Are there Season 1 shows floating around?

[minor muppetz]

I guess there's just one more of these episodes to get the full guide treatment at Muppet Wiki (somebody on the MW forum said that they didn't actually get episode 12).

Looking at the guides, it seems odd that Jennie doesn't appear more (even though I was aware that the first episode is the only one that aired on Noggin and was released on iTunes, though in total that's just 8 out of 130 season one episodes we had "full" access to, full in quotes because of Noggin edits). I would have expected her to appear more in the first few weeks at least, but as far as I remember she's only in three or four of the first season episodes with full segment rundowns.

I had been wondering how long they did the practice of, in episodes with end credits, announcing the sponsors one at a time and then showing a segment. Looks like they stopped at episode 10. I don't blame them for dropping that so soon, as it probably is time consuming/redundant. Though it does seem odd that they didn't do that with the usual non-credits episodes.

Saw info on some Ernie and Bert segments I don't remember knowing about (don't even remember seeing them listed in the first season show content guide, though I assume they are).

So Guy Smiley's first appearance was in a non-game show context? How about that. I hope that the Brand X segment pops up on YouTube soon.

Seeing that segment with Gordon putting a nose on an Anything Muppet about to sneeze, it's a wonder he didn't sneeze his nose off like Bert did.

 

[zns]

What a treat finding all these rare gems. Hopefully we'll see some more rare episodes from other season between the 70's and 80's.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Three segments from show 5:

I think it's hysterical. When Loretta Long auditioned for Susan, the producers were expecting a Judy Collins/Singing Nun-type host. Loretta didn't think she could fit the bill, but blew them away with a rousing rendition of "I'm A Little Teapot", and the gig was hers.

But it's rare to get individual guitar strings anymore. Most stores only sell them in sets of six.

 

[hooperfan]

Here's a real goodie!

 

[Drtooth]

I can't believe they had that same problem twice. Time to switch to cable.

 

[fuzzygobo]

In so many of these Season One skits with Ernie, you can see quite a bit of Jim's arm. Next season onward, he seemed to take more care keeping his arm out of shot.

 

[minor muppetz]

Here's Guy Smiley's first appearance...

It's interesting. I think Caroll Spinney performs Guy in this one. It barely sounds like any Spinney voice I know of, but at times in the sketch he sort of talks like the farmer Caroll performed in The Magic Apple segment. The voice kind of has a cartoony quality to it. The performance also doesn't seem as stiff or awkward as some of the Anything Muppets Caroll Spinney performed. Assuming that it's Caroll, I wonder if this is the only solo Anything Muppet sketch he performed in.

The Brand X sketch is funny (for years I've desired to do a sketch comedy "commercial" that ends with the spokesman saying "do not buy this product", I think this is the first time I've seen a "commercial" with a line like that), but it seems more like entertainment than educational. It barely teaches the letter X, with the letter only being part of the brand name. It would have been great if the stains were shaped like the letter X. The first season show content lists episode 10 as the only episode from the first season to include it, though the document doesn't have a "dump" note by it so it might have aired in later seasons.

It's interesting how in the first season they seemed to avoid giving recurring minor characters names, or consistent names. Various monsters and Anything Muppets are seen a lot but are rarely mentioned by name, even if they star in the sketches. There are times when Cookie Monster, Beautiful Day Monster, or Grover interact with Ernie or Kermit or somebody, and yet they tend to avoid mentioning the names (though Beautiful Day Monster was referred to by a number of different names in various segments). There's at least three different segments where Betty Lou is referred to by a different name (she's Helen Happy in one segment, Lucy Jones in another, and she's called Betty Lou in The Mr. and Mrs. Game). And then Guy Smiley goes from being an unnamed spokesman (I assume the script didn't refer to him by any sort of proper name) to being called Sonny Friendly and then finally he's called Guy Smiley, all in the first season.

 

[Drtooth]

That sketch is a strange inclusion that shows how experimental the series was at this point. It feels like a less manic version of something that would have appeared on a variety show. It's funny sure, but somehow the skit feels like it needed something to push it over the edge. certainly, if they did this skit again with a more established Guy Smiley, even just his boisterous performance would have given it more. It's a cute, funny bit, but somehow it managed to reinforce how they didn't really have much of a voice yet and were looking for one.

Clearly, the A television when remade into the H television skit, we had characters more developed. Switching the characters who were at this point more defined made all the difference. Ernie liking how the television is stuck on "B" is a little weird, but Bert loving the television stuck on "I" is perfectly in character.

 

[cjd874]

Seeing all these early skits confirms for me the idea, as stated by Joan Ganz Cooney and many others, that Sesame Street was inspired by Laugh-In in its earliest stages. Couldn't you see the Brand X commercial being done on Laugh-In? Or a wacky bit like "Ernie and the egg" or "The A TV"? Even as it progressed into the 1970s and 1980s, it still had those traces of Laugh-In…and then to top it off, Ruth Buzzi (a former Laugh-In cast member) joined the cast 25 years later!

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

Seeing all these early skits confirms for me the idea, as stated by Joan Ganz Cooney and many others, that Sesame Street was inspired by Laugh-In in its earliest stages. Couldn't you see the Brand X commercial being done on Laugh-In? Or a wacky bit like "Ernie and the egg" or "The A TV"? Even as it progressed into the 1970s and 1980s, it still had those traces of Laugh-In…and then to top it off, Ruth Buzzi (a former Laugh-In cast member) joined the cast 25 years later!

Oh yes, for sure!