Sesame Street Letter/Number Guide: Season 2

[rjschex]

Here are the letters/numbers featured on Season 2 (1970-71, eps. 131-275)

(131) J 2 (132) A 4 (133) A J 5 (134) S 10 (135) F 11
(136) F S 7 (137) B 9 (138) E 3 (139) B E 6 (140) N 8
(141) K 2 (142) K N 3 (143) I 4 (144) R 5 (145) I R 6
(146) O 7 (147) L 8 (148) L O 9 (149) P 10 (150) Z 11
(151) P Z 12 (152) U 2 (153) C 3 (154) C U 4 (155) M 5
(156) D 6 (157) D M 7 (158) A 8 (159) G 9 (160) A G 10
(161) E 11 (162) H 12 (163) E H 2 (164) Q 3 (165) T 4
(166) Q T 5 (167) V 6 (168) I 7 (169) I V 8 (170) X 9
(171) W 10 (172) W X 11 (173) O 12 (174) Y 2 (175) O Y 3
(176) U 4 (177) I 5 (178) I U 6 (179) A 7 (180) U 8
(181) J 9 (182) A 10 (183) A J 11 (184) S 12 (185) F 2
(186) F S 3 (187) B 4 (188) E 5 (189) B E 6 (190) N 7
(191) K 8 (192) K N 9 (193) I 10 (194) R 11 (195) I R 12
(196) O 1 (197) L 2 (198) L O 3 (199) P 4 (200) Z 5
(201) P Z 6 (202) U 7 (203) C 8 (204) C U 9 (205) M 10
(206) D 11 (207) D M 12 (208) A 2 (209) G 3 (210) A G 4
(211) E 5 (212) H 6 (213) E H 7 (214) Q 8 (215) T 9
(216) Q T 10 (217) V 11 (218) I 12 (219) I V 2 (220) X 3
(221) W 4 (222) W X 5 (223) O 6 (224) Y 7 (225) O Y 8
(226) U 9 (227) O 10 (228) O U 11 (229) U 12 (230) E 2
(231) J 3 (232) A 4 (233) A J 5 (234) S 6 (235) F 7
(236) F S 8 (237) B 9 (238) E 10 (239) B E 11 (240) N 12
(241) K 1 (242) K N 2 (243) I 3 (244) R 4 (245) I R 5
(246) O 6 (247) L 7 (248) L O 8 (249) P 9 (250) Z 10
(251) P Z 11 (252) U 12 (253) C 2 (254) C U 3 (255) M 4
(256) D 5 (257) D M 6 (258) A 7 (259) G 8 (260) A G 9
(261) E 10 (262) H 11 (263) E H 12 (264) Q 2 (265) T 3
(266) Q T 4 (267) V 5 (268) I 6 (269) I V 7 (270) X 8
(271) W 9 (272) W X 10 (273) O 11 (274) Y 12 (275) O Y 13

Note that this season ran three weeks too long!

(#162 is definitely verified!) Source: TV Guide and The Los Angeles Times

 

[clipjj27]

Hi:

Actually, this was one of my favorite 'hobbies' from being a Sesame Street viewer during the time that I was one. I would record the 'dictation of letters' (that's what I called it then) to notice a pattern - 'Sesame Street has been brought to you today by...' Each day Sesame Street would have two letters and one number. One letter would be 'new' and would receive the predominant amount of 'attention' throughout the program. The other letter would be 'old' and wouldn't receive as much attention. The 'new' letter for that program would become the 'old' letter for the next program, while the 'old' letter wouldn't be featured again (at least not until several programs later). The number would start with 2 and would keep incrementing by one every day until it reached 12, after which it would then go back to 2. Again, this is the case (as I remember) for the years 1975 to 1981, when I did most of my Sesame Street viewing. Things, however, might have been different before or after that time, as evidenced by what you posted, i.e. different number of letters, different range of numbers, and/or different system from the 'old/new' one that I mentioned.

 

[ssetta]

That is amazing!

I think this season ran 3 weeks too long because they weren't sure how long the actual season lasted. But I noticed something wierd with the episode numbers all this time. And I knew that the first show in season 3 was #276. So I thought that either season 1 or 2 ran for 3 weeks longer, and season 2 started with show #131, so it was season 2.

Anyway, I wonder where they got that! Also, the last show of the season, number 13? Wow!

