Getting episodes directly from Sesame Workshop

[Drtooth]

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.

Exactly. Or SW could be total tools and just say "you're over the age of our demographic, and unless you have kids, we don't need to acknowledge you." And also pull down everything ever posted on YT by fans with old tapes. Sure, I'm disappointed they took down all the full episodes posted at one point, but then again some of them were ones they released legally for sale and they need money. They didn't need to release any of it period. We've got a nice amount of classic episodes. Sure, it's not nearly as much stuff as we'd like, but the fact we got it at all is amazing. The fact they allow small clips of the show on Youtube is also amazing. We managed to get 7 Little Monsters and Crack Master out of the blue.

I have no doubt that, had they the manpower, the money, and the time, they'd release all that they could. It's not "selfishly sitting" on anything. It's being understaffed and underbudget to create such an unprecedented archive available for download/DVD/whatever. I couldn't even begin to imagine how many hands they'd need for that. Sure, I agree it would be great for them to release more episodes on a regular basis to Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon. But I doubt we'd see any semblance of all 4000+ episodes and every skit on demand.

But acting like this is a huge injustice is overreaction. You know how many entertainment companies would gladly shove everything that isn't at the moment or hyper popular under the rug? How many old cartoons get unfinished box sets, and a force of lawyers trolling Youtube for uploads of something they refuse to profit from? We lucked out.

 

[minor muppetz]

I should point out that Sesame Workshop is not the only company to (usually) not give/sell individual episodes to fans. This is the standard for pretty much all production companies.

I remember a long time ago, the FAQ for Henson.com had a question about buying individual episodes from the company, and they said that it is policy not to. At the time, I was confused, because I knew that some episodes were available on video (I didn't realize it was asking for the company to sell episodes as opposed to whether episodes were in stores), and at the time I saw this, I mistakenly saw it as the company acknowledging that people wanted episodes but they were refusing to sell them.

But sometimes fans get episodes in mysterious ways. There are some early episodes that fans somehow have copies of (like episode 179, available as a black and white copy), and I don't know how fans got copies of the first episode (and uncut at that) before Noggin and the Old School sets. There have been interns who managed to get things online (like one intern who managed to copy master copies for all of the Jazz Numbers segments). One intern recently made a two-hour tape of content from the archives and sent it to the author of the Sesame Street Lyrics Archive site (though not many rarities were included, it did include many segments with the post-roll clapboard included). And there are fans who have things (like that one fan who got the first 14 episodes) from sources they are not allowed to say. And I've read that after Danny DeVito guest starred, he asked for video copies of episodes for his daughter to watch when they traveled somewhere that didn't have Sesame Street... and after watching them all asked for more.

Hmm, being an intern might be a good way to try to see all of the episodes. Or an archivist. I wonder what those jobs pay or how one would get those jobs.

 

[Drtooth]

Hmm, being an intern might be a good way to try to see all of the episodes. Or an archivist. I wonder what those jobs pay or how one would get those jobs.

I'd see them hiring unpaid interns. Budget, again. It would be great for them to call for volunteers to help them sift through episodes, but can they really trust people like that to not copy and steal things from them? So that's also a double edged sword.

Honestly, I don't think any company would give fans individual releases like that. Not even if they paid them. If SW were to do such a thing, I'm sure the price for a couple episodes would be monumental. After all, it's hard work to sift through all that footage. And that doesn't even count whatever royaltees they'd have to apply.

That said, they did give us a crapload of stuff from Sesame Street and a lesser amount but still respectable from Electric Company. There has been virtually no 3-2-1 Contact or Square One stuff available from SW. You can find episodes fans uploaded, but if there's anything they're sitting on, it's those shows.

 

[charlietheowl]

IHonestly, I don't think any company would give fans individual releases like that. Not even if they paid them. If SW were to do such a thing, I'm sure the price for a couple episodes would be monumental. After all, it's hard work to sift through all that footage. And that doesn't even count whatever royaltees they'd have to apply.

I think the production company that makes The Price Is Right (Fremantle?) will make a DVD copy of an episode for you, but it's quite expensive, like $75.00 or something. But there's a market for that, albeit a small one; people who appear on the show want a permanent copy of it. Aside from that, I can't think of another example.

