Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Silly Storytime DVD with Special Guest Reporter Kermit

[Phillip]

Today Sesame Workshop is releasing a special DVD, Sesame Street Silly Storytime with Special Guest Reporter Kermit. The DVD includes four classic Kermit the Frog newsflash segments. Because Sesame Workshop went the extra mile to work with Disney to include Kermit, fans need to support this important release so that we can see more important Sesame releases with Kermit in the future.

The Silly Storytime DVD also reportedly includes the following street scenes: Zoe's Hairy Godperson (Episode 4128), Sleeping Grouchy (Episode 4143), Jack Grows a Beanstalk (Episode 4211) and Musical Fairy Tales.

Order your Sesame Street Silly Storytime DVD with Special Guest Reporter Kermit and help support Muppet Central. Let us know your thoughts on this DVD and the special inclusion of these Classic Kermit newsflash segments.

 

[minor muppetz]

This is a great release, though two of the Newsflash segments have already been released on DVD (one of them twice).

I figured it would include the "Jack and the Beanstalk" segment (it's hinted on the cover). Each street story is followed by a News segment about the subject of the previous story. It would have been nice if the DVD included news segments on other stories, to give it more fairy tale variety. Kermit has interviewed Cinderella and the Three Little Pigs so many times, it would have been great to have included one of those.

All segments appear to be from the 1970s (the Little Red Riding Hood one I'm unsure of whether it's from season 10 or 11). It would have been great if some 1980s segments were included (with the possible exception of "Foot Snuggies" none of the 1980s News segments have been released commercially). Of course it seems like Sesame Street News focused less on fairy tales and nursery rhymes in the 1980s (most 1980s segments about fairy tales just returned to past stories).

Still, it's a great release. It also includes a segment not mentioned in press releases: A telling of The Frog Prince (considering this it should have included the Sleeping Beauty segment where she turns into a frog). This and the recent "C is for Cookie Monster" have a good balance of classic clips, even if the number of new-to-video classic clips is fairly small by comparrison. Hopefully more 2011 releases will have a good number of new-to-video classic clips.

 

[wiley207]

Interesting selection. I am also kinda surprised they went with the late 1980s version of the "Rapunzel" News Flash, but then again, this is obviously aimed toward the little ones, unlike the "Sesame Street Old School: Volume 1" DVD release which features the original uncut version.
Reusing that original 1971 "Sleeping Beauty" segment was a little not called for (they used the same late 1980s/early 1990s master copy that was used for the "40 Years of Sunny Days" DVD release!) but it's good to see it included; SesameWorkshop must think it's more popular than the one where Sleeping Beauty turns into a frog. But I do have to admit, the "Rapunzel" and original "Sleeping Beauty" News Flash segments do go together very well; they are both two of the oldest News Flash segments ever created, and they even both use the same background music (especially that "romantic violin" music).

And I am DEFINITELY not surprised they included the "Jack and the Beanstalk" News Flash segment. I guess that late 1980s version with the replaced News Flash logo/music was the highest quality version they had (the only copy of the original version currently on the Internet right now is in very bad quality.)

And I wonder when SesameWorkshop or one of us is going to upload the "Little Red Riding Hood" sketch from the mid-1980s with Red Riding Hood asking directions, the taxi and the Kevin Clash-voiced wolf? I guess we'd better keep checking those tapes!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Can I assume that Kermit doesn't appear in anything more than the classic NewsFlash segments? If even for a cameo, I would like to see him in the Street story. (Like what they did in "Big Bird's Story Time" - I really loved that video just for that one bit with Kermit coming by Big Bird's nest at the end of the day after reporting on all those news stories all day long and taking a nap with Big Bird and Snuffy- that was a neat, unexpected and pleasant surprise.)
In any case, it still sounds like a great video and I'm really excited that Kermit actually showed up on the cover.
As Kermit the Frog fan (okay, and a Sesame Street and The Muppets in general fan of course)- but particularly a fan of Kermit on Sesame Street, I'm excited for this!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

And I wonder when SesameWorkshop or one of us is going to upload the "Little Red Riding Hood" sketch from the mid-1980s with Red Riding Hood asking directions, the taxi and the Kevin Clash-voiced wolf? I guess we'd better keep checking those tapes!

I remember that Sesame Street NewsFlash quite well. Has it not been released on any VHS or DVD releases at all? It seems like I've seen that one fairly recently... but maybe I'm thinking of a 1980s episode of Sesame Street I've got taped from Noggin or Youtube or something...

 

[minor muppetz]

I remember that Sesame Street NewsFlash quite well. Has it not been released on any VHS or DVD releases at all? It seems like I've seen that one fairly recently... but maybe I'm thinking of a 1980s episode of Sesame Street I've got taped from Noggin or Youtube or something...

Danny Horn provided a transcript of it at Tough Pigs long ago...

http://toughpigs.com//anthkermit15.htm

Reusing that original 1971 "Sleeping Beauty" segment was a little not called for (they used the same late 1980s/early 1990s master copy that was used for the "40 Years of Sunny Days" DVD release!) but it's good to see it included;

I feel like the copy used at sesamestreet.org is a much better quality copy. And that version has the original logo (which is superimposed over footage, so the DVD kinda cuts off more than just a title card), so it's not like Sesame Workshop doesn't have a copy available.

 

[minor muppetz]

Reusing that original 1971 "Sleeping Beauty" segment was a little not called for (they used the same late 1980s/early 1990s master copy that was used for the "40 Years of Sunny Days" DVD release!) but it's good to see it included; SesameWorkshop must think it's more popular than the one where Sleeping Beauty turns into a frog.

