The Trading Game or The Anything-in-the-Whole-Wide-World Prize Game

[minor muppetz]

If you could own a copy of one of the two game show sketches with Oscar as a contestant, which would you choose: The Trading Game or the Anything in the Whole Wide World Prize Game?

It seems like both are very rare. Muppet Wiki doesn't have images for either, and Muppet Wiki doesn't list the latter in any episode pages. I don't think any of us have a copy of either. The Trading Game is included in an epsidoe that's viewable at The Museum of Television and Radio, while the other is transcribed in Sesame Street Unpaved.

 

[muppet maniac]

I remember seeing the Trading Game sketch on Open Sesame while staying in Singapore several years ago (around 2003). But it was dubbed in Malay, and the TV had pretty poor reception.

I would love to see both of these clips wind up on YouTube (I imagine someone like huggic211[?] will upload them on there).

 

[TotallySpiesFan]

I hope they're going to upload "The Trading Game" on the Sesame Street website.

 

[minor muppetz]

That would be good, though it seems like the website doesn't show any early Oscar material. The earliest stuff with Oscar on the site are clips from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. I also haven't seen any clips with the first Guy Smiley puppet on there, either (the original puppet has some sort of look that I can't describe).

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, both of them are now available for viewing at sesamestreet.org (The Trading Game has always been on the site).

One thing that I guess I've missed all these years is that it's actually titled "The Anything-in-the-World Prize Game". I don't know why I thought there was a "whole wide" in the title. I checked my copy of Sesame Street Unpaved and "whole wide" is not listed in the title there either. I thought it was odd that the website listed it as "Anything in the World", and didn't notice until after watching it three times that Guy Smiley only referred to it as "The Anything in the World Prize Game".

Interestingly, in this clip, Guy Smiley actually finishes his second question before Oscar answers it. In the script in SSU Oscar says "No!" before Guy finishes the question, and Guy even comments on that part in that script.

It's also interesting that at the beginning of the sketch, Guy refers to oscar as "our first contestant", but then at the end he closes it as if the actual game show is over and Oscar is more than just the first contestant, but the only one.

I think I like The Anything in the Wordl Prize Game better. The stagng is a bit impressive. It starst with a wide shot, showing a camera man and a camera (is this the only time a camera was shown in a Guy Smiley game show?), and in those shots the staging cleverly shows the camera blocking the performer. ANd the set uses a backdrop next to where the set ended to show more of the street.

Judging by the lighting, the looks of the puppets, and how young Bob and Maria look (not to mention how they are dressed), this sketch looks like it's from season 7 or 8.