Unearthing previously "lost" Sesame Street episodes

[scarecroe]

I was going to ask how it was known for sure that these are lost/missing from the vaults...

The article is sourced.

I wonder if any of these street stories were repeated later.

I believe that Sesame Street episodes with recycled plots is close to complete.

 

[D'Snowth]

imagine someone remaking Episode 0239 where Oscar builds a wall around his trash can to keep out undesirables, but soon discovers its drawbacks.

That's actually happening: Trump calls it the "Border Wall."

 

[datman24]

That's actually happening: Trump calls it the "Border Wall."

And even Oscar thinks Trump is nuts, as the grouch has said so himself.

 

[LittleJerry92]

What I find odd is why episodes from seasons 11 and 14 would be missing, given by this point it was practically common to at least make copies of the masters as VHS was becoming quite popular by then. You would think episodes from the early 80s would still be around.

 

[minor muppetz]

The article is sourced.

I must have missed it.

 

[scarecroe]

I don't know where some of you guys are drawing your conclusions, but it would be great if folks read the entire article.

Here it is again...

Lost episodes of Sesame Street

Sesame Street has produced over 4,500 original episodes of television over the course of fifty years. Most TV shows consider it a huge landmark if they're able to pass one hundred episodes, an achievement that Sesame Street has reached forty-five times over. Given the vast volume of content...

muppet.fandom.com

 

[Oscarfan]

You can't make me!

 

[LittleJerry92]

You know, this kind of irks me.... the fact that one or the missing episodes happens to be one that introduces Little Jerry and his group

 

[hooperfan]

I think regardless of whether or not these episodes can be obtained through alternate channels, and considering how many shows from that era have lost material, 60 episodes out over 4,5000 is pretty good. Sure, at a certain point, they were much more careful, but it's amazing how much has survived.

And who knows, maybe the raw footage for those episodes exists in their archive, just not as a complete show.

I was going to say something like this too. I mean, yeah, it does disappoint that there are missing shows but considering how massive the archive is, this isn't a whole lot of material

 

[minor muppetz]

I've seen an old article from when Sesame Workshop was making digital copies of all its episodes, it was said that whenever a new video format was introduced, they'd convert their old copies to that format. Makes me wonder when they started making new copies of episodes to preserve them. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't start preserving old (not likely to be seen again) episodes after the first three seasons (which is where most of the lost episodes are from). Makes me wonder if they got rid of their older copies when they made new copies and then some of those new copies got lost or something.