While I prefer the other one (Sleeping Beauty looks hot as a frog, and I find the idea of her turning into a frog funnier than putting the prince to sleep), I honestly do feel like the one we've got is more popular. Actually, I feel like the segments chosen for this release are some of the more popular newsflash segments. I recall seeing that Little Red Riding Hood on TV frequently as a child, and the Rupunzel clip has not only been in two other releases, but clips were featured in The World of Jim Henson and the A&E Biography, not to mention the fact that it was included in the Sesame Street Unpaved book. Though the only time I remember seeing Rupunzel and Sleeping Beauty in episodes of the show itself were in season 30 episodes. And for some reason I feel the "Jack and the Beanstalk" sketch is popular despite the fact that I don't remember knowing about it until I saw it on youtube.

But I don't think Sesame Workshop includes segments just because they are popular (though many of the more popular segments are clearly released because of popularity). There are many segments I feel are popular that haven't been released on DVD (Ernie substituting a pan for Bert's cowboy hat, Grover's attempts to sell Kermit earmuffs and nosewarmers, many unreleased Monsterpiece Theater segments, etc.). There are some segments that have been released multiple times that I don't view as popular. Sesame Workshop might, but I question the rereleases of some skits.

One example is the "weather salesman" sketch. That was released on "The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street" and "Old School Vol. 2". I don't remember seeing that one as a child, one of the Muppet Central reviews for "The Best of Kermit" said that the clip hasn't been shown in years, and Muppet Wiki currently only lists a few episodes with it (I think only one episode page mentions the skit). I'd have expected the other "Kermit/Salesman Grover" sketches to be more popular (especially the earmuff salesman sketch), but outside of brief clips the weather salesman sketch is the only one commercially available.

Another example would be the Roosevelt Franklin "Talking Loud/Talking Soft" sketch. To date every Roosevelt Franklin sketch that's available on DVD was included on the Old School DVDs, with some being available elsewhere as well. With not many RF sketches on DVD, I was hoping for a different one to have been included in the 40th anniversary DVD. And of the classroom sketches that I've seen, that one is my least favorite, and I honeslty feel like the other ones I've seen are more popular. Though it seems Sesame Workshop prefers to let fans see the classroom sketches over ones with Roosevelt and his mother.

Well, back to your regularly-scheduled topic...

 

[ZeppoAndFriends]

Note to self, look for this whilst shopping Saturday.

Rat: If it's a note-to-self, why are you posting it on the internet?

Quiet you!

 

[minor muppetz]

I've been thinking that the Little Red Riding Hood sketch was from the late-1970s (season 10 or 11), but now that I look closer at Kermit, I think that one might be from the early 1980s after all. Watching it at sesamestreet.org, I thought that was one of the late-1970s Kermit puppets, with really noticable felt texture. Halfway through production of the third season of The Muppet Show (made during season ten of Sesame Street) they started using a new material to make Kermit, which had less noticable texture. While that newer version was used in The Muppet Movie and the rest of The Muppet Show, it seems they still used an older Kermit puppet with more texture on Sesame Street until at least season 11 (or maybe they used both types of Kermit puppets concurrently... seems the Ernie and Bert puppets were rebuilt in season 14, yet the puppets used before then were used in Big Bird in China). But watching it more closely, on a DVD as opposed to online, it's clearly less noticable texture on Kermit (though the puppet does seem to be as skinny as he was when they used the older material).

Still, the Cookie Mosnter puppet was rebuilt in season 13 or 14, and that's clearly the Cookie Monster puppet used before then. So I guess we've finally got a 1980s Newsflash segment on DVD (and as I've said before, if you count the Foot Snuggies segment as a 1980s segment, then it's two 1980s News segments).

 

[wiley207]

Still, the Cookie Mosnter puppet was rebuilt in season 13 or 14, and that's clearly the Cookie Monster puppet used before then. So I guess we've finally got a 1980s Newsflash segment on DVD (and as I've said before, if you count the Foot Snuggies segment as a 1980s segment, then it's two 1980s News segments).

If I recall, the "Foot Snugglies" segment is from 1980 or 1981. I know that in most cases the 1974-1984 News Flash sketches used the enlarged version of the logo, and each had a differently-recorded Jerry Nelson announcement (as if every segment had a newly-recorded announcer at the beginning of each one), and you can sometimes tell the Kermit puppets apart a bit (but in some cases like that DVD release, they replace the News Flash logo with the 1986 version but usually retain the original announcement).
The 1984-1986 News Flash segments used that smaller "flashing" version of the logo (also seen on "The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street") and by this point they just used one recording of Jerry Nelson's announcement for all new ones (with one exception, the 1985 "Three Little Pigs" report about their feelings).

I also remember the DVD/SesameWorkshop version of the Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk special reports, it has BOTH the 1986 "NEWS FLASH" logo and the newer music/announcer sound, yet the sketches are obviously from the 1970s (the Jack one as evidenced by a very bad-quality copy on YouTube with the original logo intact, and Rapunzel has the original logo intact on the "Old School: Volume 1" DVD release).

I wonder what will happen when SesameWorkshop decides to upload the "Hey Diddle Diddle" and "Aladdin's Lamp" reports, both of which originally did NOT begin with a "NEWS FLASH" logo. They might leave them the way they are (like they did with the "New Three Little Pigs Story" sketch, which also had no logo), or if they plastered a "NEWS FLASH" logo onto both sketches in the late 80s/early 90s for reruns then they might use that (I wonder if that ever happened to those two sketches?)