Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary DVD to Release in November with Viewer Input

After two volumes of two-disc DVD sets celebrating classic "Sesame Street" were released in the last few years ("Sesame Street Old School"), it might seem superfluous to buy another DVD collection celebrating the same time period. But in November of this year, Sesame Workshop will be releasing a new two-disc set that puts the entire series in perspective as it celebrates an unprecedented 40 years on PBS. Reportedly, the first disc will be devoted to those of us who grew up with it in the first twenty years. Then the second disc will be devoted to...well, probably 95% Elmo.

No, there isn't much argument from those who watched in the 70's and 80's that "Sesame Street's" first twenty years were unparalleled in quality. Once most of the creative team who worked in that era died or left the show, the last twenty years hasn't been anywhere near the same as it was.

For those much younger, the last twenty years have been tops, Elmo and all. However, for those who grew up in that era of the show, the classic bits from the earlier twenty years are virtually unknown to them. "Sesame Street" used to re-run and blend in the classic bits to the show for years until the new creative team came in and started creating new segments. For those who've tuned into the show within the last decade, they found a lot of new short segments that didn't register any blip of familiarity. The only thing still familiar are the classic characters themselves who thankfully don't have to picket outside the studio for being put on the backburner to Elmo.

Differing opinions aside, when putting together a comprehensive collection encompassing the entire 40-year spectrum of "Sesame Street", arguments are going to ensue on which segment is the most classic. Leave it up to Amazon.com to get involved in calming the storm and allowing a public vote on which classic segment is the best one. Whatever that consensus is will lead to that one feature being featured on the anniversary two-disc set coming out in November.

Whichever lone segment fans choose to be featured as the all-time favorite will be fascinating to see and perhaps set the record straight which era was the best. Or maybe it won't when you consider that Elmo is in the running on Amazon's selections.

If you go to the Amazon voting page (see link at bottom), you'll see that most of the clips in the voting pool are segments from the first ten years. Everything from the legendary "Alligator King" animated short (featuring the voice of late "Sesame" composer extraordinaire Joe Raposo) to the charming and heartwarming live-action musical number "What's the Name of That Song?" are there to watch. While you can easily find them all on Youtube all year round, it's a lot of fun to see them all in better clarity than the degraded videotape quality of a 25-year-old private recording.

You also might recoil when you see the final selection in the voting arsenal and when a Muppeteer needed a lozenge for the first time: The debut of Elmo.
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As of this writing, the clip showing the first show with Elmo (he was a tap dancer!) is way behind on being the ultimate favorite. Right now, it's the classic clip of Bert inquiring why Ernie is tying strings around his four fingers that's winning. That might be surprising when there's dozens of Ernie & Bert sketches that are even more entertaining than that one was. Second to it is no surprise, though. It's the famous "Pinball Machine 12" animated short that all of us who watched in the 70's can recall instantaneously. While perhaps dated now with that funky Pointer Sisters theme, the segment is classic "Sesame", especially with its inventive and surreal animation.

The only more recent clip in the Amazon bunch other than Elmo is one I didn't recognize right away. "Caribbean Amphibian" utilizes Kermit the Frog in his later years on "Sesame" before he was dropped for good from the show due to copyright issues. Frankly, they should have put one of his classic "News Flash" pieces there since those were some of the funniest and most inventive Kermit pieces ever done on the show. At least "What's the Name of That Song?" from about 1975 is there and one of my personal favorites from the show's true glory years. Even though I saw this original use of the song when just an infant, it's one of the most charming musical numbers ever done there using both the human actors and the Muppets. It also proved how much of a loss it was when composer Joe Raposo died during "Sesame's" 20^th anniversary in 1989.

It's that creative force that should be celebrated extensively in the 40^th anniversary box set. Younger generations should see full profiles on not only the late Jim Henson, but also Raposo, composer Jeff Ross (who wrote "Rubber Duckie" and "I Love Trash" as just two), Muppeteer Richard Hunt, producer of the show Jon Stone and Northern Calloway (who played David in the first 20 years). All of these people died young in the 80's and 90's due to various circumstances that have nothing to do with an alleged curse. They were the ones who made "Sesame Street" the greatest children's show of all time and created the formula that still makes it work for a different generation today.

The above individuals didn't get much recognition on the "Sesame Street Old School" DVD's the last few years. So that leaves the 40^th anniversary set a place where a complete understanding of the show will presumably be done. Placing that unprecedented creativity of the first 20 years into context for the next generation seems to be the goal here as that Amazon.com poll is showing us. There's also obvious evidence that those who remember those clips outnumber those who've never seen them before. Or, it could be the result of adults buying those "Old School" DVD's and playing them for their kids as many people reportedly did.

That means classic Ernie & Bert might just be ringing true in the minds of kids as well as Generation X. Those who've long despised the Elmo era might also be getting their kids to realize the charm of the classic characters and who didn't require the Muppeteer to bust a vocal cord doing the voice. This isn't to say that Elmo still isn't adorable and worthy of being a star in his own right.

It's only the adamant statement that the first half of "Sesame Street's" 40 years were pure magic and should never be forgotten that much of it is sorely missed...

Go here to vote for your favorite "Sesame Street" segment:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_84046611_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000356721&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0EYTF4T5VNAZEGZSEX46&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=473088431&pf_rd_i=130