Why aren't older Sesame Street shows rerun?

[Mark The Shark]

At the very least, for purposes of preservation... they should restore and remaster the original ep's and compile them in digital format and hopefully release them to dvd as the demand is obviously there. A show which spawned over 5 decades and has reached the homes of so many generations of children, so many children's children's children who grew up with the show and made it a farmiliar and household name, must give some sort of signal that the demographic is there, somewhere - in those many generations. If not for the nostalgia alone, or for the sake of raising future generations on such beloved formulas and foundations. People would buy dvd's, if only they were produced and made available to the public.

Here is what *you* can do to make this happen:

Buy "Christmas Eve On Sesame Street."

Buy "Put Down The Duckie."

Buy "Songs From The Street."

Buy "Muppets Magic."

Buy the "Muppet Show" DVDs.

If stuff like the above *sells* in sufficient quantities to economically justify the expense and effort to create it...then there will be more. If not, there won't be. That is simple supply and demand. And first and foremost, every one of us needs to say "thank you" to the powers that be who released all of the above, and then *politely and sincerely* request that more shows be made available. Saying "I hate Elmo" or "the current Sesame Street sucks" or "Jim Henson must be rolling over in his grave" isn't going to accomplish anything. Neither will "when r u going to relese more old sesemes they will sell in the millions hjow u cant c that is beyond me u r a fool."

"Sesame Street Unpaved" was a great show, and I'm glad it was on and I had the opportunity to record it. Would I have liked there to have been more episodes included? Yes. Would I have preferred more of the earlier episodes (ones that actually were from my childhood) included? You bet. Would I buy them if DVDs were released? Absolutely. Maybe not all at once (I'm not a millionaire), but absolutely.

Are there a million people who will buy this stuff to justify the costs of making it available? I don't know, but most likely not. Yes, there are loads of folks on newsgroups and message boards clamoring for the stuff...but read some of the posts. "Burn them for me." "Rip them for me." "Send me an MP3." Is that going to help convince SW to release official product? No way. And when they *were* running vintage shows...what kinds of reactions did they get? "Show me *all* the shows and give them to me for nothing!" "They're repeating the same ones over and over!" "The shows are edited!" Yes, it's a Catch-22. Corporate minds like the folks who make those kinds of decisions (whether to release something on video or to TV) operate within a very narrow frame of mind. They "know" that these shows are old, they "know" they're dated, they "know" kids won't watch anything without Elmo, etc. I hate to sound like a broken record...but petitions and internet whining are not going to do anything. If something *sells,* then there will be more. If it *bombs,* then the studios and producers' reaction is, "See? No one wants this stuff." Yes, it's an "Igotcha," but that's the way it is.

Not trying to be a Grinch...but seriously...if you want more of the stuff out there, then *cast your vote* by supporting the release of vintage material that's already available.

Have a nice day.

 

[Drtooth]

I feel the same way... but SW wants to listen to the kids, not the die hard fans... I hope that somehow the adult sized T-shirts (I wear my Ernie and Bert Shirt with pride!) and the eventual action figure line will make them see that more adults like it than kids. I mean, I grew up in the 80's when some of the skits were being retired... I never knew Rowlf the Dog was on SS (except the pilot, because of the Celebrate Jim henson special). At least a Best of classics set would be great, but they just want to rerelease half the videos to DVD, and make Elmo's World compilations..

NICK JR. RUINED AMERICA!!!!

 

[Pug Lover]

Just for interest sake,last year Christmas Eve On Sesame Street was aired on TV,and I was able to tape it and add it to my ever expanding VHS library.It was quite a treat for me to see Mr.Hooper,David and the rest of the Sesame Street gang from my childhood days again.Very nostalgic!

 

[ssetta]

Wow, they still air that? It was probably just your local station, it has not aired here in years.

 

[Oliver]

The only non-Muppet dvd's I'v purchased to date were A Sesame Street Christmas & Follow That Bird, and to be honest, I didn't remember watching SS Christmas as a child and was somewhat dissapointed. I was hoping to see a television special in context to how the original Sesame Street used to air. There were a couple of great skits, but overall it didn't impact me the way it seems to do for most others... possibly because the nostalgia factor wasn't there.

I totally disagree with Mark though, why should I be forced to purchase a less-than quality compilation release of a couple of songs and skits in order to prove my consumer loyalty to a company I owe nothing to? That's a ridiculous statement. When a proper release is offered, I will be the first to support, but I refuse to go out and purchase a dvd because it contains a couple of 4 minute sketches with Grover or an edited version of a SS Unpaved song. No thanks.

