A thought about about full episode dvds.

[dwmckim]

Okay, we've had full episodes of classic Sesame released in the form of the Old School DVDs. More recent episodes were released in the Fun Pack collections. I know many of us have dreamed of season sets of Sesame episodes though such releases would be challenging given how the early seasons had 130 episodes!

But where a lot of series that release season dvd sets traditionally start with season 1 and move forward, i could see Sesame Street release season sets for some of the more recent seasons that only had 26 episodes. That's comparable with most primetime hour long shows. I could see them maybe starting with the first season where they had 26 episodes (season 34 if i remember?) and then working their way up. This could work since they're not super recent but still not so far back that it would confuse the kids or have all those "curriculum may not match the needs of today's children" hooplah.

Then they could work they way backwards - with a season that had 50 episodes per se come out as "Season 33 Part One" and "Season 33 Part Two". After enough dvds like this came out and enabled potential buyers to get used to this kind of idea - i could see an older season come out in different volumes, though those seasons would probably take about five volumes to be feasable.

 

[Super Scooter]

Another idea would be to release season sets with just the street scenes, and then use the individual sketches as bonus features. Then, there would be no repeated sketches, and you'd save hours of footage.

 

[Drtooth]

I second Super Scooter's sentiment... a series of street stories based DVD's interspersed with a few classic bits would be amazing. I don't see why they couldn't even release Old School like DVD's with key episodes, or longer stories cut together....

 

[minor muppetz]

Okay, we've had full episodes of classic Sesame released in the form of the Old School DVDs. More recent episodes were released in the Fun Pack collections. I know many of us have dreamed of season sets of Sesame episodes though such releases would be challenging given how the early seasons had 130 episodes!

But where a lot of series that release season dvd sets traditionally start with season 1 and move forward, i could see Sesame Street release season sets for some of the more recent seasons that only had 26 episodes. That's comparable with most primetime hour long shows. I could see them maybe starting with the first season where they had 26 episodes (season 34 if i remember?) and then working their way up. This could work since they're not super recent but still not so far back that it would confuse the kids or have all those "curriculum may not match the needs of today's children" hooplah.

Then they could work they way backwards - with a season that had 50 episodes per se come out as "Season 33 Part One" and "Season 33 Part Two". After enough dvds like this came out and enabled potential buyers to get used to this kind of idea - i could see an older season come out in different volumes, though those seasons would probably take about five volumes to be feasable.

Some episodes from a few recent seasons have been released on iTunes, I think seasons 35, 36, and 37. I don't think every episode from those seasons are on iTunes, though.

 

[minor muppetz]

I second Super Scooter's sentiment... a series of street stories based DVD's interspersed with a few classic bits would be amazing. I don't see why they couldn't even release Old School like DVD's with key episodes, or longer stories cut together....

Maybe there can be a collection of "Sesame Street's Most Important Episodes". Volume 1 can have Mr. Hooper's death episode, Snuffy revealed, Luis and Maria's Wedding, and Gabbi's birth, plus street scenes from the episodes where Susan and Gordon adopt Miles, and maybe street scenes from episodes concerning Maria and Luis falling in love, their engagement, and Maria's pregnacy. Man, it's a shame that the 1970s didn't have any real important episodes like these.

Considering Warner Bros.' policy of not including dates in packaging and original special features on it's animation DVDs, I wonder if Warner Bros. would object to releasing sets focusing on decades and giving them titles like "1970s Collection" or "1980s Collection" and so on. Of course in the last few years it seems like Warner Bros. has been putting date son packaging; We have the "Peanuts 1960s" and "Peanuts 1970s Collection Vol. 1", the DVD release of The Man Called Flinstone has "the original 1966 classic!" written on the cover, the Popeye sets have their years on the covers (but I've heard that that was part of Warner's deal with the characters trademark owners regarding getting them on DVD).

 

[minor muppetz]

But where a lot of series that release season dvd sets traditionally start with season 1 and move forward, i could see Sesame Street release season sets for some of the more recent seasons that only had 26 episodes. That's comparable with most primetime hour long shows. I could see them maybe starting with the first season where they had 26 episodes (season 34 if i remember?) and then working their way up.

