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Just out of the blue, somebody from Sesame Workshop sent me official internal memos and documents regarding planning on the Sesame Street Old School releases, both those that have been released and those that have not (at least not yet). I've been told I'm getting these as part of a special "poast-50th anniversary initiative" to give copies of special production documents and memos to worthy fans - anybody else get theirs yet? They didn't tell me exactly what kind of other documents would be given to other fans, they just say that whoever is given what can do and reveal whatever they want with them, and judging by my post they figured I'd appreciate this these documents the best.
Anyway, first up was a proposal, dated July 2004, for a Sesame Street DVD collection aimed at older audiences, with the suggested title "Sesame Street Nostalgia" A handful of potential ideas were suggested - including "First Five Episodes", "First Five Years", "First Five Season Premiers", and "The Best of Early Sesame Street", though they note that they're unsure when "early Sesame Street" ends. It notes "The Best of Early Sesame Street" to be a compilation of segments from the first 5-10 years, with a selection of segments suggested: "Rubber Duckie", "Pinball Number Count", "C is for Cookie", Sesame Street News segments (the only time these documents refer to Sesame Street News as that as opposed to "Kermit News"), Super Grover, Monsterpiece Theater, Wanda the Witch, The Alligator King, and guest appearances ("if we can clear the rights with them and their estates") by Johnny Cash, Lena Horne, Stevie Wonder, Bill Cosby, and James Earl Jones.
The next document, dated August 19, 2004, has them saying that they've decided to settle for either "First Five Years" or "First Five Episodes". It's agreed that five episodes would be included either way, and notes that a release of the first week would make it easier to settle on episodes, as with a "First Five Years" set there's hundreds of episodes to choose from ("and not many really notable ones, so the episode selection will feel random"). It's said that they're thinking about how to follow up on the "first five episodes", noting it would be unfeasible to release sets for every week, especially since they likely won't be able to clear everything and do not really know if every episode exists in their archives (interestingly, the fact that many segments were repeated over the years is not brought up). Bonus features are also suggested/proposed - the Sesame Street pitch tape, This Way to Sesame Street, and the test pilots (which they note they can't get all of on one release).
The next memo, dated September 11, still refers to it as "Sesame Street Nostalgia", and they are still leaning towards the first five episodes, while also acknowledging that so many of the same segments are in those episodes. It's mentioned that they'll more likely release their first volume of "Sesame Street Nostalgia" as a collection of the first five season premiers, with bonus clips and features. Suggested bonus features include the stuff suggested in the previous memo, but also suggests the specials Out to Lunch and Sesame Street at Night?, though also acknowledges that they might not have the rights to everything suggested (and that they might not exist in the vaults). It's also said that they've discussed this set with longtime cast and crew members ("including Bob McGrath, Sonia Manzano, Rosco Orman, Jerry Nelson, Caroll Spinney, and Frank Oz") for suggestions on bonus segments, some of the ones suggested include "Rubber Duckie", "C is for Cookie", "I Love Trash", The Alligator King, King of 8, Henson's number films, "the time Kermit interviewed Rapunzel" ("the Kermit News segment that was almost unanimously suggested"), Pinball Number Count, Grover's "near and far", "Sing", and "Born to Add". Obviously, the suggestions came without checking to make sure they were from the first five seasons. It's also said that there's talk of whether some things will be off-limits as bonus segment, though they also note that if they happen to be in the episodes included, they'll only be cut if there's legalities involved - first season Big Bird, orange Oscar, green Grover, Roosevelt Franklin, Don Music, Alistair Cookie eating a pipe, Buddy and Jim ("and similar duos"), and "the first two Gordon's". And it says that since these episodes don't have credits, they will include the credits crawl from each season.
