Unearthing previously "lost" Sesame Street episodes

[TimzUneeverse]

What about show 1652? That hasn't gotten on the anonymous source train yet.

 

[YellowYahooey]

I do not remember seeing "Rubber Duckie" very much during the 1980s. I may only recall seeing it once in the 1980s.

As for the selection of classic episodes being offered by HBO Max, I suspect that will be all we will be getting, just like when the Classics series was aired on the TV counterpart - in which we only got select episodes and nothing outside that realm. Those choice episodes being offered on HBO Max are likely considered to be episodes with an actual storyline in most or all of the scenes. Many of those episodes that are selected have important milestones, such as the introduction of Telly Monster (when he was more addicted to television, and I don't think this was offered on a Canadian broadcast back in 1980); and also episodes that educated about important issues kids should learn, such as overcoming fear of visiting an eye doctor (#1261), coping with surgery after Big Bird gets his tonsils removed (#1255), and teaching about what happens as a result of vandalism after Cookie Monster ate Hooper's Store right down to the bare walls). Other milestone episodes include James Earl Jones' visit, Bert dating Bertha, and Alice's visit to Central Park. But some episodes were not considered milestone, such as the late Season 1 episode in which Big Bird learned how to draw the letter R - I mean, what's so significant about that? Wouldn't it be just as well to offer the Season 26 episode where Elmo, Rosita and Zoe learn to draw Ds and 3s as well?

Of the vintage episodes being offered, there are more episodes from the 1970s than those from the 1980s. But yeah, the 1970s had some of the best inserts the show had to offer. Some of the newer inserts from the 1980s were good, such as the ones drawn by Tom Gabbay, including "L for large, and L for little" and the one where the aviator and his son work together to start their biplane. I also enjoyed some of the newer Cliff Roberts inserts too, including the "letter N salesman" skit (and Roberts was also working for Hanna-Barbera Productions at the same time, as he was shown in the closing credits to "The Gary Coleman Show" and also worked on other Saturday morning cartoons). Roberts' newer cartoons had more color than in his older skits, particularly the Poverty Pictures segments.

 

[TimzUneeverse]

Show 1727 has just been tabled, which seems natural.

Episode 1727

muppet.fandom.com

I wonder when I'm ever gonna get a trip to the anonymous source.

 

[CoolGuy1013]

If it’s an anonymous source, who knows? You mace have already been there. It may even be me (though I can confirm it’s not).

 

[minor muppetz]

Susan goes back to her nursing job:

Episode 0096

muppet.fandom.com

 

[Oscarfan]

But some episodes were not considered milestone, such as the late Season 1 episode in which Big Bird learned how to draw the letter R - I mean, what's so significant about that?

That one was already available for download through other sources, so I assume all the rights and such was cleared already, thus easy to put on there.

 

[YellowYahooey]

Now that you mentioned it, I think it could be possible that many of the episodes in the series may not be available on HBO Max due to rights issues regarding celebrities and maybe a larger number of certain sketches and skits in which the rights are not cleared for release.

 

[minor muppetz]

An episode that coincided with the first Earth Day. Those Plezuzmi boxes look neat. And it's an episode Caroll Spinney talked about in his book where they wanted black smoke but ended up with white smoke (I can't remember if I saw this guide before, when all the editors had to go by was the script). Interesting that a trusted source is cited when it is also mentioned in The Wisdom of Big Bird (a more public source), though still cool. The way the smoke comes out is different from what I had pictured (I actually thought it would come out of his trash can - and recently wondered if there'd be enough room for Oscar and the smoke to be in the trash can space).

https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_0118

I don't suppose there's any way for us to know which episode it was where a stage light crashed and set Big Bird's leg on fire, right?

 

[CoolGuy1013]

Never would’ve guessed the season 49 Earth Day Special wasn’t the first.
Also, that episode premiered the day I joined this forum (the season 49 one, not the one from 50 years ago).

 

[TimzUneeverse]

Out of all the shows in seasons 15 and 16, only this one has ever been uploaded to YouTube.

Recently, however, a user by the name of Valerie Farias has been uploading segments from the older Sesame episodes.

Valerie Farias

Sesame street

www.youtube.com