"Classic Sesame Street Boxset" Out in October (1 Viewer)

[Kevin L McCorry]

I still wait in vain for the Jazzy Spies segments other than Number 2, the Baker segments other than Numbers 2 and 3, the Mad Painter segments other than Number 3, and the Sad Flower Song.

Curiously, I find the animated and live-action segments dealing with numbers and letters more nostalgically appealing than the Muppets sketches.

 

[Mark Y]

The "sad flower" film was in a bunch of "Unpaved" shows (I think it was in at least three of the five 1969 episodes they showed). It's also in #1839 (the "death of Mr. Hooper" episode). Which brings up an interesting point: all along, I was assuming that episode would be on one of these sets, assuming they continue. But I just realized it was not a "season premiere" episode, and every full show they've released so far has been a "season premiere." Well, we'll have to wait and see...

If you can find some of the Unpaved episodes they aired on Noggin, you'll find a lot of the stuff you're looking for...but unfortunately, not all of it. They never showed the Falling Baker #9, which had a cameo by Rowlf in it.

Reminds me of something else...the film with the red ball on the roller coaster is one of the extra clips on Volume 2...but it's a later version with a different ending. I could swear that I remember this film from when I watched SS, and I could swear (or affirm) that it had to have been from the first two (maybe three) seasons. And the version I saw always ended with the red ball getting snuffed at the end. The version on the Volume 2 DVD is the one with the "ice cream sundaes" ending. I had read about this version, but never saw it until now.Gets me wondering, I wonder when the later version was done...maybe it was introduced during the time period covered by the Volume 2 set? (By the way, the film -- the original version that I remember -- was in one of the Noggin "Unpaved" episodes, but it was a show from 1982!)

 

[JohnS]

yeah, the red ball gets ground up and a hand catches the ground up pieces.
Each turn of the grind crank is a number count

 

[Krister_]

Hi guys,

Does anybody knows how well Sesame Street Old School Series are selling? I hope so much that we will get the Seasons from 1983 and 1985 too also. How is the chances for this?

 

[Radioman970]

Resurrecting this thread. Hee hee! Fun!

Watching Vol 1 sparingly. The pilot episode left me in tears. The nostalgia jolt was almost too much for this 40+ year old to bare. ( I know, need to get out more...meet more women and stuff like that :p )

Anyway, amazing how a show like this shapes the person you are today. The wonderful Jim Henson really is missed in the world today. The video explaining all about what the show was going to be offering kids was a real stunner. So well done and worth the price of the set alone. Vol 2 is up high on my 2 buy list.

Also wanted to know if Vol 3 is coming up. They' ve sold at least 1 of those. :*)

 

[MatthewA]

I, too, am wondering if we'll see any more of this. I know that Sesame Street switched to HD this season and thus most of the Workshop's resources are probably devoted to that. Is there any indication of how well Vol. 2 sold?

 

[Mark Y]

Regarding the "test show" that's one of the bonus features on Vol. 2 --

Does anyone know who is playing Gordon in that show? (The role was recast before the "official" show went on the air.)

I have read in various places that Robert "Benson" Guillaume auditioned for the role of Gordon, and I thought I'd read that there was an actual clip of him in an A&E "Biography" on Sesame Street (which I haven't seen). But I have also read that Guillaume auditioned later on, to replace the second Gordon, Harold "Hal" Miller, in 1974 (Roscoe Orman was eventually chosen, and he continues in the role to this day). As far as I'm concerned (I'm 41), the late Matt Robinson will always be the "real" Gordon. (But I suppose that depends on how old you are and when you watched the show.)

But about that "test show" -- they call it Test Show #1 or something like that, but there is one segment where Ernie and Bert are arguing over whether to watch "Batman" or "The Man From Alphabet." The animated Batman (Filmation, by the way) appears in this segment, and tells E&B that since they watched Batman "yesterday," it's only fair that they watch "The Man From Alphabet" today. Now this may mean absolutely nothing, but that kind of jumped out at me when I first watched this -- if this was the first show, then there was no "yesterday." (They did, I guess, a week's worth of "test shows" -- five days -- which aired on at least one station before the show officially premiered. I wonder if the other four exist in some archive.)

I wonder what was up with all the changing Gordons. I get that Matt Robinson had ambitions to be a writer and producer, and he moved on to other things, mostly behind-scenes. I wonder what happened with Harold Miller...I can say from my own memory, it certainly was jarring to have a key character replaced like that, let alone twice in two years (and the cast didn't even seem to notice that it was a different guy all of a sudden). I've seen Miller's website -- I know essentially nothing about the man, but I'm gonna guess that maybe this guy just didn't, how shall I say, "mesh" with the rest of the people on the show... Heck, maybe I'll e-mail him some time and ask him.

I also once saw a still from some kids show Miller supposedly did for Nickelodeon...but no other info. I'm curious.

 

[Radioman970]

Mark, I think when I was a kid I didn't even notice any casting changes. If they called him Gordon is was Gordon. Heh heh!

I liked the Gordon on the pilot episode. It was refreshing to see people from all different backgrounds, races, etc in prominent roles. One of the thoughts I had while watching it was how much SS shaped me as a person today. That was truly overwhelming to suddenly realize.

 

[Mark Y]

Yeah, when I was watching the show as a small child, I don't think I ever even stopped to think, "so-and so is Black, so-and-so is Hispanic," etc. And as I recall, they didn't wave a flag about it...it was just accepted that these were the "people in the neighborhood." I never even thought about it. And that was one of the things that made the casting so great. They didn't beat you over the head with it. People aren't born with prejudices, they are learned by looking around and watching how people treat each other.

I still wonder why all the different Gordons, though.

 

[Radioman970]

Electric Company did well too. I know both these shows, and many more like Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids, helped me get to the point I am today...with all the hurtles of being a white male living in GA suberbs all my life. Geez, not easy to admit, but I have members of my family who still have issues. Luckily a few have changed. I have video from '89 of my cousin telling a racist joke. That same cousin with his wife adopted 2 children from interracial backgrounds.

 

[Corey3rd]

But for all the mixed races on the New York City of Sesame Street, we ended up with the really white Manhattan of Seinfeld and Friends.

 

[Radioman970]

If only Sammy Davis Jr had been around to throw open the door of Jerry's place....

"Hiiii..babe!"

I never thought of Seinfeld as being racist, and thoroughly believe Michael Richards was taken completely out of context on the incident with the hecklers. Sure, what he did was wrong...he thought he could "go there" as a comedian but he was wrong. There were memorable people from all walks of life on Seinfeld...I never watched Friends though so I don't know.