The next memo, dated September 24, notes that they've decided to make the sets feature season premiers, with the option of calling it the "Sesame Street Nostalgia - Season Premiers Collection". They note that they don't know what the cut-off date will be, and suggest other themed ideas after they get to the cut-off date. This one lists bonus features agreed on - "Sesame Street Pitch Reel", "Test Pilot #1" (with "tentative" written beside it), interviews, behind the scenes footage, and photo gallery all written in. It also lists bonus segments. Rather than arranged by season, the segments are grouped by "Muppets", "The Cast", "Celebrity Guests", "Animation", and "Films". Judging by segment titles, it looks like they researched internal documents (I'm surprised they didn't list the season reference codes, though that explains some inaccuracies). Most of the bonus segments that made it are listed, as are some that didn't - including "Ma Nah Ma Nah", "Sing", "James Earl Jones: Alphabet" (which was replaced with "James Earl Jones: Count to 10"), Herry and John-John Count (which must have been replaced with "Lost Paper Clips"), The Count and Cookie Monster Co-Operate, Two Chin-Ups, Beginnings Song, Beat the Time: Grover, Bumble Ardy, Lost Boy Remembers, and "Dressing for the Cold". Notably, those last three would end up as easter eggs on volume 2.
It also lists segments that come from later seasons - Grover: Near and Far (unless they meant the first season version), The Count sings Eight Beautiful Notes, Pinball Number Count, Fireworks Alphabet, and Typewriter: N-Nose. And there are some things listed with "TBD" (to be determined) - "Roosevelt Franklin TBD", "Sherlock Hemlock TBD", "Harvey Kneeslapper TBD", "The People in Your Neighborhood TBD", "Twiddlebugs TBD", "Super Grover TBD", "Pinball Number Count TBD", "Johnny Cash TBD", and "Lena Horne TBD". Segments NOT listed here that ended up showing up on the release include "Alphabet Soup" (no "Fisher Boy", as it seems to be listed internally, listed either), "Listen, My Brother: Count with Me", "The Song of the Count", Martian Beauty, and "P is My Favorite Letter".
The next memo is dated December 2, 2004, and lists the set more accurately of what the final product will look like, listing segments by season. There's not much difference here, though the season 1 segments are listed in a drastically different order. Some segments listed that don't appear on the final product include "Kermit/Monster Same and Different Rectangles Bit", "Ernie and Cookie Monster Hope Bit", "Ma Nah Ma Nah" (with "pending clearance"), "The Count and Cookie Monster Co-Operate", and segments that would either replace segments in the episodes or be easter eggs on volume 2. The list of bonus features lists Sesame Street Pitch Reel, Test Pilot #1 (though it's crossed out), and a "sneak peek at 1974-1979", listing Pinball Number Count, Madelien Kahn: Sing After Me, and What's the Name of That Song.
And that's the last of the volume 1 documents. The next memo is dated November 30, 2006, stating that Sesame Workshop is pleased with the sales (it also notes Sony Wonder being pleased despite losing the Sesame license) and starts listing out possibilities for future sets, though it doesn't refer to any of them as "Volumes". It lists sets for 1974-1979, 1979-1984, 1984-1989, and 1989-1994, as well as sets for the Hawaii episodes, the Puerto Rico episodes, and some of the most fondly-remembered episodes. This one notes that they've done some research on Muppet Wiki, and note that they might have to not do a set for the 1979-1984 premiers due to the fact that some were the start of multi-part episodes (but as we know they did end up releasing a set like that).
They even printed out files listing bonus segments for the seasons 6-25 sets back in 2006. Their listing for volume 2 is pretty close to what we got, with a handful of segments not listed (The Pointers Sisters: Swinging Alphabet, Don Music: Yankee Doodle, "Follow the Leader", and "Bert Teaches Pigeon Checkers") and a handful of segments listed that we did not get (I Can't Help It, Kermit News: Pinocchio, Kermit News: George Washington, Eight Beautiful Notes, and Grover Echoes 1-10). Pretty much all of these (I can't remember if it's the case with Eight Beautiful Notes) were part of the Sesame Street web video player when it launched a few weeks after Volume 2 came out.
The others are more amazing. The majority of proposed bonus segments listed for the 1979-1984 set either ended up on the set, would be included in 40 Years of Sunny Days, or would come to sesamestreet.org by 2011, so I guess they might have been working on clearances and stuff and put them out there (before finally releasing the set), but also has some curiosities not included in any of these, including some rarities that even the wiki didn't know about back then (some are still lacking images on the wiki even!). And the other sets make me wonder if those will be included if we ever get those two....
