Little things we've noticed

[YellowYahooey]

With that said, I am thinking the video I posted was likely the first take, and it likely aired on Episode 0155 - but that remains a mystery for now (where is Sherlock Hemlock when we need him the most?).

Also, I did notice something in that unusual take that wasn't prevalent in the commonly seen version. In the end of the commonly seen version, the M was heard snickering as the segment closed. In this unusual take, Herb says "Oh, well..." and nothing else happens after that before the segment closes.

It's really nice that there was a different take of this segment - I think I like it slightly more than the commonly-seen version. I get tired of seeing the same version over and over again like there was no tomorrow, and this is a nice treat to see.

 

[YellowYahooey]

Regarding a certain segment, I noticed that there was a sketch with Ernie and Cookie Monster which had Jerry Nelson narration asking, at the start, which is Ernie and which is Cookie Monster? Towards the end, Cookie Monster mentions game show host Allen Ludden. My question is, did this sketch get discontinued because of Allen Ludden's death in 1981?

 

[LittleJerry92]

I think it just naturally went out of rotation, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[wiley207]

When the English version of this was finally uploaded, I was in for a surprise...

This Season 13 Sesame Street News segment is likely where they sourced that one recording of Jerry Nelson's announcer spiel to use on subsequent News Flashes. And no, that's not the 1986 "NEWS FLASH" logo at the start (introduced in Season 17) that would often be plastered onto older segments during reruns in the 1990s. (All four stars on the logo became yellow in Season 13.) This was the third of three Sesame Street News segments produced as part of the Season 13 production cycle.
This segment was only rerun once more in Season 14 and never again (most likely due to Telly being recast from Brian Muehl to Marty Robinson in 1984). The only News segment made in the Season 14 production cycle with any logos at the start was "Alice in Wonderland", introducing the "flashing" variant that would be used until they went back to a static "NEWS FLASH" logo in 1986.
I would assume this also made it easier on CTW, especially since Jerry Nelson wasn't as easily available during this time due to his "Fraggle Rock" work. Jerry didn't perform any characters in any of the four News Flash segments made during the Season 15 production cycle (interestingly, one of them was a Dr. Nobel Price interview, the one with "Sherman the Hoppity Hop", and that one dusted off the older larger "NEWS FLASH" logo and Jerry's announcer spiel for the Dr. Nobel Price reports, though it doesn't fade to the laboratory establishing shot the way it did in prior installments).
Then come Season 20, they experimented with the "NEWS FLASH" logo soundtrack a couple of times: the "Clean Sweep" one had Jerry announcing "We interrupt this program to bring you a special report from our news correspondent, Kermit the Frog!", and "This Is How I'm Made" had Marty Robinson doing the usual spiel (and it actually sounded kind of funny!) I guess they realized they were starting to get too monotonous with the openings using that one recording of Jerry Nelson's spiel. (Nevertheless, I've often used that recording when parodying or referencing Sesame Street News in my YTPs and whatnot.)

 

[Gordon Matt]

Having been able to see a lot of vintage shows from "my era" (outside of the Unpaved shows) for the first time since they were originally on -- something that jumps out at me -- I know they reused a lot of segments for years -- but it's interesting, cool and a little bizarre for instance to see blue Grover and brown Grover in different segments during the same episode. Also, there's an early "none/some/all" sketch with a bunch of various Muppets in it, including Orange Oscar, which popped up in a Season 2 show.

 

[Gordon Matt]

Something I learned today! I knew/remembered as a kid that the Sesame Street intro footage (with the theme song) was shot on film from the beginning in 1969 and later switched to video (like the rest of the show). I thought the switch happened at the beginning of Season 4, but today I discovered it was well into Season 3 -- show #324 -- it seems odd for it to have been done mid-season, given that there would be reruns so they would switch back and forth -- but not only mid-season but mid-week. Interesting.

From what I have seen, this "shot on video" footage in the show opening was completely redone at the beginning of Season 4 -- and the ones done for Season 4 were used for several years afterwards.

EDIT: Now hold on a minute. Show #355 was part of Sesame Street Unpaved on Noggin and it had a filmed intro. I need to investigate this further.

 

[Muppets02]

I have noticed that after the 1970s, there were only three occasions where Frank Oz returned to perform in street stories on Sesame Street, and all of them were done as Cookie Monster. Those times happened in episode 2835 (also known as Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake), episode 3804 (only through pre-recorded vocals), and episode 4075.

 

[Gordon Matt]

About a minute into "C Is For Cookie," a group of other monsters appear behind Cookie Monster to sing along. The one front and center looks a lot like Oscar The Grouch -- so is Oscar classified as a monster or simply a grouch?

 

[LittleJerry92]

I think he was just in there for the sake of having “main” (or at least also recurring sketch characters) with fur in the background (with the addition of Herry and Grover).

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if Caroll Spinney performed Oscar in C is for Cookie. Seems the background was shot separately, so Frank Oz very well could have been two monsters (though he'd likely do Grover), or Jim could have done Oscar and Billy Monster. Spinney had performed Billy at least twice and he's next to Oscar. The credits for Monster Hits do list "Caroll Spinney as Oscar the Grouch", unless they made an assumption he did Oscar (we do know now that Spinney performed one of the monsters in That Furry Blue Mommy of Mine on the same tape, so it's not like they'd be miscrediting Spinney for the video). I also wonder if Spinney performed Big Bird in Rock and Roll, where the credits read "and Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar". He did do Oscar in the linking footage, but Rick Lyon confirmed that he performed Big Bird in Hand Talk, wouldn't be surprised if somebody else put on Big Bird for The Word is No.