Sesame Street Bloopers/Technical Difficulties

ssetta

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This is a thread about some of the bloopers that have happened on Sesame Street over the years. Here are some of them.

"'J' Friends" Song: During the last verse, when they all sing, "'J', Jane, let's jump with Jane", on the word "jump" when they all jump up, you can see the top of one of the puppeteers heads. I think it's Frank Oz.

"Bert & Ernie's Rhyming Game": I wonder if this line was planned:
Bert: I don't wanna do it (Ernie interrupts) anymore.
Ernie: What, what? Hmm?
Bert: What, what, hmm? I don't wanna do it anymore.

"Grover the Elevator Operator Teaches In and Out": In the skit where he keeps asking everyone to get in and out of the elevator. There is a point where he bumps one of the AMs, and he says, "Oh, I did not mean to hit you."

I don't know if some of these were planned or not, but it looks like they were bloopers. Now, some of the technical difficulties:

If you have seen show #406, the harmonica opening intro plays for longer than usual. If you noticed, they kept looping it in the wrong place. Did any of you notice that?

"Honk Around A Clock": If you remember this musical number with the Honkers, they had a big clock with numbers that lit up, and hands that moved. You can clearly tell that the hands were not motorized, because they weren't always moving at the same speed. Also, I think they may have been supposed to be motorized, but the motor failed for some reason. Also, one bulb in the "11" on the clock was burned out.

"Big Bird Remembers the 'ABC-Def-Ghi' Song": While he's showing his old sign to his kids, the Z actually falls off the sign! Or was that a blooper?

"Boogie Woogie Piggies": A similar thing to what happened on "Honk Around A Clock". This was a musical number from the Oinker Sisters in the early 90s. They sing the alphabet, and there's a long alphabet sign with letters that light up as they sing them, but during the instrumental break, the "K" on the lighted sign goes out for some reason.

Has anyone else ever caught any bloopers or technical errors on Sesame Street?
 

Boober_Gorg

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Caroll Spinney doesn't control both of Big Bird's arms - he controls the left arm, which is connected to the right arm by a thin, almost invisible wire (threaded through the neck, I would think). This explains how both the Bird's arms can move. There's a scene in #198 when, as a frightened Big Bird runs out of Hooper's store, his right arm is totally limp, meaning that the wire has accidentally snapped.

In #871, the scene with the "One Of These Things" game, Jerry Nelson performs a deliveryman AM standing behind a table. This scene has a shot when the viewer can plainly see a black carpet draped over something or someone under the table ... that could only be Jerry.

In the song "X Marks The Spot", on the words "that's looking", the viewer can briefly see the puppeteer's hand holding the rod.

There are also a few 1969 E&B skits in which the sleeve that connects to Ernie's arm is clearly visible - for example, when he says "Come on Bert, lunch time!"
 

Smy Guiley

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There's a hilarious one from the first couple of seasons where Susan, Bob, and Grover are playing "One of These Things." The "things" are four circles, with one of them being smaller. (tough one) Grover can't solve the problem, since he says that the solution is that one of them is a circle. Bob tries to help by saying, "Well, they're all circles, Different! Wait, you're name is not "Different" it's "Grover"!" I've had a good laugh over that one. Just think of the insanity of actually naming one of the monsters "Different". The poor little outcast!

eric
 

drmusic_99

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This probably showed up normally on people's television sets. But if you use a computer to watch a video file of the Bert and Ernie "Cookies in Bed" sketch, when Ernie is walking around to get into Bert's bed, you can quite clearly see the back of Jim's head and his back.
 

Splurge

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In the "A, You're Adorable" sketch, you can see Frank's head behind an unnamed Cookie Monster.
 

prickle747

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add lib works

I guess it helps when a small glitch occurs during a skit ,the muppeteers have a TV screen to look at so they see what we see when we watch it on TV.They would be able to "add lib" to a point and would not really be noticed.

For examples: E & B Sketch - Making a Peanut Butter Sandwich

Bert drops some his sandwich on the floor,Bert says: "opps dropped some on the floor" However adding lib makes like it was suppose to happen.

another sketch Chocolate Cake sketch, E & B and B.D. monster the sketch starts off Ernie saying got some chocolate on the napkin.But wait that was set up possibly for beautiful day's appearence in the sketch ??

Chocolate on the napkin already,oh well just a thought.
 

somethingofafan

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Boober_Gorg said:
There are also a few 1969 E&B skits in which the sleeve that connects to Ernie's arm is clearly visible - for example, when he says "Come on Bert, lunch time!"
That also happened in at least one of this season's Journey to Ernie segments.
 

rjschex

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I remember *two* bloopers from the same film series:

The classic films, accompanied by kazoo and banjo music, in which neon letters are being raised to the roof of a building. (The three installations of this series are "H", "O", and "R".)

On one of them, a bus appears to be doing 80 or 90 miles an hour. (Time lapse.)

On another, a truck appears out of nowhere. (The background doesn't move or change; in the next frame, there appears this truck.)
 

Splurge

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Another "J Friends" blooper which may not be as obvious. When Jim's Fat Blue AM is singing his verse "J-Jane", it looks like his right eye is about to fall off. Then when Fran's Lavendar AM faces the camera to sing her verse, Jim's AM conveniently steps away from the camera, just long enough for someone to press his eye back on.

Keep an eye out for that. (Sorry). :smile:
 

Mark The Shark

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ssetta said:
This is a thread about some of the bloopers that have happened on Sesame Street over the years. Here are some of them.

(edit of list)

Has anyone else ever caught any bloopers or technical errors on Sesame Street?
In one of the Season 2 Unpaved shows (#131?) there is a Muppet segment featuring Ernie and Grover. Ernie is trying to count balloons, but he keeps losing the place where he started so he doesn't know how many balloons he has. Grover stops by and offers to help. Grover begins to count: "One!" (POP!) "Two!" (POP!) and with each number he bursts a balloon with a pin. I'm not certain which number, but one of the balloons doesn't pop easily. Grover keeps going for it and he says something like "Four! Four! Four...four is hard," before finally he succeeds in popping it.
 
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