Little things we've noticed

[MuppetSpot]

I always amused that Jim Henson perform the mother in Roosevelt Franklin.

 

[cjd874]

Interesting thoughts...at first I thought Jim performed the lead greaser in "One Way," but I wasn't sure who did the other three.

Today I was listening to the SS Born to Add album (the original 1983 release) and this one came on. Marilyn Sokol sang the lead vocals for this song, but I wonder who did the puppetry for the girl and the monster musicians? I think Frank is the little girl, Jim is the saxophone player, Jerry is the piano player, and Richard is the tambourine monster.

 

[D'Snowth]

So many different locations have used 456 Sesame St. as their address. So many. Like, I think Bob's apartment, Gina's daycare, Count's castle, Baby Bear's house, and maybe even Snuffy's cave have all used this as their address at one point or another.

It's cute and fits in with the Sesame Universe, but it certainly makes no sense and is unrealistic in a real-world setting, where surrounding addresses on the street would more than likely be 121, 125, whatever.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I mean, there’s really only so many addresses you can come up with.

 

[minor muppetz]

For a while I've noticed that Sesame Workshop doesn't seem to release much on video or online when it comes to Jim Henson's segments from season 21, but I'm starting to think that when it comes to seasons 20-24, not many from each recurring Muppet segment is available on home video or (officially) online.

Not many Monsterpiece Theater segments from seasons 21-23 have been released (online, we've gotten One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, The King and I, and Twelve Angry Men, and we've gotten Twin Beaks on DVD), I was thinking this to be true of waiter Grover/Grover and Mr. Johnson segments from that period were scarce but have seen more have been released than I was thinking (quite a few, as far as I know, weren't available on sesamestreet.org but were available on Hulu and eventually available on the official YouTube channel). There are some great Super Grover segments from the early 1990s (like the one with Annette Benning and the one with Super Elmo) that have not been released on video or online. As I've said before, The Bird Family is the only Sesame Street News segment (of about four) that is officially available online. And I've seen people point out that only one Mysterious Theater segment has been released officially online (all of them were produced between seasons 20 and 23). Though I think both Alphabet Chat segments from the early 1990s have been released online.

Kinda weird this seems to be the case with recurring segments from approximately seasons 20-24, as we've gotten scores of other installments of Muppet recurring segments from other eras and it doesn't seem like any eras of the show are more scarce/plentiful than others (well, it seems Sesame Workshop has put out the majority of inserts from the last decade, but those decades have such a scarce amount of episodes to begin with).

 

[D'Snowth]

Bert and Count just come right through the wall.

 

[minor muppetz]

For years, I was thinking that once the celebrity versions of Put Down the Duckie and Monster in the Mirror were introduced that they stopped showing the original versions without celebrities. But looking at "what links here" on the Muppet Wiki, I see that the non-celebrity version of Put Down the Duckie was sometimes shown in the 1990s*. In fact, there's at least two episodes where it followed the sketch with Ellen DeGeneres and Elmo listening to headphones, and in both cases it was the non-celebrity version.

Of course I haven't gotten around to checking on whether the non-celebrity version of Monster in the Mirror ever aired past season 22.

I've seen that, currently, the earliest-known appearances of both the original and the first celebrity edits of Put Down the Duckie are season 20 episodes, with no known first appearance yet. I wonder if Sesame Street, Special was the first appearance of the celebrity version. It's the first time I remember seeing that version, and it aired around the times of season 19 and 20 (I think Muppet Wiki does have a date listed, I think Spring 1988, but I'm not real sure). Makes me wonder, if a segment first appeared in a special or home video, would the scripts list those as the first appearance, the first actual episode after premiering in a special, or just not list a first appearance at all (at least with Big Bird's Birthday and The Street We Live On, those were shown as regular episodes, in addition to being specials, and have episode number designations)?

And wow, the original celebrity version of Put Down the Duckie wasn't on the show for very long. It could have first aired in season 19, but Muppet Wiki currently only lists season 20 and 21 episodes with it, and it didn't air at all in seasons 22 or 23 (unless it's part of any of those few episodes where they couldn't make a full guide), then in season 24 the new celebrity version premiered, and it seems the original non-celebrity version didn't air either during seasons 22 and 23. But the first celebrity version happens to be the one that's been released on home video, continuing the exposure (as far as I know they didn't replace the celebrity version when Sesame Street, Special was released on home video, despite making other changes).

*I actually didn't see Put Down the Duckie in new episodes often in the late 1990s, in fact most times that I did I had to leave the room or whatever shortly after it started, as I was unaware for years of the fact that they eventually changed the celebrities, and didn't know it was the non-celebrity version in a season 30 episode for years.

 

[D'Snowth]

Certain Muppets seem to turn to certain grown-ups whenever they needed help with something. Like, Elmo seemed to have a tendancy to turn to Gordon, or Telly and Baby Bear would usually go to Maria, and Big Bird would often go to Mr. Hooper in past years, then Alan in more recent years.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Like how Rockin’ Richard has that little nose pin showing at the end of “MAD!”, it also looked like his right eye is loose throughout the video.

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm guessing this was taped during that period of time where Jerry had injured his shoulder, because the blue AM clearly appears to be performed left-handed: