Sketches and Songs on Sesame Street videos

[minor muppetz]

Sing-Along

I would like it if more people would write some info in this thread. I really like writing about Sesame Street videos, but I'm sure that other people would like to join in as well. I try to wait between writing information about various videos, but it is also so much fun writing about these. Also, there are many videos that I haven't seen (I'm Glad I'm me, getting ready For School, We All Sing Together, etc.), and there are some that I have seen but can't remember too many details about. For example, I;ve seen The Great Numbers Game but can't remember what every skit on that video was about. I've also seen Big Bird Sings and Big Birds Favorite Party Games, but I forget a lot of things about the linking segments (and my local library doens't hav ethem anymore, for some reason, although I do know where I can buy a copy of Big Bird Sings).

Anyway, having said that, here is some information about Sing Along.

release year: 1987.

plot: Biff and Sully are on the roof of 123 Sesame Street. Biff explains to the audiemce that he and sully are trying to fix a television set. Suddenly, Bob, Big Bird, Hoots, Gordon, Maria, David and some kids are pushing a piano onto the roof. Bob explains that they are having a sing-along. they invite Biff anf Sully to join in, but they are busy fixing the TV. Bob requests the first song, John Jacop Jingle Heimer Smidt. Gordon picks the next song, Stand Up And Pinch Your Nose. Biff has fixed the TV, but when he turns it off he twists the knob off. A little girl requests The Alphabet Song. Biff and Sully fix the TV again, but it then falls off the roof. The gang then sings We All Sing With The Same Voice. After that, Big Bird wants to sing a song that his Grannie Bird taught him, Cheer Up. Unfortunately, Bob doesn't know that song, but luckily Sully does, and he plays the piano. Hoots wants to sing "The Barnyard Boogie Song" (actually, it's Old McDonald Had A Farm). Ernie has heard them singing from his apartment and tells them that he has a song for them. david tells him that he should come on up, but Ernie is busy taking a bath, so he sings from his bath tub (It's amazing that they can hear Ernie from up there). Eventually, it is nighttime, Biff has finally fixed the television, and everybody gets ready to end the sing-along with the one song that they must sing, but they can't remember the name of the song. Obviously, the song is What's The Name of That Song? The song is not only sung by those on the roof, but from people all over the street, including farley and an anything muppet girl (she also appeared in the song They Can't Take That Away From Me) who are singing from the window of another building, Oscar who sings from his trash can, Luis and Susan who know the name of that song but then think they might be wrong, the two-headed monster, and the honkers who honk along to the song. When the song ends, a pole accidently falls on the TV.

Segments included:

Sing After Me (with Grover and Madeline Kahn)
Sing (with Olivia and Linda)
We All Sing With The Same Voice (the beginning and ending are cut ince it begins and ends with the cast singing)
Rubber Duckie (with Ernie )
Doin' The Pigeon (with bert )

nitpicks:
*I have read a review of this (I think at www.amazon.com) that mentioned that this was originally an episode of the show. Is this true or just a rumor? If it was originally an episode, then it was obviously cut down to a half hour, with the openign and closing replaced with the My Sesame Street Home Video opening and closing, the mention of the letter and number of the day cut, and many inserts, if nothing else.
*Ernie has a conversation wiht David in the linking footage, but it is just a voice-over. Either way, it is one of the few Sesame Street videos that Jim Henson participated in (and if it really was originally an episode of the show, then it's one of the few times that Jim henson participated in a street plot in the 1980s).
*There are a few scenes where David tries to request a song, but we never see him make a request (maybe it was cut from the video).
*Betty Lou appeared on the original video cover even though she didn't appear in this video.
*During Old McDonald Had A Farm, Big Bird requests for Old McDonald to have a swan, which everybody makes him change his mind over, but they don't have much of a problem with Hoots The Owls request of Old McDonald having a saxaphone on his farm.

 

[minor muppetz]

I forgot to mention what was in the clip montages in A celebration of me, Grover!

