DVD Sesame Street - Old School, Vol. 1 (1969-1974):
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DVD Sesame Street - Old School, Vol. 1 (1969-1974)
When the Children's Theater Workshop's Sesame Street first aired on television in 1969, it was a revolutionary new show aimed specifically at preschool children--an audience previously untargeted by television programming. Exhaustively-researched and tested on real audiences of preschoolers, this "experiment in kid programming" aimed to teach preschoolers the alphabet, numbers, body parts, rhyming, and basic reasoning skills while thoroughly entertaining them. Through the use of humor, the amazing puppetry of Frank Oz and Jim Henson, animation, the incredibly catchy music of Joe Raposo and Jeffrey Moss, and a fast-action pace borrowed from the television commercial format, Sesame Street was, and still is, more successful at educating and entertaining children than anyone initially imagined. What's more, the lessons learned by generations of preschoolers went far beyond simple school-readiness skills to include values like acceptance, cooperation, and inclusiveness because the urban Sesame Street was a place populated by people and monsters young viewers could identify with, where anything could happen, and where every ethnicity, generation, and species co-existed and interacted harmoniously.
Sesame Street: Old School Volume 1 1969-1974 offers a sampling of the first five seasons of Sesame Street and includes the first episode of each season in its entirety as well as a large selection of classic segments from each season highlighting some of the most memorable sketches ("Bein' Green," "Rubber Duckie," "Whistle a Happy Tune," and Super-Grover in "Telephone Booth"), favorite human characters like Bob and Mr. Hooper, and guest appearances by celebrities like Bill Cosby, Lena Horne, Jackie Robinson, Carol Burnett, and Jesse Jackson. Adult viewers will be transported back in time as they witness Bert's frustration with his ever-noisy roommate Ernie, chuckle at the antics of Grover and his demanding customer in Grover's Restaurant, and wonder if Snuffleupagus will ever show himself to someone besides Big Bird. Other well-remembered moments include pinball number count, the baker who inevitably tumbles down the stairway with a handful of cream pies, the ever-munching Cookie Monster, "Here is Your Life" segments, Bert "Doin' the Pigeon," and the inevitably grumpy Oscar the Grouch. Post-Elmo preschoolers and their parents will laugh, learn, grow, and connect with one another as they share this classic compilation of Sesame Street moments. Bonus features include the original sales pitch reel (introduced by Joan Ganz Cooney and hosted by Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog) and a thick booklet rich with history, trivia, and a pullout activity section for children. (Ages 2 and older) --Tami Horiuchi
Review(s): DVD Sesame Street - Old School, Vol. 1 (1969-1974)
Few Problems, but a Good Product
Sesame Street episodes 1, 131, 276, 406, and 536 are highlighted here. They are slightly edited, due to music issues, and #536 freezes in the middle of the program. I would have to say, my all-time favorite in the set is #131. The other shows were good, I'll admit that (it was great seeing Buddy and Jim again!) -- but seeing #131 really sent me flying -- on a trip down Memory Lane! "In the Zoo?" "Ernie, the radio?" "J Jump Joyful, Jumble Around" Larry and Phyllis' "Hummmm -- beep beep" -- watch #131 (Disc Two, of Three). Yes, I would recommend this product to any hardened Sesame Street fan!
Glad to see classic Sesame Street on DVD, but beware.
While I am pleased that full-length episodes of classic Sesame Street have made the rounds to DVD, be warned that they are not entirely unedited. For example, a film segment in the very first show about getting clean with water was replaced with something else, it didn't have anything to do with a naked female child taking a shower in a bathtub opening and closing the film segment as it had to do with the background music used, performed by The Swingle Singers. The 2006 copyright update notice during the funding credits of each episode also bothered me, especially on the episodes where it was plastered over the original copyright messages of Children's Television Workshop. Wouldn't the 2006 copyright update notice being printed on the DVD packaging have been enough? My other turn-off was where the original logos for NET and PBS on the first and second season premieres were cut out, with the classic 1971 PBS I.D. logo bumper appearing in place of them, as though those two earlier I.D. logos never existed! What a disgrace! Yet the program closings were still exciting with that I.D. logo in their place. The same goes for the "funky chimes music" during the sponsor credits which was first used on the fourth season premiere in November 1972.
For those of you not familiar with the I.D. logos that preceded the PBS I.D. that came into being the same year as I did; 1971, here is a brief description of them. At the end of the series premiere after the funding credits, a red vertical stripe at the left side of the screen would come down, followed by a yellow vertical stripe going upward next to it, then a blue vertical stripe going down next to that, all accompanied by a synthesizer jingle penned by Eric Siday, and an announcer's voice, "This is NET, the Public Television network." The three vertical lines morphed into the letters N E T while all of that went on, with a blue horizontal line drawn over them, which formed the house roof with the antenna on top, connected to the T.
For the second season premiere, the very first PBS I.D. was used, which was just a still image of the words Public Broadcasting Service in a center-justified text stack with red, yellow and blue colors in a Helvetica typeface, accompanied just by the voice of actor MacDonald Carey (Dr. Tom Horton on Days of Our Lives, whose voice still does the opening narration of the soap opera) announcing "This is PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service." Like the NET one before it and the PBS one that came after it, this logo had a black background.
It was also criminal that the song Stevie Wonder performed on the show for the fourth or fifth season premiere; "1-2-3 Sesame Street," and his hit "Superstition" had to be clipped out as well as the Anything Muppets singing with Gordon "Consider Yourself" from the "Oliver" musical in the first episode. The things that have to be taken out for fear of others getting lawyer happy! Still, what we're consciously spoon-fed is better than nothing at all.
-David M. Gill, Barbara's son
WHOLE MILK TELEVISION
Heres the thing. The disclaimer on this package is a bunch of crap. There may be something I'm missing that the experts aren't, but I find that out of the whole Sesame Street vaults (40 years almost), some of the best material for kids still lays in the first five seasons. I won't knock the modern Street thats on TV these days, because no doubt its still the best show for little kids, but I COMPLETELY recommend this collection if you have preschoolers- or even younger, there is absolute magic in the original seasons, that brings you and your kids together like no TV show could, can, or ever will. Thats why a good poertion of bits found here, still surface from time to time on the modern show, and other DVD releases. I of course needed the most I could dig up.
The shows are from the late sixties and early seventies, so they ain't exactly up on the modern trends- the graffiti on the walls of flowers and moons has been long washed away- but the whole milk style of teaching should be considered absolutely timeless.... whats so dated about the live short nature films of giraffes and hippos doing their thing? My two year old digs it. Very soothing when you try to chill out your little hellraiser.
When I was a kid in the early eighties, I grew up on a different sort of Street, but most of the show that I watched was built on these bits from the first seasons. In fact I could reminisce on a lot more of this package than I even expected to.. but regardless I love the whole thing, deeply. Even episode one, where Big Bird is autistic, and Oscar the Grouch is orange... this show exuberated brilliance from day one. No doubt it changed the world, and you can see why. This is the stuff that apparently has been researched more than any thing else by boards who specialize in child education- not to mention, commercial television, maybe it can't be expalained, but it no doubt does its job well, by entertaining on the conscious level, and subconsciously tricking your kids (and your kids parents too) into learning a great deal more than they hardly ever even realize.
Plus Kermit the Frog is like a hipster, man. Groovy.
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