Warner Home Video now distributing Sesame Workshop DVDs

[minor muppetz]

Seems like Elmo V3 is just going to be more celebrity segments... why not just release a Best of Celebrities on Sesame Street collection and get it over with?

There was an all-celebrity-inserts DVD release. It was called Singing with the Stars, and all of the clips were music numbers sung by celebrities. Of course it didn't include any classic celebrity numbers, just ones from the last decade.

And oddly enough, the packaging didn't show any celebrities. It seems like Warner Home Video has been avoiding showing celebrities on the packaging of Sesame Street DVDs (while Sony Wonder and Genius never had such issues with it, even including celebrities on the covers of certain releases). The back cover had images representing celebritiy numbers, but without the celebrities pictures (like an image for the 1234 parody but without Feist).

It would be great if they could make a "Best if Celebrities" release like "Best of Sesame Street Spoofs", with a disc/hours worth of classic clips and a disc/hours worth of more recent Sesame Street spots. I'd kind of like a Sesame Street celebrities release that's done similar to the shorts arrangement on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection releases, with each celebrity being represented with every insert appearance they made (and it seems like those who appeared during the 1970s did many inserts in one day). Of course even if they can include a celebrity there could be other issues with certain clips, like if they sang songs not written for the show (such as Johnny Cash's "Five Feet High and Rising", James Taylor's "Up on the Roof", Ray Charles' "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning", etc.). But you never know.

But if there's a big issue with including celebrities on the packaging, then it might look odd for a release titled "Best of Sesame Street Celebrities" to not have the celebrities on the packaging (not having celebrities on the packaging for "Singing with the Stars" doesn't seem so odd by comparrison).

 

[Drtooth]

forgot to say this...

Similar with ARTHUR, the celebrity guests and/or look-alikes have become a mandatory Once a Season thing. Apparently this upcoming season finale is a Very Special Episode with Idina Menzel... banking on FROZEN, are they?

As long as she doesn't overhear them in the Sugar Bowl and take a disturbingly intense interest in something because she happens to be related to the thing they just so happen to talk about. How many times can that happen unironically?

 

[D'Snowth]

As long as she doesn't overhear them in the Sugar Bowl and take a disturbingly intense interest in something because she happens to be related to the thing they just so happen to talk about. How many times can that happen unironically?

Dude, I was recently asked to record a CinemaSins-esque narration for that model rocket episode, and that was one of the things I had to mention, about how the celebs seem to always just randomly pop up in the Sugar Bowl.

But, as far as I know, this episode is apparently very eerily similar to the hurricane arc of SST, in that one of the character's house is going to be destroyed in a storm, hence why it'll be a Very Special Episode.

 

[Drtooth]

Dude, I was recently asked to record a CinemaSins-esque narration for that model rocket episode, and that was one of the things I had to mention, about how the celebs seem to always just randomly pop up in the Sugar Bowl.

Can I also add that Frank Geary (or however you spell it) had a much better guest shot on The Simpsons. Which is a nice segue to...

Back when Sesame Street was more even handed with their celebrities, they managed to get a lot more artists and performers to round out the more mainstream of celebrities and athletic figures. While they kinda manage to still do that with some of the People in the Neighborhood segments every so often (I thought the Paul Zaloom one was brilliant), they seem to be just focusing on actors, musicians, and sports figures. And to an overkill, though understandable amount. But it's really been hit or miss, especially the word on the street bits.

What I do not get is why, if celebrity segments are so important (even retroactively with releases of older material), why haven't we had a Best of Celebrity collection. I'm sure there's going to be a crapload of licensing fees and residuals, but that really hasn't stopped them before (at least recently) since virtually every release has several celeb based segments.

 

[minor muppetz]

I just thought of something: The upcoming special The Cookie Thief will probably be released on DVD this year. Wouldn't it be great if that DVD included Don't Eat the Pictures as a bonus feature (though since that special is on DVD through a different company, I wonder if they could include that as a bonus on a Warner-released DVD)?