The first montage was during the grover work song. Here are some of the clips that were included:
1. Grover as a waiter, putting a lot of food on Fat Blues table (the only Grover The Waiter sketch seen in any form in this video)
2. Grover selling newspapers (Sully walks by in the background).
3. Grover as a taxi driver, getting his taxi towed.
4. Grover as an elevador operador, letting people (including Simon Soundman and Farley) in the elevador.
5. grover walking dogs in the park.
6. Grover as a hot dog vendor.
7. Various Global Grover clips.
8. A clip of Grover as a proffessor, probably from a Spanish Word of The Day skit.
9. Grover as a plumber in Kermits apartment.
10. Grover as a fire fighter in the woods, being led by Kermit to a camp fire.
11. Grover dancing from the rappin' Alphabet song (they shoudl have just showed this entire skit and had a clip from ABC Disco, instead of the other way around, since ABC Disco was already available on video).
12. grover as marshall grover, riding backwards on Fred The Wonder Horse.
13. Grover as a farmer pulling a wageon ridden by Fred.

the second montage had various clips of Super Grover falling from the sky. One clip had him landing on Telly. All these clips led to a full Super grover skit (although the Super grover openign was cut).

The third and final clip had various clips of Grover with real live kids, including John John (in the clip where he wants to count backwards), a kid who has Grover go the way that an arrow is pointed, Grover asking a girl to scratch his tummy, a boy telling Grover that he is the best monster that boy had ever met, and some other clips.

 

[minor muppetz]

Big Birds Storytime

Dang, I also forgot to mention that A celebration of me, Grover! has the Super Grover sketch where Grover attempts to save energy.

Moving right along, here is some info on Big Bird's Storytime.

release year: 1987

DVD release year: 2005

plot: It is nap time for Big Bird and mr. Snuffleupagus. They want Maria to read them a bedtime story, so Maria goes to the library to get a book but the library is closed so she picks up a newspaper to read to Big Bird and Snuffy, which includes news reports about various fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Eventually, Snuffy wants to hear the story of the three... animals. Snuffy can't remember what three animals, just that there are three of them. Maria figures he is probably talking about the three bears, but after she is finished with the story, Snuffy remembers that the story he was talking about was the three little pigs. Big Bird and Snuffy finally fall asleep (I can't remember if Maria also sleeps) when all of a sudden a worn-out Kermit appears in Big Bird's nest area and falls asleep.

segments included:
At Your Library (with Oscar and the human cast)
Sesame Street News: Rupunzel
Sesame Street News: Snow White
Sesame Street News: Humpty Dumpty
Sesame Street News: The Three Little Pigs (the one where Kermit interviews the pig who built a straw house that's too strong for the wolf to blow down)
Imagine That (with Erne)

nitpicks:
*I think this is the only Sesame Street video that Jim Henson actually performed in (Not counting Ernies voice over in Sing-Along).
*Although the title is Big Bird's Storytime, Big Bird didn't appear on the original video cover. Instead, the cover had a scene from Imagine That, with Ernie as a knight on a horse confronting a dragon.
*it's a little strange that the library would close in the middle of the day (then again, my local library closes at 5 pm on Fridays and Saturdays).
*Couldn't Maria have just read one of the books on Big Bird's shelf?
*it would have been great if this video had included at least one Monsterpiece Theatre sketch.

 

[minor muppetz]

Here is some info on The Alphabet Game.

year of release: 1987.

