Getting episodes directly from Sesame Workshop

[ssetta]

It is well known that Sesame Workshop does NOT send out copies of episodes. However, I do know of some people that have managed to get some anyways, such as episodes 2-14. But I wanna say I really do not think it's fair that there's this massive library of episodes and they won't let anyone see them. It's almost like they're hoarders and it just seems very selfish. I think we should be able to see these old episodes, so I have a plan. I think some of us should try to go down to that workshop and raise ****. I do not feel like we should have to stand for this. I demand justice, and I really hope everyone here is with me. What do you say to all this?

 

[minor muppetz]

But I wanna say I really do not think it's fair that there's this massive library of episodes and they won't let anyone see them. It's almost like they're hoarders and it just seems very selfish.

I don't think of it as hoarding. But recently, I started thinking about how a lot of production companies keep their master tapes for shows that they don't even put out there for the public to see, particular long-running shows like Sesame Street where a large portion of the episodes haven't been officially released in years. Even though many episodes are not available to see, we should be thankful that they kept all their copies of such long-running old shows like Sesame Street, Mister Rogers Neighborhood, Today, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show (even if most of the '50s and '60s shows were wiped), and other things that we may never see every episode of.

 

[D'Snowth]

Even if they were released to the public, it would be darn near impossible to watch every single episode, considering there were already roughly 3,000+ episodes by the time the old school era had come to a close, and considering each episode is an hour, it would take several months to watch them all - that is assuming you watch them continuously, non-stop.

Besides, they supposedly have to hire people just to maintain their massive archive, so even if they were to release all of their old master tapes to the public in some capacity, that'd be an incredible hassle to have to go through.

That said, I do hope that at least all of those old master tapes are being preserved well: THE GREAT SPACE COASTER was also shot on tape in the 80s, and Jim Martin is trying to digitally transfer as many episodes as he can, as those master tapes are starting to deteriorate.

 

[ssetta]

I think it's great that the library is being preserved, but what good does that do if much of it is never gonna be seen again? And maybe they can't send out 3,000+ episodes but like suppose there was just one episode you really wanted to see. What's the problem with getting a copy of just ONE episode?

 

[Drtooth]

Or they could have just went the cheap British TV route and junked all the tapes to reuse them. I'm thankful they even have an archive. And frankly it is going to be mountainous with the amount of footage they have. Sure, it would be great if SW could put every episode ever for availability, but they are by no means obligated to do any of what they've been doing (releasing DVD's, single episodes to paid download/streaming sites). The fact they even acknowledge there's a fanbase with money over their intended demographic is a miracle in and of itself that I'm very thankful for.

It would be great if somehow they could find a way to release everything ever, including the Wicked Witch and the Snuffy's Parents get Divorced episodes, but that would require more money and resources than they have on themselves. Even SNL doesn't have everything from every episode from every year on their site, and they're part of a big for profit company. They also have much less episodes, and 5 less years under their belt. And yes, much like SW, the newer stuff is the easiest to archive since it's the most accessible.

We have around 4000 hours of footage, give or take original vs reused, repackaged footage. I'd say we should be thankful they just don't junk anything prior to 1989, since they don't even need to do so. But they do, and they know the historical pop culture value of all of it, even though they can't get all of it out there.

 

[minor muppetz]

That said, I do hope that at least all of those old master tapes are being preserved well: THE GREAT SPACE COASTER was also shot on tape in the 80s, and Jim Martin is trying to digitally transfer as many episodes as he can, as those master tapes are starting to deteriorate.

There was an article from 1999 where it was said that every few years they made new copies of every episode because they don't know what video formats will last, and in 1999 they made digital copies so they wouldn't have to do it again.

In that article, it mentioned that in addition to converting all the episodes to digital files, they also made digital copies of about 30 tapes which contained the many inserts from the show. Which makes archiving every episode great, because they could have just kept their master tapes of inserts and got rid of the full episodes.

Although I don't live anywhere where I can make regular trips (and have never been to the states where it is), it would be great if Sesame Workshop would donate copies of more rare episodes to the Paley Center of Media. I'm not sure if the Workshop actually supplied any of the episodes, but the museum does have a few episodes from the 1970s that are otherwise rare.

 

[Oscarfan]

It is well known that Sesame Workshop does NOT send out copies of episodes. However, I do know of some people that have managed to get some anyways, such as episodes 2-14. But I wanna say I really do not think it's fair that there's this massive library of episodes and they won't let anyone see them. It's almost like they're hoarders and it just seems very selfish. I think we should be able to see these old episodes, so I have a plan. I think some of us should try to go down to that workshop and raise ****. I do not feel like we should have to stand for this. I demand justice, and I really hope everyone here is with me. What do you say to all this?

That is such a Comic Book Guy mentality. Why do you think they owe us anything to that degree? SW has been VERY generous with classic stuff and you're just being selfish. They're modern webstie has hundreds of classic material playing when they're pushing the new stuff. They put classic bits occasionally on new DVDs. There's digital downloads, YouTube, etc. Just because it's not coming in the capacity you would like doesn't mean we should throw a fit.

When I had lunch with a couple of folks from SW, this is exactly the kind of thing I said to them about certain types of fans. If something rare or neat is posted, they don't thank anyone, they just ask for more rare stuff. It's completely ungrateful.

 

[mr3urious]

SW has been great with acknowledging their older fans and giving them what they want, a far cry from the days before YouTube and even the Internet itself where all we had to go on were dusty VHS tapes for a classic skit or two or a fuzzy quality copy of an old recorded episode from the tape-trading circuit. Sure, I'd love to see some unaired stuff like the aforementioned Wicked Witch and divorce episodes, but I'm satisfied overall by what the company has been doing for us.

 

[minor muppetz]

SW has been great with acknowledging their older fans and giving them what they want, a far cry from the days before YouTube and even the Internet itself where all we had to go on were dusty VHS tapes for a classic skit or two or a fuzzy quality copy of an old recorded episode from the tape-trading circuit.

Wait, was tape trading common in the days before the internet (or the days before practically everybody had the internet)? You'd have to know if somebody had something you wanted, and I don't think that kind of thing would be advertised in newspapers.

 

[Boober_Gorg]

When I had lunch with a couple of folks from SW, this is exactly the kind of thing I said to them about certain types of fans. If something rare or neat is posted, they don't thank anyone, they just ask for more rare stuff. It's completely ungrateful.

This is something I have experienced first hand (as sawing14s on YouTube), so I can certainly relate. I see the issue from both sides - the fans (like myself) and SW.