What sketches scared you as a kid?

[LittleJerry92]

Fireworks alphabet

I remember the echoing of the person shouting the letters when they appeared kind of scaring me along with the letters being made from fireworks.Thank god that's back on Youtube!

 

[MuppetGirl85]

Oh, my. I have one. The Count, one of our staff members, is probably going to take offense to this one, but I was always scared of the segments that featured Count von Count. Especially in the older episodes of Sesame Street, where he was really creepy and stuff. And the bats...yes, I know now that they were fake and "flew" around because they were moved around on flexible wires by puppeteers. And yes, I know that they were the Count's pets and, of course, what Count is complete without them? But... *shudders* I was never fond of them. I can still remember a dream from when I was a small girl, where I was in my house and the TV room was full of them (except they were the Sesame Street puppet-type bats, not real ones, thank the Lord above, but still).

And the fact that the Count, in older segments, had a maniacal type of laugh, made him even more scary to me. In fact, I'm not so sure I'd be able to watch them now, and I'm almost 22 (I still love you, Jerry Nelson)! Thankfully, they toned him down in later episodes and made him more kid-friendly, but I'm still not sure I'd go back and watch segments featuring the Count.

 

[Drtooth]

I bet this will send the lot of you shivering off to your beds, muffling the screams with your pillow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSMNeqI30HY

 

[LittleJerry92]

I bet this will send the lot of you shivering off to your beds, muffling the screams with your pillow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSMNeqI30HY

There's something I wanna ask about that bird.Is it Male or Female?

 

[wiley207]

I'm sure many of you heard of a really scary "Sesame Street" episode from 1976 (episode 847) that had the Wicked Witch of the West in it (played by Margaret Hamilton). It was SO scary, CTW had to ban it after its initial airing! I wonder if they showed any of the scary "monster" skits or anything like that with it? But here's a game I made up: make up a list of skits that could be shown during a rerun of that episode! It will use the Wicked Witch street scenes and the following skits...

Kermit's B-Sound Lecture with the Beautiful Day Monster
Kermit's "In" Lecture with Grover and Fred the Dragon
Bob, Luis and the Zooming Train
Mysterious Theater: The Mystery of the Missing Cat
Ernie goes rock-hunting and meets up with Fred the Dragon
The "Count of 10" segment with Limbo
The "Red-Hot I" animated segment
How Now Brown and the Moo-Wave: Danger's No Stranger
The Count counts letters to himself

Anyone else got their own ideas for which skits should be shown with a rerun of the Wicked Witch episode?

 

[CensoredAlso]

I read about the Wicked Witch episode on Muppet Wiki. That's so interesting, I wish I could see it!

Personally, I can't understand parents writing to a TV show complaining about scary content. I mean, I was scared by a lot of things on Sesame Street, but my parents never wrote in to complain. It is just a TV show, kids need to understand that it's not real, you don't need to be scared of make believe things, and life must go on. (There are plenty of real life things to be scared of after all).

Well maybe I'm just bitter because I adored Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz! Lol

 

[LittleJerry92]

I'm sure many of you heard of a really scary "Sesame Street" episode from 1976 (episode 847) that had the Wicked Witch of the West in it (played by Margaret Hamilton). It was SO scary, CTW had to ban it after its initial airing! I wonder if they showed any of the scary "monster" skits or anything like that with it? But here's a game I made up: make up a list of skits that could be shown during a rerun of that episode! It will use the Wicked Witch street scenes and the following skits...

Kermit's B-Sound Lecture with the Beautiful Day Monster
Kermit's "In" Lecture with Grover and Fred the Dragon
Bob, Luis and the Zooming Train
Mysterious Theater: The Mystery of the Missing Cat
Ernie goes rock-hunting and meets up with Fred the Dragon
The "Count of 10" segment with Limbo
The "Red-Hot I" animated segment
How Now Brown and the Moo-Wave: Danger's No Stranger
The Count counts letters to himself

Anyone else got their own ideas for which skits should be shown with a rerun of the Wicked Witch episode?

Here's a good one.Frazzle(the song).

 

[CensoredAlso]

The Shark that sings about his pearl white teeth and the camera kept getting close ups of his mouth. Terrified me as a child!

 

[Drtooth]

I read about the Wicked Witch episode on Muppet Wiki. That's so interesting, I wish I could see it!

Personally, I can't understand parents writing to a TV show complaining about scary content. I mean, I was scared by a lot of things on Sesame Street, but my parents never wrote in to complain. It is just a TV show, kids need to understand that it's not real, you don't need to be scared of make believe things, and life must go on. (There are plenty of real life things to be scared of after all).

Well maybe I'm just bitter because I adored Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz! Lol

This episode prompted an unusually large amount of mail responses from parents, almost entirely negative, within a short frame of time. Typical responses included parents concerned that their children were afraid and now refused to watch the show, using such phrases as "screams and tears" and "the threat of the witch's power remains in children's eyes." A somewhat atypical missive came from a self-proclaimed Wiccan, concerned with the perpetuation of a negative fairytale stereotype and recommended a segment "portraying witches as they really are, now."

Well, the humorless Wiccan aside, I don't understand what is so wrong. there have been more frightening things in the shows history than that... bird cartoon included. I think of it as a wonderful idea to have a scary character like that wind up becoming human and likable. It shows children that fear is in the eye of the beholder. it is a shame that they actually listen to that angry mail... but it was a sign of things to come.

 

[Chris Gawley]

I'm sure many of you heard of a really scary "Sesame Street" episode from 1976 (episode 847) that had the Wicked Witch of the West in it (played by Margaret Hamilton). It was SO scary, CTW had to ban it after its initial airing!

I remember that episode (albeit only bits and pieces), & yes it was very scary! What really stuck with me was when the witch threatened to turn the people of SS into things (David into a basketball, Big Bird into a feather duster, etc), & remembering that there was nothing nice or funny about that sketch....it was actually very disturbing!

I did not remember that the witch was Margaret Hamilton reprising her role of the Wicked Witch of the West; the most (in)famous & well-known witch ever known; only tied with (or possibly second to) PUFNSTUF's Wilemena W. Witchiepoo, played by Bille Hayes. Just a tidbit for interest's sake, Margaret Hamilton & Bille Hayes were friends & LOVED each other's witch personna!

But I digress....being that I was five when that episode aired & I am 36 now, I would love to see it again, & hope it will find its way into a box set someday.