Oh, I was going to list what was on the 1979-1994 proposals, but this has gone on long enough, and I'm just plain ready to say...
APRIL FOOLS!
Maybe I'll list what I was going to list on those later.
Anyway, first up was a proposal, dated July 2004, for a Sesame Street DVD collection aimed at older audiences, with the suggested title "Sesame Street Nostalgia" A handful of potential ideas were suggested - including "First Five Episodes", "First Five Years", "First Five Season Premiers", and "The Best of Early Sesame Street", though they note that they're unsure when "early Sesame Street" ends. It notes "The Best of Early Sesame Street" to be a compilation of segments from the first 5-10 years, with a selection of segments suggested: "Rubber Duckie", "Pinball Number Count", "C is for Cookie", Sesame Street News segments (the only time these documents refer to Sesame Street News as that as opposed to "Kermit News"), Super Grover, Monsterpiece Theater, Wanda the Witch, The Alligator King, and guest appearances ("if we can clear the rights with them and their estates") by Johnny Cash, Lena Horne, Stevie Wonder, Bill Cosby, and James Earl Jones.
The next document, dated August 19, 2004, has them saying that they've decided to settle for either "First Five Years" or "First Five Episodes". It's agreed that five episodes would be included either way, and notes that a release of the first week would make it easier to settle on episodes, as with a "First Five Years" set there's hundreds of episodes to choose from ("and not many really notable ones, so the episode selection will feel random"). It's said that they're thinking about how to follow up on the "first five episodes", noting it would be unfeasible to release sets for every week, especially since they likely won't be able to clear everything and do not really know if every episode exists in their archives (interestingly, the fact that many segments were repeated over the years is not brought up). Bonus features are also suggested/proposed - the Sesame Street pitch tape, This Way to Sesame Street, and the test pilots (which they note they can't get all of on one release).
The next memo, dated September 11, still refers to it as "Sesame Street Nostalgia", and they are still leaning towards the first five episodes, while also acknowledging that so many of the same segments are in those episodes. It's mentioned that they'll more likely release their first volume of "Sesame Street Nostalgia" as a collection of the first five season premiers, with bonus clips and features. Suggested bonus features include the stuff suggested in the previous memo, but also suggests the specials Out to Lunch and Sesame Street at Night?, though also acknowledges that they might not have the rights to everything suggested (and that they might not exist in the vaults). It's also said that they've discussed this set with longtime cast and crew members ("including Bob McGrath, Sonia Manzano, Rosco Orman, Jerry Nelson, Caroll Spinney, and Frank Oz") for suggestions on bonus segments, some of the ones suggested include "Rubber Duckie", "C is for Cookie", "I Love Trash", The Alligator King, King of 8, Henson's number films, "the time Kermit interviewed Rapunzel" ("the Kermit News segment that was almost unanimously suggested"), Pinball Number Count, Grover's "near and far", "Sing", and "Born to Add". Obviously, the suggestions came without checking to make sure they were from the first five seasons. It's also said that there's talk of whether some things will be off-limits as bonus segment, though they also note that if they happen to be in the episodes included, they'll only be cut if there's legalities involved - first season Big Bird, orange Oscar, green Grover, Roosevelt Franklin, Don Music, Alistair Cookie eating a pipe, Buddy and Jim ("and similar duos"), and "the first two Gordon's". And it says that since these episodes don't have credits, they will include the credits crawl from each season.
The next memo, dated September 24, notes that they've decided to make the sets feature season premiers, with the option of calling it the "Sesame Street Nostalgia - Season Premiers Collection". They note that they don't know what the cut-off date will be, and suggest other themed ideas after they get to the cut-off date. This one lists bonus features agreed on - "Sesame Street Pitch Reel", "Test Pilot #1" (with "tentative" written beside it), interviews, behind the scenes footage, and photo gallery all written in. It also lists bonus segments. Rather than arranged by season, the segments are grouped by "Muppets", "The Cast", "Celebrity Guests", "Animation", and "Films". Judging by segment titles, it looks like they researched internal documents (I'm surprised they didn't list the season reference codes, though that explains some inaccuracies). Most of the bonus segments that made it are listed, as are some that didn't - including "Ma Nah Ma Nah", "Sing", "James Earl Jones: Alphabet" (which was replaced with "James Earl Jones: Count to 10"), Herry and John-John Count (which must have been replaced with "Lost Paper Clips"), The Count and Cookie Monster Co-Operate, Two Chin-Ups, Beginnings Song, Beat the Time: Grover, Bumble Ardy, Lost Boy Remembers, and "Dressing for the Cold". Notably, those last three would end up as easter eggs on volume 2.