 

[minor muppetz]

I think the production company that makes The Price Is Right (Fremantle?) will make a DVD copy of an episode for you, but it's quite expensive, like $75.00 or something. But there's a market for that, albeit a small one; people who appear on the show want a permanent copy of it. Aside from that, I can't think of another example.

I never thought about that, but it makes sense. But thinking about that, it would make sense for contestants on other game shows to want copies of their appearances.

And I wonder if they only sell copies to the people who appear in those episodes, or if they would sell episodes from eras that Bob Barker refused to let reair (episodes where fur coats were offered as prizes, and I think there was one model on the show that Barker refused to allow appearances by to reair).

Maybe this should go to another thread, but I wonder how common it is for people to be given copies of shows they appeared in. I've read that Lucille Ball asked for kinescope copies of every television appearance she made. And it seems like The Jim Henson Company Archives has copies of many television appearances made by the Muppets (though not everything... Obviously there's shows/appearances that weren't saved, and Karen Falk is unsure how the Muppets were worked into an appearance on That's Life, and Craig Shemin has said that the archives don't have a copy of the Muppets appearance on Parkinson but Shemin does).

 

[fuzzygobo]

We've still come a long way in 15 years with official releases, YouTube postings, and any other legitimate outlet. It still might only be a fraction of Sesame's output, but we've got a good representation of every era of the show's history. I'm grateful enough for that.

It would be wonderful to purchase certain clips (whole episodes are nice, but it's really some individual segments I'm clamoring for). But after paying for labor, applicable royalties, production costs, overhead, blah blah blah, it would either be ridiculously expensive or there would need to be a big enough market (bigger than the demands of only hardcore fans) before SW would entertain such a notion. I don't mind putting a few pennies back in their coffers. But how many others would be willing to pay for more, when there's so much on YouTube to watch for free?

 

[Drtooth]

I think the production company that makes The Price Is Right (Fremantle?) will make a DVD copy of an episode for you, but it's quite expensive, like $75.00 or something. But there's a market for that, albeit a small one; people who appear on the show want a permanent copy of it. Aside from that, I can't think of another example.

You know, I remember when I used to frequent a M.U.S.C.L.E./retro toy collecting forum, the site owner was trying to put on an 80's Toy collecting convention with emphasis on M.U.S.C.L.E., and somehow he was able to broker a deal with 4Kids to lend him some copies of the upcoming, yet unaired season of Ultimate Muscle (the one made for the US audience). The convention fell through, and I think they let him keep the tapes or something.

But yeah. 75 bucks per episode. If Sesame Street had that deal, I don't think anyone here would bother unless they had a crapload of disposable income and an intense loyalty to the Sesame Street fan community. Even then, it would be, like, one episode. And I'm sure SW would track them down for uploading it. Even if they didn't, we're talking about forty thou to get a complete collection.

 

[minor muppetz]

Today I've been thinking something: What if Sesame Workshop decided to give a handful of episodes (if not just one) to each fan for free? We could pick any episodes we want, but can't ask for too many. What episodes would the fans ask for?

If I was given such an opportunity to have an episode directly from Sesame Workshop, I don't know if I'd rather have one that Muppet Wiki has some info on or one that Muppet Wiki has no info on. There are some episodes where I'm intrigued about the ending, especially in seasons 2 and 3. Maybe I'd pick one of those, or check and see what rare segments have still been uncovered and check Muppet Wiki for the episodes with those segments (if Muppet Wiki has the info). Or maybe just choose any episodes from seasons 1, 2, 3, 11, or 12 that don't have complete guides at Muppet Wiki. Or maybe choose the season 16 premiere, or the Wicked Witch episode.

Of course, that's assuming that, if Sesame Workshop did offer to give a small amount of free early episodes to fans, Sesame Workshop wouldn't actually give us a big document compiling every segment in every episode (that would be just as good as obtaining a free episode or two).

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

@minor muppetz How many episodes would you consider to be a handful?

 

[minor muppetz]

@minor muppetz How many episodes would you consider to be a handful?

I was speaking theoretically, but I guess 3-5 episodes would be a handful.