Pre-Order Sesame Street Old School Volume 3 (1979-1984) coming to DVD 11/6

[Drtooth]

I know it sounds cynical but I still lean towards the theory they didn't want children to notice that there was life before the cash monster, so to speak.

Don't I know it. It seems either completely intentional, or out of fear of angry letters from very dim people. If it's one thing no one wants, it's letters from barely literate people who get upset over anything trivial. But that's what you have to deal with as a children's TV producer. As much bullhonkey those disclaimers are, you have to admit, it's a preemptive covering their buns in case some idiot gets overly offended by something and blames SW for dumping their kids in front of a DVD.

 

[CensoredAlso]

As much bullhonkey those disclaimers are, you have to admit, it's a preemptive covering their buns in case some idiot gets overly offended by something and blames SW for dumping their kids in front of a DVD.

I do get that there's always at least one viewer that gets offended. I just don't like that the disclaimer was framed as some sort of responsible surgeon general warning when it's really ultimately a matter of taste and opinion. I find that rather irresponsible.

 

[D'Snowth]

Under that logic though, then ALL older series released on DVD would have to have similar disclaimers so as not to offend any viewers:

Rocky and Bullwinkle featured stereotypical Native Americans, Asians, and other ethnic groups.
Hogan's Heroes had Nazis and regular references to Hitler.
M*A*S*H had rape jokes and stereotyped Koreans.
Leave it to Beaver talked about God.
Seinfeld took a swipe at everybody and everything.

But then again, I know there's been cases with classic Looney Tunes released on DVD where Whoopi Goldberg had to make a disclaimer about the portrayal of blacks in some cartoons.

 

[CensoredAlso]

But then again, I know there's been cases with classic Looney Tunes released on DVD where Whoopi Goldberg had to make a disclaimer about the portrayal of blacks in some cartoons.

I honestly have no problem with those kinds of disclaimers. There are logical, historical reasons behind them. I saw none with the Sesame Street Old School disclaimers, lol.

 

[minor muppetz]

The weird thing about the disclaimers: The only way to see them is to buy the DVDs (or perhaps see all the news reports that make a big deal out of them). The "disclaimers" only appear in the introductions to the first episodes in both sets. The so-called disclaimers don't even appear on the packaging. I would think that's the more important place to put a disclaimer, so one can see before buying (as opposed to buying and then watching a disclaimer and getting an "oops" feeling).

I am kind of surprised that there was no such disclaimer on the 40th anniversary set.

 

[D'Snowth]

I am kind of surprised that there was no such disclaimer on the 40th anniversary set.

I don't believe the 40 Years of Sunny Days set was specifically marketed at adults for nostalgic purposes quite in the same manner the Old School sets were.

 

[mr3urious]

The season 11 premiere includes a rendition of Happy Birthday. I'll be surprised if that's not edited. I wonder if it can easily be edited out (they very well could put a short replacement insert in it's spot if it would otherwise look like a weird edit).

It's in Spanish, so it probably won't be. Only the English lyrics are copyrighted, not the melody.

 

[Drtooth]

I do get that there's always at least one viewer that gets offended. I just don't like that the disclaimer was framed as some sort of responsible surgeon general warning when it's really ultimately a matter of taste and opinion. I find that rather irresponsible.

Butt covering. I still think it was useless. If they said something to the extent of "these are for collectors, and your child might not be as interested in them as you are," it probably would have worked better. They say something in a rather roundabout way that translates into "kids are extremely fragile, and anything and everything in this DVD might turn them into a serial killer because kids have extremely specific Rain-man-esque needs that you never had to grow up perfect." I think the intention was more along the lines of "if you pop this in the DVD player expecting your newborn-2 year old kid to sit down quietly so you can completely stop supervising him/her for an hour, and they run around the house breaking stuff, it's not OUR fault."

I swear, even the SW staff finds it bull. Seems the opening of the first episode of the second set manages to sarcastically deal with it, having the typewriter guy roll his eyes and give a "oh PLEASE" look.

 

[minor muppetz]

I swear, even the SW staff finds it bull. Seems the opening of the first episode of the second set manages to sarcastically deal with it, having the typewriter guy roll his eyes and give a "oh PLEASE" look.

It would be funny if for this set, if they need disclaimers, they just put it in plain text, with Elmo reading the text in voice-over, as if to say, "Enjoy Elmo's voice here, because you'll hardly see him in this collection. And when you do, Elmo won't sound like this!"

 

[D'Snowth]

Boy, if the Old School sets are going to continue, I'm RULLY going to be looking forward to a Volume 4 set, because that would cover 1984-1989, which is my personal favorite little era of the show. A Volume 5 set covering 1989-1994 would also hit close to home for me, because that's the SST I was introduced to, and that's the one I grew up and learned with those first few years of my life, but then again, 1992/1993 is considered the end of the "Old School" era.