I doubt even that would happen, considering that each episode is an hour-long. There'd have to be more discs and/or maybe double-sided discs. I think complete season sets of hour-long shows are normally more expensive than half-hour complete season sets, though I don't own any such sets. I do own the first three SCTV sets, which were 9 episodes of the 90-minute episodes each, and those cost close to 90 dollars. I couldn't imagine a "childrens show" like Sesame Street have such an expensive release, especially for post-2003 episodes.

Still, for the more recent seasons, maybe there can be sets featuring full hour-long episodes, and as bonus features there can be a handful of street stories from those seasons, plus bonus segments not found on those episodes (maybe some complete Elmo's World and Abby's Flying Fairy School segments).

 

[dwmckim]

Season sets of hour long shows are more common and even though some of them are a little pricey upon initial release, the price comes down in time. Most of these have between 20-30 episodes in the set.

Farscape had 22 episodes per season and they just had each season released in season sets (with lots of bonus features) with most retailers selling each season set for $40. Walmart actually has season 4 available for just $20! Seeing that was what got me thinking about this.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Season DVD sets for Sesame Street would certainly be cool- but we'd be looking at 4000 plus episodes worth for the full collection! I wouldn't mind having some key episodes on DVD. I think particularly vacation episodes would be great, like the Hawaii episodes and any other times the SS gang went to camp, etc. I'd love to have all of those types of episodes all together on one set. Then I'd definitely like all the pivotal moments of the 1980s on DVD- Mr. Hooper's Death, Snuffy revealed, Gordon and Susan adopt Miles, Luis and Maria dating, Luis and Maria get married, and the birth of Gabi.
Maybe some key moments from the '90s and 2000s could also be compiled- Slimey Goes to the Moon and the Hurricane episodes come to mind offhand.

 

[StreetScenes]

I second Super Scooter's sentiment... a series of street stories based DVD's interspersed with a few classic bits would be amazing. I don't see why they couldn't even release Old School like DVD's with key episodes, or longer stories cut together....

if my screen name doesn't already give away my bias, i agree with those wanting street scene based dvds. and it actually fits with what sesame street is doing now: first they created elmo's world as a 15 minute programming block that they could use in world-wide tv markets that have such blocks. now that we have them too, they re-formatted the whole show to be like an hour block of mini-shows, and lumped street scenes together to be one of those blocks. why not do that with old street stories and release them on dvds three at a time like elmo's world dvds? or just sell them as itunes downloads.

old inserts have found a home--and a wider audience--on youtube and the sesame street video player. the computer seems to have become everyone's preferred mode of watching three minute videos, and sesame street is responding by mining their 40 year archive of short clips. but old street scenes are just sitting around, having aired only a few times ever. lumping them together & putting them on dvds as 15 minute episodes would be a perfect opportunity to instantly adapt a whole catalog of already-produced videos to the format today's parents and kids want.

 

[BitterAnimator]

Although in the general market, I would have thought it's the inserts that people remember more and there would be less of a demand for just the street scenes on their own.

Given the wealth and volume of material they are sitting on, I'd be in favour of full episodes.

My thought (and I think I said this once in another thread) is that, although there are too many episodes to release whole seasons, they could collect large numbers of them. With the focus on education, I thought that having a 26-episode set with each episode featuring a letter of the day so the set makes up the full alphabet, that would be a great way of getting them together.

I know more than one letter of the day is featured but as long as each one gets featured in the right episode, it would work. They would have to be roughly from the same era though or the set would feel a little all over the place.

But I think what this comes down to is that the Old School sets, though fantastic, were a bit of a missed opportunity in terms of the actual volume of episodes in them. With the sheer amount of episodes made and with those of us who grew up with the Street wanting to use Sesame Street to teach our own children, it seems all sorts of wrong not to get those full episodes out there. They aren't doing anyone any good sitting in a vault somewhere.