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

I just thought of something: The upcoming special The Cookie Thief will probably be released on DVD this year. Wouldn't it be great if that DVD included Don't Eat the Pictures as a bonus feature (though since that special is on DVD through a different company, I wonder if they could include that as a bonus on a Warner-released DVD)?

That's a good thought there! As great of a bonus feature Don't Eat the Pictures would make, I can't help but thinking that a lot of kids will be confused at a lot of aspects of the special mostly in regards to how it's from 1983. They might be confused at how different the Muppet characters (with the possible exception of Big Bird, Oscar, and Snuffy) may sound. They obviously won't recognize David, Olivia, and Linda, but will they at least be able to recognize Bob, Gordon, Susan, and Maria? How are they gonna respond to the comments about Snuffy being 'imaginary'? Most of all, they'll more than likely be asking their parents (or whatever relation they have with the adult) "Where's Elmo? Where's Abby? Where's Chris? Where's Leela?" They might not be old enough to understand that this is an old special, and any character they see frequently today wasn't on back in the day.

I know there are lot of parents/relatives that introduce their kids to the Classic Sesame Street more than they do to the Current Sesame Street, so this special might work out better for those kids as opposed to the kids who are more exposed to the modern version of the show. Just my personal input.

 

[minor muppetz]

That's a good thought there! As great of a bonus feature Don't Eat the Pictures would make, I can't help but thinking that a lot of kids will be confused at a lot of aspects of the special mostly in regards to how it's from 1983. They might be confused at how different the Muppet characters (with the possible exception of Big Bird, Oscar, and Snuffy) may sound.

Well, David Rudman's Cookie Monster and Eric Jacobson's Bert and Grover don't sound too different from Frank Oz's, and while Steve Whitmire and Matt Vogel's respective Ernie and Count voices sound different from the originals (though Vogel's Count sounds more like Jerry Nelson's when he's singing), they are still good enough recasts. Besides, older clips with those characters being performed by their original performers still get released on new DVDs from time to time (and not just the classic collectors-market ones), and older VHS releases with the original performers from as far back as the 1980s are still available on DVD. Jim Henson's performances as Ernie may not have been aired since 2009, but Sesame Workshop hasn't had any problems releasing them on DVD. The only real noticeable vocal difference would be Telly. I remember when I first saw the special noticing a much different voice, but I didn't think too much about it (and what I did think, I really liked that different voice).

And of course, Sesame Workshop has put many clips online with the original performers and other things that would confuse today's kids, but I don't know whether that counts the same as putting them on a DVD aimed at the current target audience.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, David Rudman's Cookie Monster and Eric Jacobson's Bert and Grover don't sound too different from Frank Oz's, and while Steve Whitmire and Matt Vogel's respective Ernie and Count voices sound different from the originals

I disagree with David's Cookie and Eric's Bert not sounding too different from Frank's original, but whatever. I will say Eric's Grover has definitely improved over the years.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

@minor muppetz Once again, those are all good thoughts. I was about 3 (almost 4) when I first watched that special (probably like mid August 1997). I definitely recall being surprised at Telly's voice and confused when Gordon told Big Bird "You can meet your imaginary friend next time! OK?" (pretty much anytime they made reference to the fact that Snuffy was imaginary.) As for the adults aside from Bob, Gordon, Susan, and Maria...I obviously I knew who Linda was since she was still a regular character in 1997, David I had already seen in Put Down the Duckie (or The Sesame Street Special, whatever you wanna call it), and Olivia, I still wasn't too sure on who she was.

 

[Drtooth]

If there's one thing that's disappointing about SW sitting out the 45th anniversary it's that we totally could have had a "45 of 45" collection... 45 skits, one skit from every year. They totally could cheap out with shorter skits to save room.

But no... just more Elmo and TV episode releases.