Is the time right for a Best of Abby DVD?

[Drtooth]

Funny thing is, they're making a "Best of Elmo 2" DVD. And it's barely 27 minutes long, according to the run time.

 

[minor muppetz]

Funny thing is, they're making a "Best of Elmo 2" DVD. And it's barely 27 minutes long, according to the run time.

That's odd... It's been awhile since there were any new Sesame Street releases that lasted under 30 minutes. But at least we'll be getting our first new Sesame Street DVD with new linking footage after all these months. But it looks like it'll be more of a "Best of Elmo & Celebrities" release... Some of which don't even star Elmo. Destiny Child's "A New Way to Walk" and Feist's "1234" were just released on the 40th anniversary set, and Elmo was pretty much just part of the chorus in those (more so in 1234).

I hope that it includes some of Elmo's early appearances from the late 1980s (mainly one of his appearances with Kermit, and maybe his appearance on Beat the Time).

But props to including "Song About Elmo" with Adam Sandler.

Man, that "memory robot" plotline would have worked great for a general Sesame Street anniversary special.

 

[Drtooth]

I betcha "Memory Bot" is just the reused Rico puppet. Man, they really want to get mileage out of that thing. Not that I'd normally care about a Besy of Elmo release on any level (but it reminds me of how there's 2 Best of Will Ferrel SNL DVD's, and yet John Belushi and Dan Akroyd only got 1) But it really seems like another excuse to release celebrity content. There isn't a shortage of Elmo material (unfortunately for that) and there could have been at least 45 minutes of Elmo segments, the last 15 being seperate from the main segment.

I really hope everything here was all SW's idea. I'm still not all that thrilled with WB's handling of the license.

 

[minor muppetz]

I betcha "Memory Bot" is just the reused Rico puppet. Man, they really want to get mileage out of that thing. Not that I'd normally care about a Besy of Elmo release on any level (but it reminds me of how there's 2 Best of Will Ferrel SNL DVD's, and yet John Belushi and Dan Akroyd only got 1) But it really seems like another excuse to release celebrity content. There isn't a shortage of Elmo material (unfortunately for that) and there could have been at least 45 minutes of Elmo segments, the last 15 being seperate from the main segment.

It would also be great if this were to include some bonus Elmo segments outside of the main program (or maybe even Elmo's World: Frogs). And you know, the "best of" Kermit and Grover releases both had clip montages... I wonder if this will have any clip montages from Elmo's World segments (I don't think we'd need a full segment included in this kind of release, but it should be represented here).

At least the list of celebrities clues us in as to what's included. Maybe I should watch all those clips at sesamestreet.org (or youtube if any aren't at sesamestreet.org yet) and see how much time that all takes up.

I've only wathced the Jason Mraz "Outdoors" clip once and can't remember if Elmo does anythign notable there... But it seems like this includes some sketches like that. I mean, The Best of Elmo had some sketches with Elmo in a co-starring role, and it had the "Three" song where he was part of a group, but at least he got plenty of lines in those.If they're going to include stuff where he doesn't even speak, then I hope it has the Monsterpice Theater segment "Anyones Nose" (I don't expect the Hamlet sketch to be included, as Mel Gibson wasn't mentioned as a guest star... I wish more MT segments would be released commercially).

 

[Drtooth]

I've only wathced the Jason Mraz "Outdoors" clip once and can't remember if Elmo does anythign notable there... But it seems like this includes some sketches like that. I mean, The Best of Elmo had some sketches with Elmo in a co-starring role, and it had the "Three" song where he was part of a group, but at least he got plenty of lines in those.If they're going to include stuff where he doesn't even speak, then I hope it has the Monsterpice Theater segment "Anyones Nose" (I don't expect the Hamlet sketch to be included, as Mel Gibson wasn't mentioned as a guest star... I wish more MT segments would be released commercially).

Even if I wanted to get this video, which I don't, I wouldn't want to see like 6+ celebrity segments. one or two key ones is fine, but just as you said, the "Outdoors" segment features Elmo as one of the characters in the chorus. I hardly see why that qualifies as a "best of Elmo" skit at all. But it really seems they want to keep pushing the whole paradigm that the only thing important about a 40 year old series beloved all over the world is the celebrities that stopped by, not the actual characters and sketches that made the show what it is.