plot: Sonny Friendly is the host of Alphabet Treasure Hunt. His contestants are Big Bird, Dimples The Dog, and Gary Grouch. The object of the game is to find objects that begin with certain letters of the alphabet. The alphabet board goes up to a certain letter, and when it stops on a certain letter, the contestants must find something that begins with that letter. Each person who succeeds will get a piece of a cookie, and when they get all three pices that make a full cookie, that person wins. The first letter is B. Big Bird tries to find something that begins with B but Dimples bites Big Bird so hard that he can't get away. Time is up and Dimples gets a cookie piece because he brought in Big Bird. Gary comes back with a trash can which he points out does not start with B, but Sonny sees that there are bugs in the can, and Bugs begins with B, so Gary gets a cookie piece (Gary doesn't want to win, so he is angry). After that is alphabet bonus time, where the alphabet board goes crazy, leading to a letter and a clip of that letter. The bonus letter is D. The next letter for contestants to find an object of is F. Dimples once again bites so hard on big bird that he can't move, and when time is up, Dimples pulls off Big Bird's feathers. Gary brings his lunch ("Which does NOT start with the letter F"), which is wrapped up in a newspaper ("Which also doesn't begin with F"), but Gary doesn't realize that what his lunch is, a fish, does begin with an F. It's alphabet bonus time again, and the bonus letters are H and J. The next letter is R. This time Dimples stays where he is and doens't stop Big Bird. Big Bird brings in a rabbit, but Sonny Friendly only thinks of it as a bunny and does not give Big Bird a piece of the cookie. Dimples is resting, which begins with R, and gets another piece. Gary Grouch is so upset over getting pieces of cookie by accident that he drills a hole in the ceiling, but then it rains, and he gets another cookie piece. It's alphabet bonus time again, and the letters are Q, S, and W. Dimples and Gary are tied so they have to answer a question. Gary doesn't answer and leaves. The question is, "What is the top of a house called?". Dimples says, "Woof!" and wins. He gets a lot of prizes, including a vacation (I forget where) and he get's to pick who he goes on the vacation wiht. He chooses Big Bird.

segments:
Alphabet In The Swamp (with Kermit The Frog)
Dee Dee Dee (with Ernie and Cookie Monster)
a mad scientist invents the capital lette H (animated skit)
J folks jambouree (animated song)
The Question Song (with Grover and a Little Girl)
Sammy The Snake (with Sammy The Snake)
Wanda The Witch (animated skit from the very first episode)

nitpicks:
*the title of this video should have just been called Alphabet treasure Hunt.
*Oscar could have easily just been a contestant, instead of Gary Grouch. It could be argued that Oscar wasn't used because Caroll Spinney was performing Big Bird, but Big Bird and Gary Grouch don't interract at all in this video (and it also seems like, out of all muppets who have the same performer, Big Bird and Oscar interract the most). Another explanation could be so that all contestants could have the same first and last initials. or it could have been so that all contestants would be from different places in the country (The names of the homes they are from are mentioned, and they are all from different places).
*at the end, the name of Sonny Friendleys co-hostess is mentioned, but I can't tell what she says her name is.
*I wonder if a puppet version of Big Bird was used or if it was the actual suit. Big Bird never appears in full-body form at all in this video. (I have read that the whole suit isn't used whenever Big Bird appears on Hollywood squares).

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Thanks for reviewing Big Bird's Story Time, minor muppetz! That's one of my favorite videos, mainly because Kermit shows up and interacts with the cast on the Street! Right at the end, Snuffy and Big Bird are half asleep after Maria's been reading all these stories to them and Kermit pops up in between Big Bird and Snuffy (and Kermit's worn out after reporting on all those news stories) and he tells Snuffy to move over and he falls asleep on Big Bird's nest in between Big Bird and Snuffy! I just thought that was one of the coolest things ever!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Okay, I guess I'll tackle "Elmopalooza" now, since I just finally watched it for the first time. This is a 1998 TV special that was later released on both VHS and DVD. One thing I have to say straight off is: This video is celebrating the 30th. anniversary of Sesame Street and despite its title, it does just that (though not with any classic video clips) It's really not nearly as Elmo centric as I expected it to be. I wish they could have picked a better title for the video, but if you can get past that, there really is a good Sesame Street special here.
There's really nothing on this video as far as classic sketches or songs. There are some classic songs sung, but none of them are the original versions from the show.

