Old School DVD set ideas

[ISNorden]

So far, both of the Old School sets have shown only the season premieres in full--which may be OK for a general overview of Sesame Street's history, but doesn't say much about some of the "milestones" that happened between premieres. If I'd been in charge of the Old School project, I'd have put together some DVD sets like these--

• Vacation story arcs. The cast trips to Hawaii, New Mexico, and Montana should be watchable from beginning to end; a lot of Gen-X viewers have great memories of people and monsters interacting "off the street".
• Character histories. What hard-core Sesame fan isn't curious about how their favorite character got to be the way s/he is? To use an easy example, a "history of old-school Elmo" set might start with his generic-monster appearance in "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco", then follow the ways he changed through four more pre-EW episodes. (My vote for two of them: Elmo as ring-bearer at Maria and Luis' wedding; Elmo determined to change the letter of the day from O to E.)
• Other major events: Maria and Luis' relationship (falling in love, the wedding, the baby) would make a good set of theme DVDs. So would Slimey's trip to the moon, or Mr. Hooper going to school, or...
• Celebrities on the Street. This one might cause music-clearance problems if it did happen, but...finding the most common/popular celebrity to appear on Sesame Street each season should be fairly easy.

If themed collections of episodes were released that way, would you want to buy them (or have them bought for you)? Please tell me what you all think!

 

[minor muppetz]

I think I would have bought them. Maybe a set featuring the debuts of characters who weren't introduced in the season premiers would be nice. Including the debuts of Olivia, Telly, Linda, Gina, Petey, and more.

The sets are called "old school", not "season premier collection". I don't know if Sesame Workshop is only planning on including season premiers for all of these sets or not. But if that's the case, then the next set will have two episodes that began multi-part episodes. For some reason I didn't notice until recently that the eleventh season premier is the episode where Maria and the cast go to New Mexico (or maybe I've got the location wrong). I assume that this was a multi-part episode, even though only part 1 was shown on Noggin. And the fourteenth season premier is part one of the five-part episode where Big Bird goes to camp.

 

[Drtooth]

Honestly, I really would love to see them do old School sets that were JUST shorts. No street episodes. All the shorts they can get the rights to possible. Even if they have characters that were pulled for various reasons. That's the stuff we want. I loved the box set I got, but I felt that we should have got some more Roosevelt Franklin stuff besides the "Clap Clap" number (where he doesn't talke).

I think we also should have got more special features. I remember them announcing stuff initially that they didn't have in the final product, like an "Around the world" look (Which hopefully would have had all new original character footage, not just dubbed clips, which i don't care to see).

I think they're great, but it seems that the SS Old School shouldn't just be volume sets, but a subbrand of SS entertainment. I'd kill to see an Animator set, featuring interviews with any available animators. I'd love to see Bud Luckey or Sally Cruikshank talk about their work.

 

[ISNorden]

You've both got great points...I too would've liked to see the "Old School" approach turned into a sub-brand of Sesame Street's official recordings, not just a collection of season premieres with some shorts thrown in as an afterthought. "Short clip-only" collections would be better for some themes I suggested, in fact (such as charater histories)...as for animation, why not a "best of Bud Luckey" or "best of Jeff Hale" set, including interviews with the animators themselves?

As for the premieres that also begin story arcs--I too would want to see the stories intact, not interrupted by a jump to the next season. And what about the season finale episodes that marked a major change in the show, like Gabriela's birth? Overlooking those shows feels wrong somehow.

Lastly, I have an idea for another potential volume set for old-schoolers--

• Banned from Sesame Street! Episodes and clips that were shown only once because someone (CTW staff or parental groups) thought kids shouldn't see them. Buddy and Jim shorts, Monsterpiece Theater with the pipe, Don Music banging his head...and of course, the Wicked Witch actress' visit to Sesame Street. The content alone would make this a collector's item!

 

[CensoredAlso]

While I am grateful for the Old School sets, I do agree they are limiting themselves with just showing the premiere episodes. It would be nice to see the special episodes like Maria's wedding, or the Wicked Witch episode that was banned (Though I probably just wanted to see episode 1576 where Richard appeared lol).

 

[minor muppetz]

Honestly, I really would love to see them do old School sets that were JUST shorts. No street episodes. All the shorts they can get the rights to possible. Even if they have characters that were pulled for various reasons. That's the stuff we want. I loved the box set I got, but I felt that we should have got some more Roosevelt Franklin stuff besides the "Clap Clap" number (where he doesn't talke).

Roosevelt also appeared at the beginning of episode 406, where he got one line.

I think we also should have got more special features. I remember them announcing stuff initially that they didn't have in the final product, like an "Around the world" look (Which hopefully would have had all new original character footage, not just dubbed clips, which i don't care to see).

I don't ever remember hearing (or maybe reading is more accurate) about that feature. When/ where was it announced?

