but it had the newer nighttime music from 1995.

 

[gutchman]

ssetta, do you happen to remember the names and episode numbers of these Sesame Street episodes?

Both of these episodes were aired from the 1993-94 season, but were reruns of episodes from the 1991-92 seasons:

1. Gordon announces the sponsors: "Sesame Street was brought to you today by the letters U, as in umbrella, and Z as in zebra; and by the number 1 as in 1 person standing here saying good-bye." Then the Count, off-screen, tells Gordon he can use his imagination and count up to 9 people saying good-bye; then he, not Gordon, says "Sesame Street is a production of the Children's Television Workshop. Ah-ah-ah!"

2. This other episode ended with Big Bird and kids announcing the sponsors F, I and 5. Then the muppet with a bird on his head said some things to Big Bird and eventually said "Sesame Street is a production of the Children's Television Workshop," but before that he said that the bird on his head was going to say that. Before the closing harmonica theme ends, the last word Big Bird said was "Ridiculous."

 

[ssetta]

The first one you mentioned was episode 2953, and it reran as episode 3197. The second one you mentioned, I'm actually not sure about. Do you remember anything else that happened in that episode?

 

[JLG]

The calypso music that replaced the harmonica music at the end of Season 24 is still being used today at the beginning, but only lasted a few years at the end. I think the reason for this is because I always thought it had somewhat of a poignant sound to it at the end of the episode. As if they were sad to leave. So, in Season 27, they made this new version of the theme. It actually featured part of the original opening theme, and most of it was actually harmonica music. It wasn't the original, but I think it was made to sound like the original. Sometimes it would actually feature the very last harmonica riff at the end of the original, but not always. It was actually in Season 34 that the original returned, which is one season before Trash Gordon premiered. And then in Season 35, Trash Gordon came along, and it was played at the end of that. For some reason, in Season 36, they went back to using the 1995 version, and now, for Season 37, they're using the original again.

Wow, someone else who feels the same way about the calypso closing! I also thought it had a poignant sound to it when I was a kid. Only I thought of it in terms sort of like "We've all been friends for many years, but it's getting to be time for us to say goodbye forever." Of course, this was nullified when they stopped using that sad-sounding signoff and eventually brought the old harmonica closing back from the dead. No more feeling of "the end is coming soon---but it sure has been a fun 25 years, huh?"

Strange--I have no memory of the 1995 version. I was still watching it occasionally then, so I guess somehow it just didn't stick between my ears.

 

[JLG]

Typical. The second I posted the above, the 1995 version popped back into my head. I know what you're talking about now.

I remember puzzling over just what that was, and whether it was some long-neglected piece of the original music that was always skipped before. But apparantly, like you said, it was new but made to sound like a close cousin of the original. Pretty good job, I think.

 

[gutchman]

ssetta, that second episode rerun was about telling whether or not something is alive. Does that help you?

 

[ssetta]

ssetta, that second episode rerun was about telling whether or not something is alive. Does that help you?

Are you sure this was Season 25? I don't remember this at all. All of the Season 25 reruns I remember:

3165/2910
3167/2957
3168/2949
3173/2912
3174/2951
3175/2876
3176/2936
3177/2967
3183/2956
3184/2929
3185/2935
3186/2926
3188/2924
3195/2990
3197/2953
3243/2966
3250/2915
3264/2938

That's all the ones I remember. There ARE some Season 25 shows I don't remember very well. But I'm not sure that any of them were reruns. I'm pretty sure episode 3228 started and ended with Big Bird sleeping in his nest. It wasn't that one, was it? And I think 3254 started with a scene with Elmo and the word COLD. Was it that one?

 

[gutchman]

ssetta, I looked on muppet wiki, and it said episode 2953 from 1991-92 season is called "Wolfgang Plot (repeat), so that episode must be a repeat from 1989-90; episode 3197 is a completely different title: "Telly breaks Luis's vase/The Count Has Trouble Sticking to 1", which probably is from the 1993-94 season since the word "repeat" is not next to it. So they're probably not the same episodes. Are you sure what you said in post #104 is right?

 

[ssetta]

Episode 2953 most definitely is the one where Telly broke Luis's vase. Not everything on Muppet Wiki is correct. And all of the reruns from Season 21 (1989-90) in Season 23 were episodes 2891-2905, and 2916-2920.