A Guide to Errors in Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street

D'Snowth

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We have a thread like this for the predacesor book Sesame Street Unpaved, now we need one for the current Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street. Here's just a short list of errors I've found thus far (and no, I still haven't completed the book myself)...

  • Page 165 cites that the hurricane episodes from Season 32 were episodes 3177-3180, as well as noting Big Bird saying he doesn't know how to build a nest in 3179; the episodes in question were really numbers 3977-3980. Although not mentioned, the episode where the hurricane blows through was 3976. Ironically, Gordon's quote "You're right Big Bird, it's not all right... but it WILL be all right" is correctly cited as coming from 3977.
  • On page 207, it's said that the Fix-it-Shop became the Mail-it-Shop in 2002, but switched back to the Fix-it-Shop in 2004; the Fix-it-Shop didn't return until 2006 when Abby debuted, and broke her wand.
  • Page 209 shows a small photo of the tenement building with the Mail-it-Shop, Bob's apartment and Hooper's Store, with Elmo's apartment. The caption says this photo represents the set from the 90s, but because the Mail-it-Shop is there, and the fact that Hooper's exterior is orange, it has to be from 2002-2005.
  • Leslie Carrara-Rudolph's bio states that Abby was created for Season 38, even though Abby's debut was the Season 37 premiere. On an un-related note, anyone besides me think that's a cute picture of Leslie at the top of the page? Lol
  • Page 119 has a caption for Sheryl Crow's "I Soaks Up the Sun" as being a part of an SW fundraiser in 2009, even though the bit was from much earlier in 2003.
  • Page 105 says that the last time Oscar's legs were seen on camera, a child actor was inside the suit... I don't know if this is with merit, because having read Caroll Spinney's bio from years earlier, he says that Oscar's legs were almost always provided by Herve Villechaize (Tattoo on Fantasy Island).
  • Chris's debut episode is listed as number 4156 on page 62, yet page 64 shows the title page for Joey's script for the episode, and it's clearly numbered 4136 (and notes the episode was originally slated to be 4160).
  • This one isn't so much an error as it is a correction - remember the debate we had a few months ago as to what Bob's last name on the show was? Some said it was Johnson, while SSU cited it as he shared his real-life last name with his character... page 69 in this book confirms that fictional Bob's last name is, indeed, Johnson.

Those are all the errors I remember reading about at the moment... I think there might be some slight inaccuracies with the dates for the set's moving timelines, but oh well.
 

The Count

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Yeah... Couple of these can be answered thanks to the Wiki.
We knew Bob—the character's—last name had to be "Johnson" as the character of Minneapolis Johnson appeared in Episode 2637. Minneapolis, an Indiana Jones parody portrayed by Jeff Goldblum, says he's Bob's brother. So there you go.
As for I Soaks Up The Sun, it may have been recorded earlier... But Sheryl Crow showed up to perform the song at the 2009 Annual Sesame Street Gala. What I'm unsure of is if that's where the Sheryl Crow Muppet appeared as well.
 

minor muppetz

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We knew Bob—the character's—last name had to be "Johnson" as the character of Minneapolis Johnson appeared in Episode 2637. Minneapolis, an Indiana Jones parody portrayed by Jeff Goldblum, says he's Bob's brother. So there you go.
I haven't seen that episode, but I thought the character was just referred to as "Minneapolis".

The Muppet Wiki page for the book has a list of errors, under the "Errata" heading.
 

D'Snowth

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Minneapolis, an Indiana Jones parody portrayed by Jeff Goldblum, says he's Bob's brother. So there you go.
So what? Not everybody's brother(s) has the same last name as themselves. I have a brother whose last name is different, since he came from a different union than myself, not mention our very own Tim Kelly's brothers' last names are Krey.
 

D'Snowth

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Not really sure if this counts as an error so much...

But page 204 has a picture of the arbor area circa the 70s, showing the trellace that was outside the side entrance/exit of Hooper's, saying that the 70s set was the only time an actual arbor existed in the area.

I wouldn't completely agree with that... that trellace outside the side door of Hooper's has been then at least until Season 29; afterwards, although it was taken down, the community garden opened up in the very back of the arbor area between the carriage house and 123, so when you really think about it, there's always been an arbor there in some form.
 

D'Snowth

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A couple more...

Page 255, in the section regarding the German co-production Sesamstrasse, there are photos of the original Pino puppet, as well as his original performer... Pino is from the Dutch co-production - Sesamstraat.

Page 268 says "Jim was very supportive of licensing the characters"... if I remember correctly, I've read that Jim was actually a little apprehensive about merchandising the Muppets.

In addition, there's picture repeat: pages 267 and 297 have the same behind-the-scenes shot of remote-controlled Elmo and Abby with their tricycles.
 

minor muppetz

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While technically not an error, in the "Comings and Goings" section of the cast chapter, it says "Jamie Sanchez was the first latino cast member", without mentioning the name of his character (Miguel).
 

minor muppetz

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I spotted two errors on page 97.

First, it says that Snuffy was originally envisioned as Big Bird's invisible friend. But he was never invisible - he was thought by the adults to be imaginary (which he also was not). I see imaginary and invisible as two different things.

And also, it says "Snuffy 'became real', but only after a scene in which the adults ultimately decide to accept Big Bird's word, even without seeing Snuffy". But there was no such scene. In the scene leading to them finally meeting Snuffy, they all hesitate to go through Big Bird's doors to see Snuffy. Even the ones who had beleived Big Bird by that point.
 

minor muppetz

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There are a few places in the book that refer to there being four test pilots instead of five. One is in the Matt Robinson page when talking about the actor who played Gorodn in the test pilots. I feel like there are a few other mentions that I can't quite remember, I'm thinking they all have to do with the cast... So it's possible that these mentions are referring to the pilots that used the street for it's linking footage (one of the test pilots had it's linking scenes in a studio run by children).
 

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Not too sure if this counts as an error, but on page 130 it says that (paraphrasing) "By the mid-1980s the producers had to address an issue that became more pressing each year: The need to find talent to sub for Jim Henson and Frank Oz in their respective roles as Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, and Grover", stating that Jim Henson was busy with many projects in the '80s and Frank Oz had a seperate movie career.

But as far as I know they didn't have understudies back then. The way it's worded, it almost sounds like it was talking about finding semi-replacement performers, though I figure it probably meant needing to recruit more performers to perform new chacters. I guess it's possible there were times in the late-1980s when Henson and Oz's characters were performed by others while they pre-recorded or dubbed the voices seperately. Or maybe it meant that this happened in the mid-1990s and they mistakenly wrote "'80s".
 
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