 

[minor muppetz]

It would be great if there were boxed sets for multi-part episodes. Hopefully, they would be the whole episodes, and not just the linking footage edited together in one disc (like on the Friends to the Rescue DVD). One thing that I wonder about, though, is if the Old School sets will eventually include the season premiers from the 2000s (I don't know if Sesame Workshop will stop at any years for this colection). The season premiers for seasons 33-35 (if you count The Street We Live On as a season premier and not a stand alone special, and by the way, I count it as a special) and 37 have already been reelased on DVD, though with the exception of the season 37 premier, they have mostly been the street stories and some other material (though Elmo Visits the Firehouse includes most of the season 33 premier).

But it would be great to have a three-disc set with the hawiai episodes, or a three-disc set with the "Big Bird at Camp Echo Rock" episodes. I wonder what would be done with a set on Slimey going to the moon, or any other storylines that lasted most of their respective seasons.

 

[Drtooth]

• Banned from Sesame Street! Episodes and clips that were shown only once because someone (CTW staff or parental groups) thought kids shouldn't see them. Buddy and Jim shorts, Monsterpiece Theater with the pipe, Don Music banging his head...and of course, the Wicked Witch actress' visit to Sesame Street. The content alone would make this a collector's item!

Well, I wouldn't call it "Banned Sesame Street." That would clearly raise all sorts of flags for retailors and the company itself. I'd call it something more like "Lost SS" or "SS from the Archives." But that sounds like a great idea.

Yeah, Old School would have been a great idea as a sub-brand. We could have had Old School record collections with minimal (or hopefully NO) celebrity appearances. Like the Fraggle Rock CD collection- Collector sets of multiple rereleases.

I don't ever remember hearing (or maybe reading is more accurate) about that feature. When/ where was it announced?

I remember hearing of it in the earliest press release. They must have looked into the idea and abandoned it (if I were to guess, it could be that the release of both that and the "World According" DVD would have been redundant) before they finalized it in a more official PR.

 

[minor muppetz]

It would also be great to have an "around the corner" set, focusing on the years that Around the Corner was on the show. Maybe that could be the season premiers from seasons 25 through 29, or it could just be select episodes that somehow take place around the corner, like the season 25 premier, the episode where Susan and Gordon stay at the Furry Arms Hotel, and episodes taking place at Finders Keepers, the park, and Celina's Dance Studio (or Gina's Day Care Center).

Maybe some single-disc sets similar to the Old School sets could be released. They could include one complete episode and some bonus sketches related to the episode. The epsidoe with the Wicked Witch could be included along with bonus sketches that involve witches or otherwise have a spooky theme (this would be good for halloween). The season 7 episode where Big Bird hosts a number four show would also be good, with skits about the number four included as bonus skits.

 

[minor muppetz]

• Banned from Sesame Street! Episodes and clips that were shown only once because someone (CTW staff or parental groups) thought kids shouldn't see them. Buddy and Jim shorts, Monsterpiece Theater with the pipe, Don Music banging his head...and of course, the Wicked Witch actress' visit to Sesame Street. The content alone would make this a collector's item!

Most of what you mentioned were shown more than just once. The episode with The Wicked Witch is the only thing you mentioned that technically did only air once, though in many cities the show airs twice a day, so it probably would have aired twice in some cities.

Buddy and Jim were only shown in the first season, but I think all of their sketches were shown in multiple episodes. And there was a time when there weren't any concerns over Monsterpeice Theater including Allistar Cookie's pipe or Don Music banging his head, so those were shown many times.

But this is what I'd like to see in such a rarities colection:

• Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
• Professor Hastings talks about the importance of excersize
• Roosevelt Franklin spells his name
• Buddy and Jim (some sketches that weren't shown on Noggin)
• I Want a Monster to be my Friend
• One Song (Song of One)
• There's a Hole in the Bucket
• Ernie sees Mr. Snuffleupagus, but Bert thinks' Ernie is just imagining
• Larry and Phyllis sketches that weren't shown on Noggin)
• Monsterpiece Theater: Me, Claudias
• Monsterpeice Theater: Upstairs, Downstairs
• Ernie makes a friend (rare first season sketch, mentioned in CTW archive material, but full plot not really known to any of us)
• Ernie draws a "tree" instead of a "three"
• Ernie and the candy salesman (I saw this mentioned in CTW Archive material, and assume that it features Lefty)
• the original Near and Far
• The Headball
• G is for Grover
• Nobody
• I'm Square
• Wally and Ralph sketches
• The Leslie Mostly Show
• The Anything-in-the-Whole-Wide-World Prize Game
• The Mr. and Mrs. Game
• Ernie pours milk on the ceilling
• Bert imagines that he's flying a plane
• Don Music writes The Alphabet Song
• Four (if it was shot as a segment)
• With Every Beat of My Heart (ditto)
• Mad