It also lists segments that come from later seasons - Grover: Near and Far (unless they meant the first season version), The Count sings Eight Beautiful Notes, Pinball Number Count, Fireworks Alphabet, and Typewriter: N-Nose. And there are some things listed with "TBD" (to be determined) - "Roosevelt Franklin TBD", "Sherlock Hemlock TBD", "Harvey Kneeslapper TBD", "The People in Your Neighborhood TBD", "Twiddlebugs TBD", "Super Grover TBD", "Pinball Number Count TBD", "Johnny Cash TBD", and "Lena Horne TBD". Segments NOT listed here that ended up showing up on the release include "Alphabet Soup" (no "Fisher Boy", as it seems to be listed internally, listed either), "Listen, My Brother: Count with Me", "The Song of the Count", Martian Beauty, and "P is My Favorite Letter".
The next memo is dated December 2, 2004, and lists the set more accurately of what the final product will look like, listing segments by season. There's not much difference here, though the season 1 segments are listed in a drastically different order. Some segments listed that don't appear on the final product include "Kermit/Monster Same and Different Rectangles Bit", "Ernie and Cookie Monster Hope Bit", "Ma Nah Ma Nah" (with "pending clearance"), "The Count and Cookie Monster Co-Operate", and segments that would either replace segments in the episodes or be easter eggs on volume 2. The list of bonus features lists Sesame Street Pitch Reel, Test Pilot #1 (though it's crossed out), and a "sneak peek at 1974-1979", listing Pinball Number Count, Madelien Kahn: Sing After Me, and What's the Name of That Song.
And that's the last of the volume 1 documents. The next memo is dated November 30, 2006, stating that Sesame Workshop is pleased with the sales (it also notes Sony Wonder being pleased despite losing the Sesame license) and starts listing out possibilities for future sets, though it doesn't refer to any of them as "Volumes". It lists sets for 1974-1979, 1979-1984, 1984-1989, and 1989-1994, as well as sets for the Hawaii episodes, the Puerto Rico episodes, and some of the most fondly-remembered episodes. This one notes that they've done some research on Muppet Wiki, and note that they might have to not do a set for the 1979-1984 premiers due to the fact that some were the start of multi-part episodes (but as we know they did end up releasing a set like that).
They even printed out files listing bonus segments for the seasons 6-25 sets back in 2006. Their listing for volume 2 is pretty close to what we got, with a handful of segments not listed (The Pointers Sisters: Swinging Alphabet, Don Music: Yankee Doodle, "Follow the Leader", and "Bert Teaches Pigeon Checkers") and a handful of segments listed that we did not get (I Can't Help It, Kermit News: Pinocchio, Kermit News: George Washington, Eight Beautiful Notes, and Grover Echoes 1-10). Pretty much all of these (I can't remember if it's the case with Eight Beautiful Notes) were part of the Sesame Street web video player when it launched a few weeks after Volume 2 came out.
The others are more amazing. The majority of proposed bonus segments listed for the 1979-1984 set either ended up on the set, would be included in 40 Years of Sunny Days, or would come to sesamestreet.org by 2011, so I guess they might have been working on clearances and stuff and put them out there (before finally releasing the set), but also has some curiosities not included in any of these, including some rarities that even the wiki didn't know about back then (some are still lacking images on the wiki even!). And the other sets make me wonder if those will be included if we ever get those two....
Oh, I was going to list what was on the 1979-1994 proposals, but this has gone on long enough, and I'm just plain ready to say...
APRIL FOOLS!
Maybe I'll list what I was going to list on those later.