 

[rjschex]

Hi:

Actually, this was one of my favorite 'hobbies' from being a Sesame Street viewer during the time that I was one. I would record the 'dictation of letters' (that's what I called it then) to notice a pattern - 'Sesame Street has been brought to you today by...' Each day Sesame Street would have two letters and one number. One letter would be 'new' and would receive the predominant amount of 'attention' throughout the program. The other letter would be 'old' and wouldn't receive as much attention. The 'new' letter for that program would become the 'old' letter for the next program, while the 'old' letter wouldn't be featured again (at least not until several programs later). The number would start with 2 and would keep incrementing by one every day until it reached 12, after which it would then go back to 2. Again, this is the case (as I remember) for the years 1975 to 1981, when I did most of my Sesame Street viewing. Things, however, might have been different before or after that time, as evidenced by what you posted, i.e. different number of letters, different range of numbers, and/or different system from the 'old/new' one that I mentioned.

I noticed that pattern too--for the years 1971-74.

For the 71-72 season, the progression was:

MBSGNZKFHVOJIREWDACLPUTXQY

For the 72-73 and 73-74 seasons:

DWEGRKMOSQUCYBAFHJLNPITVXZ

For part of the 77-78 season (verified for eps. 1092-95--the Hawaii episodes)

DNKGC

(#1090 had B and P. Anyone out there with #1091? Was it B-D or D-P?)

 

[Boober_Gorg]

For part of the 77-78 season (verified for eps. 1092-95--the Hawaii episodes)

DNKGC

You're right.

1090: B-P-7
1091: D-M-2 (only M segments are shown ... leave it to Noggin to take out some of the sponsors and leave the closing announcement senseless)
1092: D-M-2 (only segments for N and 3 are shown ... thanks again, Noggin)
1093: K-N-4
1094: G-K-5
1095: C-G-6

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

1092: D-M-2 (only segments for N and 3 are shown ... thanks again, Noggin)

Actually, I believe that the listing of D, M, and 2 (the sponsors of 1091) as the sponsors of 1092 was a faux pas on behalf of CTW back when the episode originally aired. You'll notice that the same SS/CTW sign stills (I forget who was holding the SS sign, but the Count was holding the CTW sign) are used as in 1091 as well, so I can infer that CTW accidentally used the 1091 announcement and closing cards twice. How, I dunno.

I am guessing the actual sponsors were D, N, and 3, or maybe M, N, and 3. I'm not sure.

 

[rjschex]

I guess maybe that by 1977-78, the "pattern" may have been broken somewhat.

#1090: B P 7
#1092: D N 3
#1093: K N 4
#1094: G K 5
#1095: C G 6

Logic tells me that #1091 should have been "D" with either "P" or "B". Plus, the numbering is getting out of order. Where did the "7" in #1090 come from? Should have been "12" according to the pattern used previous years.

About the numbers (1971-74 verified; 1974-77 likely; 1977-78 questionable):

The season premiere always featured the number 2. The progression went from 2 to 12--eleven times, plus 2 to 10 for the final nine episodes of the season. (Total of 130 eps.)

Further explanation in a later post.

 

[gbrobeck]

About the numbers (1971-74 verified; 1974-77 likely; 1977-78 questionable):

The season premiere always featured the number 2. The progression went from 2 to 12--eleven times, plus 2 to 10 for the final nine episodes of the season. (Total of 130 eps.)

I was just going to mention that... and also if you notice, one day would have a letter sponsor, the next day a different letter sponsor, and the third day both of the previous two days' letters combined.


Greg

 

[gbrobeck]

Also, the fact that during all these years (although it changed finally at some point) that the number sponsor was never "1" and never higher than "12" partially helps to explain the fact debated in another post about why all those series (Pinball Number Count, etc) never went higher than 12 and never did a 1 segment. However, it still doesn't explain why those were the limits for the number sponsors. I can understand having a stopping point, but did they decide that children didn't need to know about 1?


Greg

 

[rjschex]

Quick Lesson in Mathematics

For episodes 276 to 1055, the number featured can be determined as follows:

(step 1) Subtract 16 from the episode number, then divide by 130. This is the season number (starting with zero).

(step 2) To find the season-opening episode number, multiply the number obtained in (step 1) by 130 and add 16.

(step 3) Subtract the season-opening number (step 2) from the episode number. Divide by 11. The number sponsoring that show: the remainder plus 2.

Example: #871 (a Noggin ep. from the 75-76 season; Q-Y-11)

(871-16)/130 = 6 [6+1969=1975]

6 * 130 + 16 = 796

871-796=75

75/11=6 r 9

9+2=11

Also verified for the 76-77 Noggin eps. 1037 (E-F-3) and 1041 (K-Z-7).

The 77-78 Hawaii eps. make less sense. The number on 1090 should have been 3, according to this rule.

I know that since (at least) the 86-87 season, letters and numbers were purely random, with no pattern at all.