Your Thoughts: The Street We Live On

[gfarkwort]

You know what would be cool. A set of COMPLETE season DVD's of Sesame Street. Yes there would be a lot and you would spend thousands of dollers and hours of time on them. I just want to see the first episode (complete not just the opening part.) But if CTW made those I awould definetly buy them and it would support Sesame Street.

 

[Censored]

I haven't seen it yet, being taped at home.

maybe they are saving the better/best stuff for the Muppets 50th anniv. special??
Then again maybe not.

Maybe. The only trouble is, I'll have to wait until I'm 50 years old to see it. Is that what they mean by "Life begins at 50"?

 

[Ryan]

ssetta,

NJN didn't air the special, but WLVT, Channel 39, aired it at the same time without the voiceover.

 

[Dantecat]

Hey Ryan,The Special did air this morning on NJN.

 

[ssetta]

And was there a voiceover?

 

[Censored]

Hmm, looking at your avatar, who woulda guessed? Anyway, I'm not a collector per se, but I've checked into some of the F-P websites that are out there. I can tell you that set was easily my favorite toy -- I would use the figures to act out the show as it aired, especially the Bert and Ernie bits. My mother's saved that set and some of my other old toys. But I honestly don't remember Roscoe Orman ever having a goatee. My memory fails me, I guess.

EDIT: I should also point out how cheesed off I always was that there was no Bob (although a generic Little People dad could stand in in a pinch.)

Cool. If you like Fisher Price Websites, check out this one:

http://www.angelfire.com/ab2/ablpph/


Yeah, Gordon only had his goatee for the first season. It may have had something to do with the other role Roscoe Orman was playing at the same time, an abusive pimp on All My Children (I'm not kidding). I read that Orman knew one role had to go and since the real bad guys don't last long on soaps anyway, he chose Sesame Street.

Back to Fisher Price, I'm really not sure why they didn't create a Bob Little Person, unless it was for the very reason that they didn't think he'd look much different than the generic Little Person Dad with black hair. A drawing of Luis in his Fix-It-Shop also made it on the lithos of the Sesame Street Playset and the Fisher Price Sesame Street Clubhouse has a heart with an arrow that says, "David + Maria".

Here is a list of all the Sesame Street characters made in the vintage FP Little Person style: Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, Gordon, Susan, Mr. Hooper, Oscar, Cookie Monster, Grover, The Count, Roosevelt Franklin, Prarie Dawn, Herry Monster, Sherlock Hemlock, and Snuffy.

 

[Censored]

As C-3PO would say "I heartily agree with you, sir." I loved the 20th Anniversary special with Bill Cosby. That was a special! When I watched the 35th special, I thought they had put in the wrong tape instead of the "special". I can't stand Elmo! Look, I'm sorry, but Sesame Street just isn't Sesame Street anymore...at least to me.

I don't know how the rest of you feel, but when I think of looking back over the years of Sesame Street, I think of skits that I, and that many of us, grew up with, which have been replaced by...(sigh) Elmo.

Look, Sesame Street to me is old Joe Raposo songs, Mr. Hooper serving birdseed milkshakes and the old tire swing with the old number posters on the green doors (where Gina's vet's office is now). I think of the old Fix-it Shop (what's this Mail-it Shop? Maria and Luis just don't look right without tools and toasters). I think of the yellow/black, well worn diamond pattern of Hooper's Store. I think of a street inhabited by all sorts of creatures and people living together, with none of them hogging the spotlight for themselves (unlike...)

Thousands of clips, old clips, run through my head when I think "Sesame Street". I miss the segments I loved as a kid, like the Painter (Paul Benedict), the Ballad of Casey McPhee, (Cookie Monster's train) and any Ernie and Bert sketch from the 70's or 80's. These were what we remembered as kids...and it's a shame that it's all been replaced by such a...well...watered down version with a single, screeching character that gives parents headaches, but remains "tickled", nonetheless.

I wish that there were some way that could return to the show (after all, and created Sesame Street). Which would you rather see: Rowlf tickling the ivories in the tire swing yard and singing an old Raposo classic that the kids could still enjoy and dance to...or would you rather see a poorly animated, scribbled background with Elmo screeching the same word over and over again to the tune of "Jingle Bells?"

How can we make things more tolerable for parents? Since Rowlf belongs to Disney now, we can't have him on SS. Let's see, how about each Elmo video, DVD or toy could come with a coupon for Advil or Tylenol with a groaning on the front?

Sigh...I'm glad they had Sesame Unpaved...for a while anyway...sigh. Until then, we're stuck alongside Bert, asking how we can leave Elmo's World. I know just how Bert feels.

Convincing John

I agree too. One reason that the 20th anniversary was so much better was because at that time, Sesame Street had not yet lost much of its essence. As I've said before, when Jim Henson died, it seemed like all bets were off and they just went crazy.

 

[Censored]

Who's David???

A few years later, David mysteriously disappeared from the show, and I can't recall the explanation that was given for his leaving Sesame Street. Come to think of it, I don't think they said anything at all.

David's absence was explained by saying that he went to live on his grandmother's farm.

 

[Censored]

But kids watching today don't know who Mr. Hooper was and it doesn't make sense to invest a lot of time in teaching them-- there's certainly no way to bring the character back.

I have to disagree with that to a certain extent. The beauty of television, film, and videotape is that it allows actors to "live forever" to their audiences. Don't they still show Mr. Rogers episodes on television even though he died? Mr. Hooper, David, and all of the old characters could be used if Sesame Street just adopted the right format. Some shows could have flashback episodes with the characters REALLY talking about the old days. Or they could just make the radical move of rerunning old Sesame Street episodes at one time of the day and showing new episodes at another. Sitcoms have done this for years; I don't see why children's shows can't as well. JMO

 

[Erine81981]

I agree w/ Drtooth, Super Scoot, ssetta and MuppetQuilter I agree w/ all of ya'll. I loved it and if no one else liked oh well they need to stop wining about there not being enough Older clips. Just keep watching and u will. Watch the episodes. There was alot of the old clips last season. Keep this up and SS will end and then everyone will be disappaned. Take that and stick it where the sun don't shine! HA!