Favorite Sesame Specials

[Boober_Gorg]

My favorite is the special they did for the show's 10th anniversary.

The special was hosted by an African-American fella who walked the street as normal activity went on in the background. I think he said something about him being the original Gordon, but he did not look like Matt Robinson. (he also showed an alphabet segment that he did "without the cue cards")

The part I remember best was with the alphabet. It began with the familiar Fat Blue at Charlie's restaurant asking for a bowl of alphab.. er HOT alphabet soup. When Grover delivers the soup and FB starts reciting the ABCs to verify the integrity of the soup itself, they went through the alphabet with a letter from a different alphabet segment in the show's history. Included was:

-- The split-screen routine with Bill Cosby
-- The Fonz from Happy Days! I think he was in the Cunningham's living room at the time, and I believe Richie was next to him there. Fonzie appeared in a number of other segments in those days.
-- A kid holding Snuffy's snuffle while both are near or next to Big Bird's nest. They were on the letter J if I remember correctly, and they both recited the letter.

After the letter Y, they're back to Charlie's restaurant at the point where FB says the Y is missing when he really means the Z. The film then cut to a live old-west scene (the Gunsmoke set?) where a cowboy character is galloping on a horse toward the camera. The man then jumps off the horse, walks a few paces, then just utters "Z" as a letter appears onscreen. (does anyone remember the rest of that? Was he doing a blacksmith routine for the other letters?)

You're thinking of A Walking Tour of Sesame Street with James Earl Jones. It's a bit short, but it's a nice overview of the street as it was back then. I actually have this special, believe it or not.

 

[jeffkjoe]

You're thinking of A Walking Tour of Sesame Street with James Earl Jones. It's a bit short, but it's a nice overview of the street as it was back then. I actually have this special, believe it or not.

Boober Gorg,

Are you familiar with another obscure special called:

Sesame Street at Night? (with the question mark at the end, which signifies that it was weird to see Sesame Street in prime time) that aired in 1976

and featured Gene Shalit of the Today Show,

who also showed the same alphabet soup clip with Grover and Fat Blue in Charlie's Restaurant, and remarked that the letters that Fat Blue stopped on were "J", "O", "Z", which spelled JOZ, or JAWS, the hit blockbuster of 'that year'.

 

[minor muppetz]

Are you familiar with another obscure special called:

Sesame Street at Night? (with the question mark at the end, which signifies that it was weird to see Sesame Street in prime time) that aired in 1976

I've never heartd of that special. I'd be surprised if a lot of people here have.

Of course, I spent a long time thinking that Julie On Sesame Street and Christmas Eve on Sesame Street were the only Sesame Street specials from the 1970's. I guess part of that is that Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is the only special from the '70s to be available on video and DVD, another part of that is because there weren't very many Sesame Street specials mentioned in Jim Henson: The Works (and most mentions of specials were in the timeline section, and there were other specials from after the '70s that weren't listed, like Big Bird In japan and Big Bird's Birthday or Let me Eat Cake). I eventually learned about more specials. I learned of A Special Sesame Street Christmas when I read an article about it at Tough Pigs, I learned about A Walking Tour of Sesame Street with James Earl Jones when reading Boober Gorg's site, I learned of two SS/ Electric Company crossover specials, Out To Lunch and The grover monster/ jean marsh cartoon special, when reading a thread that talked about these specials (the person who posted that thread said that he/ she read about them in a book about television), and now I know of this special.

I wonder if there are any more Sesame Street specials from the '70s (if only Sesame Street Unpaved mentioned the various Sesame Street specials....).

 

[Kimp the Shrimp]

PLEASE DON'T EAT THE PICTURES: Seasame Street goes the the NY Metropolitan Art Museum

 

[MuppetDude]

MuppetDude has it.

Yep, and it's one of the best specials out there; plenty of montages spanning from the past 30 years; no year (or decade) is emphasized more than the others. It's even got a few seconds of "behind the scenes" work (a few shots before they started taping).

 

[BooberFraggless]

Another special I really love that I watch every year, isn't just a Sesame Street special, but all the SS gang is there. It's called A Muppet Family Christmas and it takes place at Fozzie Bear's mother's house out in the Country. Doc and Sprocket from Fraggle Rock are there, and there are some hilarous unforgettable moments in this special. For those of you who haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you. Go out and rent or buy it this holiday season. It's something you'll want to watch again and again.

 

[BEAR]

Another special I really love that I watch every year, isn't just a Sesame Street special, but all the SS gang is there. It's called A Muppet Family Christmas and it takes place at Fozzie Bear's mother's house out in the Country. Doc and Sprocket from Fraggle Rock are there, and there are some hilarous unforgettable moments in this special. For those of you who haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you. Go out and rent or buy it this holiday season. It's something you'll want to watch again and again.

Yeah, that's a good one. It's nice to see them all together like that. One of the greatest scenes is Kermit and Robin down in the Fraggle cave and meet the Fraggle 5!

 

[BooberFraggless]

I like when The Chef attempts to cook Big Bird, and Big Bird brings him a present Chocolate covered Birdseed that he made himself. He gave it to him because he knew The Chef was from Sweeden, and knew how hard it must have been to be away from his family on Christmas. The two of them sang "Chesnuts roasting on an open fire" together and the Chef cried because he felt so bad about wanting to hurt Big Bird before. It's probably the most beautiful moment in Muppet History.

 

[BEAR]

I like when The Chef attempts to cook Big Bird, and Big Bird brings him a present Chocolate covered Birdseed that he made himself. He gave it to him because he knew The Chef was from Sweeden, and knew how hard it must have been to be away from his family on Christmas. The two of them sang "Chesnuts roasting on an open fire" together and the Chef cried because he felt so bad about wanting to hurt Big Bird before. It's probably the most beautiful moment in Muppet History.

Yes, and the way Chef sings the song is also very comical.

 

[BooberFraggless]

Yeah, he sounds like he's drunk or something. Mabye he was, but they cut out the part with him drinking. LOL. Just Kidding.