However, it is worth it for the guest star appearances (both from humans like Jon Stewart and David Alan Grier) and from some very rarely seen Muppets!
First off, Kermit the Frog shows up in his reporter role to give you the scoop on what's going down at the start of the video. Kermit up front and center is always a nice addition for a Sesame Street video!
(And he makes some appearances later on, but I'll get to that in sequential order)

By the way, here's a review I found at Toughpigs.com that might be worth checking out.
http://www.toughpigs.com/myweekelmo.htm#Tuesday


Another good thing I'll point out is that despite its title, this whole thing really isn't just an Elmopalooza. Lots of other characters are on hand. The whole gang is at Radio City Music Hall to celebrate Sesame Street's 30th. anniversary. Elmo is there with Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Herry, Cookie Monster, Zoe, Baby Bear, Telly, Oscar and Slimey, and Prairie Dawn. Jon Stewart is supposed to be the host but he gets locked in a room with Prairie Dawn. David Alan Grier is sort of the executive producer who's trying to keep the show running in order. Actually, at this point, it's good to point out one of the coolest things about this special. It really feels like a Sesame Street version of The Muppet Show!!! It's really cool.
David Alan Grier basically has Scooter's role and Elmo takes on Kermit's role, as he steps up to the plate to host the show in Jon's stead. (Note- Prairie was actually originally in charge and would have been co-hosting with Jon if they hadn't been locked in the room.)
Elmo and David go on with the show- having different clips of celebrities singing songs all throughout. In between songs, different celebrities come by and try to get Jon and Prairie out. Let's see- we have Richard Belzer with his Muppet stuntman try and fail. Chris Rock comes by and tells them that he can save the show by hosting and telling jokes. Prairie reminds him not to tell any dirty jokes and then that ends that. Chris goes off, lamenting the fact that he can't tell his mud jokes, which of course, Oscar calls after him, saying he'd like to hear these mud jokes.
At one point, David Alan Grier even has Biff trying to get them out!!! Yes, Biff actually shows up, albeit with a slightly different voice (but he does in fact, speak!) and the Muppet itself actually looked slightly different. But it was certainly Biff. And later on, in one of the songs, we actually see Sully in the audience as well!
Another cool factor was that in a song called "I Want a Monster to be my Friend" Frazzle shows up!!! And in Gloria Estefan's song "Mambo I I I", the Oinker Sisters show up!
And Forgetful Jones even showed up in a scene!!! (he was among a group of Muppets trying to get Jon and Prairie out) He didn't say anything, but it was awesome just to see him there.
And I can't forget to mention that while all this is going on, for most of the video, the Sesame Street human cast is trying to get to the Radio City Music Hall. They're picked up in a limo- and Grover is driving!!! The human cast (Bob, Gina, Mr. Handford- probably one of his only video appearances, Gordon and Susan) all ride with Grover, though they're skeptical of his driving capabilities. A chicken is also there serving peanuts. Later on, Grover gets them kinda lost and they pick up some penguins. (Though Grover claims it's the penguins that are lost.) And near Roswell, New Mexico, Grover picks up the Yip Yip aliens!!!
They all eventually get there at the end though, and join in singing the last song, called "Songs". And also, the Two-Headed Monster even shows up and is on stage at one point, while Elmo is trying to introduce the next song. And Kermit does show up again, singing "Caribbean Amphibian" with Jimmy Buffet- but in a different video clip from the original version.
And even the credits are fun to watch, as we hear the Sesame Street theme song sung by the different celebrities and Muppets (Kermit and Jimmy Buffet; Tyra Banks, Cindy Crawford and Baby Bear; Rosie O'Donnell and Elmo; Shawn Colvin and Ernie; The Fugees and Big Bird and Snuffy) etc.
Well, I know this hasn't been straight out in order, but the cool thing about this video is that so many classic characters do show up. Oh yeah, and Maria and Luis are there in the "Mambo I, I, I" song and later show up to sing in the finale, "Songs". By this point, Jon and Prairie have been freed by Slimey sneezing down the door. (Thanks to Bert's pepper that he has in his pocket). During the "Songs" song, Ernie and Bert sing a clip of "Rubber Duckie", Big Bird sings a clip of "ABC-DEFGH-JKL-MNOP-QR-STUV-WXYZ", Oscar sings a clip of "I Love Trash" and Cookie Monster sings a clip of "C is for Cookie". And Bob, Gordon and Susan sing "Who are the People in your Neighborhood?"
It's a great ending with all of them there and lots of cameo appearances, like the ones I already mentioned. Oh yeah, and The Count is certainly there at the end too. I think it was great that this video, though it had Elmo taking on the hosting job, still managed to keep all the characters pretty well balanced and it didn't feel like Elmo was totally dominating the show. And there were tons of celebrities- Madonna, Tony Bennett and Will Smith all made very quick cameos (taken from archive footage). Conan O'Brien also made an uncredited appearance, hosting his show. Kenny Loggins showed up to sing "One Small Voice". Shawn Colvin sang "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" with Ernie.
Well, here's a complete track listing from the album.