The only thing that could really balance the release out is extra segments feature just the Muppet characters. Other than that, this all goes back to my thoughts about "Best Ofs." They need to focus on skits with the main character only, not sketches that feature the character somewhere, not things remotely related to the character... sketches that feature the character. I really think they need to rewatch "Best of Kermit" and "Celebration of Me, Grover." They weren't perfect, but the characters were the focus of every sketch.

 

[D'Snowth]

Funny thing is, they're making a "Best of Elmo 2" DVD. And it's barely 27 minutes long, according to the run time.

Not surprising at all.

Okay, so now, we need to go over to SW and tell them that they owe us something like "The Best of Ernie and Bert 2" or "Another Celebration of Me, Grover", etc.

Heck, "The Best of Ernie and Bert 2" could consist of some of the more modern, yet memorable Ernie and Bert moments like Ernie's Adding Song and whatnot. "Another Celebration of Me, Grover" could have some old Global Grover segments, and maybe the "Outrageous Makeover: Home Add-ition" sketch.

 

[minor muppetz]

"Another Celebration of Me, Grover" could have some old Global Grover segments, and maybe the "Outrageous Makeover: Home Add-ition" sketch.

And a "Grover the Waiter" segment. And some full "Grover and Kermit" segments.

 

[minor muppetz]

So that we don't get too off-topic I just started a seperate thread for The Best of Elmo 2: http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?p=814778#post814778

 

[minor muppetz]

But it seems that there's plenty of other characters with a long history that have yet to get any kind of such tribute from Sesame Street. I'd love to see compilations like that for mainstays like Herry Monster or maybe Prairie Dawn and some of the older retired crew like Sherlock Hemlock, Harvey Kneeslapper, Guy Smiley and the like.

You know, for april fools day I had considered posting fake news that I found some Best Buy exclusive DVDs focusing on Harvey Kneeslapper, Guy Smiley, and Roosevelt Franklin.

Another april fools day thread I had planned involved a fake announcement of a Sesame Street Superstars Collection, which featured only existing footage plus bonus features. I was going to say that the first batch would include Big Bird, Elmo, Abby, Telly, and Grover volumes, and the second batch would include Ernie, Bert, The Count, Cookie Monster, and Zoe volumes.

I even thought of mentioning some of the "featured" segments in the fake thread (in addition to thinking up several full personal wishlists). I was going to say that the Big Bird volume would include: "ABC-DEF-GHI" (wasn't going to say which version, but I would have chosen the early 1970s one), "A New Habitat", "Admiral Bird", "Number 4 Show", "Imaginary Disco", "Big Bird Meets Mister Rogers", "Wish You Were Here: Fishing Trip", and more! Bonus features would have included "The Evolution of Big Bird" featurette and bonus season one Big Bird moments.

The Elmo one would have included such segments as "Elmo's Song", "Kermit News: Reporter Game", "Beat the Time", "Love with Winston the Dolphin", "Monsterpeice Theater: Hamlet", "Happy and Sad with Kermit", "Share", "Song About Elmo", "Super Grover & Super Elmo", "A Doll for Elmo", and more, plus bonus feature "Evolution of Elmo" featurette and six pre-Kevin Clash Elmo segments.

For the Grover idea, I was going to say it would have "Near and Far", "Grover's Restaurant: Big Burger", "Super Grover & Super Annette Benning", "Ray Ramano: Frusterated", "Monsterpeice Theater: Monsters with Dirty Faces", "Alphabet Secret", "Fire in the Forest", "Proud of Me", "Red and Blue", "Outrageous Makeover: Home Addition", and more! as well as some bonus Grover sketches from the first season.

The Telly idea would have listed such skits as ""See the Triangles Go By", "Shapes in my Room", "Ask Oscar: Discussions", "Oscar and Telly's Road Trip", "Monsterpiece Theater: Waiting for Elmo", and more, as well as "The Evolution of Telly" featurette, all street scenes from Telly's debut, and five "Brian Meehl as Telly" segments.

And finally, the Abby Cadabby idea would have included such moments as "Abby Moves to Sesame Street", "Because We're Friends", "A Piece of Paper", "Name That Habitat: Camel", "Kids with Wings", and more! as well as three episodes of "Abby's Flying Fairy School".

If only my april fools jokes could come true (though some more-or-less do).