If somebody decides to do it right and market a Sesame Street collection, or even a proper best-of release to us fans, than I will be the first in line to purchase it... but I am not going to accept what's currently offered. That does not prove anything but that we consumers are content with half-***** products and DVD's that were produced without any insight into what fans actually want to see. I refuse to be exploited in that sense.

 

[WiGgY]

I agree. Buying the edited and poorly done stuff will lead to more edited and poorly done stuff. Same with the action figures. If we all looked at the horrible sculpts and just accepted them, we'd never get anything good. We still might not get anything good. I would collect Sesame action figures, but not if they don't look good enough to me. I'm not one of those people that buys anything with the Muppet or Sesame logo on it.

 

[Mark The Shark]

I totally disagree with Mark though, why should I be forced to purchase a less-than quality compilation release of a couple of songs and skits in order to prove my consumer loyalty to a company I owe nothing to? That's a ridiculous statement. When a proper release is offered, I will be the first to support, but I refuse to go out and purchase a dvd because it contains a couple of 4 minute sketches with Grover or an edited version of a SS Unpaved song. No thanks.

If somebody decides to do it right and market a Sesame Street collection, or even a proper best-of release to us fans, than I will be the first in line to purchase it... but I am not going to accept what's currently offered. That does not prove anything but that we consumers are content with half-***** products and DVD's that were produced without any insight into what fans actually want to see. I refuse to be exploited in that sense.

No one is "forcing" anyone to do anything. In fact, I myself have "Muppets Magic" and that's it as far as any commercial DVDs.

My point was that corporate mentality being what it is, the economic bottom line is the only thing that matters to the people who are in a position to release this stuff. Therefore, if the material that is currently available sells, then the laws of supply and demand dictate that there will be more.

There is a huge debate going on among Laurel and Hardy fans concerning just this issue. The rights to the majority of Laurel and Hardy's sound-era films are owned by the Hallmark corporation, which has done very little with them and seems to have no interest in releasing them. meanwhile, overseas, loads of great restored DVDs have been released. Hallmark just recently released a single-volume disc in the United States, which has five of their greatest films on it, but it was mastered from some inferior source material (including a TV version of "Sons Of the Desert" with fade-ins and fade-outs for commercial breaks) and a version of "The Music Box" with obvious tape damage in it. So L&H fans are in a quandry...everyone's instinct is to pass it by and go for the foreign editions (which require getting a multi-region DVD player)...but Hallmark has made it clear that if this one tanks, then that's it. It's tough.

But that's the way it is.

 

[Pug Lover]

Luckily I have enough Laurel & Hardy movies in my VHS library to keep me satisfied.My copies of Sons Of The Desert and The Music Box are way better than that Hallmark stuff.

 

[WiGgY]

It's a catch 22 and it sucks. Companies sell inferior products and then say if you don't buy it, that's it. If the would just do it right the first time they wouldn't have the problem of too many DVDs left on the shelf.

Palisades is kind of an example, but not really. Look at series 1 Piggy. She didn't sell because she was inferior compared to the other figure. (wrong hair style and color, no texture, eyes all wrong, etc.) So now we can't get a good regular Piggy.

It's either no Sesame Street DVDs, or bad ones. Until a company comes along that wants to do the job right, we won't see anything worth it.

 

[mikebennidict]

Setta has mentioned before how the older episodes would confuse the kids. or would thay? somebody says they may not like the fact elmo isn't in them. but let's take Ernie & Bert. who've with the show since day 1. i' m sure i didn't see them on every day though i'm sure a week didn't go by without them or others being on. i couldn't imagine myself being bothered about a certain character no matter who it was being on everyday i'm sure not every child would be. i would think plenty wouldn't. i think it's a big fuss over nothing. any kid who watches SS that would being bothered about not seeing a certain character on everyday has something wrong with them and all the show is doing is contributing to their negativity when they could be teaching kids not to be that. and i'm not just saying that because of the older shows. i rememeber a show from this past season where everyone was gathered in the play area and 1 or more people got up and sang songs. unfortunatly they didn't perform the whole song they each sung. i'm sure they could of if they didn't use elmo's world and the others. the part i liked was Miles and Gabby singing a new way to walk. they did that well. they probably should make a whole abum themselves sing all the SS songs. long before noggin i thought it would be nice to see the reruns of SS and others from time to time and for any confusion, the parents just need to explain that theese are older SS episode going years back and they're showing them once in a while for those who grew up with them.and showing them on an irrregular baises won't hurt once in a while. they'd still be showing the more current stuff once in a while. i agree the the young audicence is more important but as i said once in a while for the older people wouldn't hurt.