1. Mambo l, l, l - Gloria Estefan
2. I Want A Monster To Be My Friend - En Vogue
3. Zig Zag Dance - Mighty Mighty Bosstones & The Count
4. Nearly Missed - Rosie O'Donnell & Elmo
5. Just Happy To Be Me - Fugees
6. I Don't Want To Live On The Moon - Shawn Colvin & Ernie
7. I Love Trash - Steven Tyler
8. Caribbean Amphibian - Jimmy Buffett, Kermit The Frog & The All-Amphibian Band
9. Happy To Meet You - Celine Dion, Herry Monster, Elmo & Big Bird
10. One Small Voice - Kenny Loggins & The Kids
11. Songs - Elmo & The Kids


This is more or less how the songs showed up on the video, except for a few things.
The Fugees kicked things off with a rap remix of "Just Happy to Be Me" and then came Gloria Estefan's song. Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith fame) didn't show up to sing "I Love Trash", but apparently he recorded it for the album. And Celine Dion wasn't on the video either. And I should also mention, as part of the plot, that Rosie O'Donnell's song actually came right before Kenny Loggins' song. She hit Elmo at the end and he went flying into Zoe and Telly and wound up bringing the curtains down and felt like he messed things up. Jon, David and Prairie and Big Bird convince Elmo that he didn't mess anything up and he has to go on and finish the show. They manage to get Jon and Prairie out at this point (as they have the video for the next song trapped in there with them) and Big Bird rushes through the set of Conan O'Brien's show to get the video playing. And then we have Kenny Loggins singing "One Small Voice"- which makes Elmo feel better and he and Jon and the rest of the cast finish up with "Songs".
That's pretty much it. (Sorry if it's a little jumbled)

All in all, I thought it was a great special.

 

[minor muppetz]

Elmopalooza is a great special. It's odd that it didn't include any clips from the show (considering that it was an anniversary special). I think that all of Elmos TV specials are really good (and they all have a great amount of screen time for other characters as well). Also, I thought that Biff sounded the same as he normally does, maybe just a little deeper. I'm sure that Jerry Nelson still voiced him. Of course, a lot of characters voices do change over time, even if they are always performed by the same person. You can compare Kermit's voice from Being Green with his voice from I Love My Elbows or I Wonder About The World Above Up There and notice a difference in his voice, even though Jim Henson performed him in all of those. Or you can compare Fozzie's voice in the first season of the Muppet Show to his voice from The Muppets Take Manhattan and notice a small difference. Or if you watch Elmos Sing-Along Guessing Game and compare Oscar's voice in I Love Trash with his voice in the linking footage you can tell a difference.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Yeah, I guess so, regarding the voice differences.
By the way, do you know if Kermit sings "I Wonder About the World Above Up There" just on Sesame Street or does he perform it on The Muppet Show too? I was just listening to that song today and it sounded like I heard Robin in there singing too.

 

[minor muppetz]

Yeah, I guess so, regarding the voice differences.
By the way, do you know if Kermit sings "I Wonder About the World Above Up There" just on Sesame Street or does he perform it on The Muppet Show too? I was just listening to that song today and it sounded like I heard Robin in there singing too.

Yes, he only sang it on Sesame Street. He never sang it on The Muppet Show. It was included on an album called Jim Henson's Sesame Street celebration, where the song had a 1987 copyright, meaning that it was written long after The Muppet Show ended. Kermit sang the song with three kids, voiced by Jerry nelson (using the same voice he used for Robin), kevin clash, and camille bonora (even though she wasn't credited in the album booklet).

 

[minor muppetz]

Here is information about The Best of Elmo.

year: 1994.

plot: Elmo has made a lot of drawings, and plans on including one in the monster art show. He shows the pictures to Maria to see which one she likes best. She likes a picture of Elmo and Ernie the best, so Elmo let's her keep it. She tries to resist, because Elmo has to enter one in the contest, but Elmo insists, because he still has plenty of pictures. He then shows them to Ruthie, and gives her two of her favorite drawings. Zoe see's the pictures and keeps asking Elmo if she can have them, and Elmo reluctantly let;s her have all that she asks for. This leaves only one picture left, of Elmo playing the piano. Elmo decides to enter that one in the contest, since that is the only one left. However, a dark blue honker shows up, overly depressed because everybody else got a picture and he didn't. Elmo think's about whether he should give the honker the last picture or enter it in the art show. Elmo decides that having his friend be happy is more important than being in an art show, so he gives Honker the last picture. Now Elmo is sad. He confronts Maria, Ruthie, Zoe and the Honker, who all learn that he no longer has a picture for the monster art show, and they all decide to give Elmo back his paintings. Elmo say's he couldn't, since he gave all of them his pictures, but maria tells Elmo that he can give the pictures back to them after the art show is over. But now this leaves Elmo with one question: "Which picture should Elmo enter in The Monster Art Show?"

segments:
One Fine Face (also starring Ernie)
In Your Imagination (also featuring Hoots The Owl and Wolfgang The Seal)
Happy Tapping
Elmo and Julia Roberts teach viewers about being afraid
Five Jive With Elmo Hammer
Three (also starring Prarie Dawn and Herry Monster)
Elmo and Whoopi Goldberg talk about fur, skin, and hair
Heavy and Light (also starring Telly)
The Sound That's In The Air
Elmos Song (also starring Big Bird and Snuffy)

nitpicks:
*While the title sequence for most of the My Sesame Street Home Video releases had Big Bird reading the title out loud, in this one (and the previous one, A New Baby In My House) it is Elmo who reads the title.
*This is the only My Sesame Street Home Video release from Random House to feature the 1990s Sesame Street theme music (instead of the 1980s theme music).
*Also like A New Baby In My Family, this is one of the few My Sesame Street Home Video releases to have a different end credits sequence (all My Sesame Street Home Video releases from the 1980s had an illustrated still of Cookie Monster holding a chalk board with the credits on it). The end credit sequence here had shots of most of Elmo's drawings.
*one of the pictures seen is of goldfish, probably from the Seven Goldfishg skit, which isn't included on this video. Could it have been planned but dropped after filming?
*Richard Hunt is listed as a director. I wonder which segment(s) he directed? He most likely didn't direct the linking footage, as this video was released after he died and he didn't get top billing as a director.
*If Elmo really wanted to enter a drawing after he had given hisd rawings all away, he could have just colored another picture. Or he could have entered his last picture and made a new one for the honker.
*The Honker was upset because he was the only one who didn't have a picture (untill Elmo gave Honker his last picture). However, we only see Elmo give pictures to Maria, Ruthie, and Zoe. Could he have given pictures away before the video started?
*At one point, when Zoe keeps wanting more of Elmo's pictures, Elmo says "It's not easy being the best". That line seems ironic because back then he was more of a supporting character, not any more or less major than Prarie dawn or Herry Monster (the only difference being that he had his own "best of" video, when at the time the only other characters to have a "best of" video were Ernie and Bert), but now it seems like he is the main Sesame Street character (or at least most profitable, in the eyes of Sesame Workshop) yet many hardcore fans dislike him for taking away screen time from other characters.
*Of course, for those of you who think he does take screen time away from others, watch this video and you'll see that, out of all the "best of [insert character here]" videos (before A Celebration of Me, Grover!), this one has the best mix of characters. Heck, in many of the songs and skits Elmo is more of a co-star or supporting character to others (like Ernie). Most videos about the best of certain characters focus on the characetrs tat the videos are promoting, with very little of other characters.