All About Sesame Street (PDF E-Book)

Here is the first book that talks about how Sesame Street was created. Thanks to HooperFan for making the book available on the web in HTML (Internet) format. The PDF file here I made myself from the HTML files. I thought this way it was all in one file and easier to read. Enjoy!!!!!



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Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street!

I just want to wish Sesame Street a happy 40th! It was on November 10th, 1969 that the most succesful children's show first aired. I know many people think the show is going downhill with Elmo. They have to change to keep up to date with the kids. Here's to another 40 years! Please have Sesame Street help educate kids of MANY generations to come. It is a remarkable and fun way for kids to learn.

Hawaii episodes in the news

Thanks to a determined fan on the Muppet Central forums (hi, Mike!), I've stumbled across a newspaper article about the "cast trip to Hawaii" story arc...published just before the episodes themselves were broadcast. Google Archives makes the article a little hard to read (scrolling through 35 pages of a whole daily paper...ugh!), so I've captured the clipping as a PDF file. Enjoy!

May 16, 2009 - One Fan's Tribute to Jim Henson

On this date in 1990, Jim Henson--who created not only the Muppets, but also several classic films that aired on Sesame Street--died of pneumonia. Here's a fan-made tribute to Jim, including clips from his work over the years.

Oh no, not the Veggie Monster again!

The same YouTuber who claimed Sesame Park wasn't a genuine Canadian production, also insisted that "they turned Cookie Monster into the Veggie Monster--LAME!" (I've read angry comments like that all over the site whenever someone posts recent Sesame material, in fact. The guy I'm quoting, though, is one of the few users who did it without spamming the comment section or using swearwords. :-) )

By now I'm tempted to have a form-letter response ready for everyone who brings up the false rumor about the "Veggie Monster" change; it'll probably look like what I sent this guy, though I'll have to send it privately because of the web links included as proof.

The Veggie Monster scare is just an urban legend. Sesame Workshop DID have Cookie Monster cut back on his trademark food and act more concerned about his health--but he has definitely not turned into the Veggie Monster. (In fact, a recent episode had Matt Lauer interviewing Cookie, who complained that the media blew everything out of proportion.) Check out these links if you need proof--

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_4115

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Cookie_Monster:_A_Cookie_is_a_Sometime_Food

and, from another site--

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/veggie.asp

I'm glued...to the script!

While browsing around on Muppet Wiki recently, I came across this rough draft of Telly Monster's debut episode (#1257). The scanned-in script is a bit hard to read even at full size, but it's still worth checking out; Telly has changed a lot since he was introduced as a couch potato twenty-nine years ago! (Seeing the way CTW's editors and researchers thought back then is pretty cool, too...)

What's happening to Gina?

Thanks to a message at Muppet Central, I've just seen some studio footage from the next season of Sesame Street. (That would be the 39th, if you've lost track... :-) ) One major change to the set bothers me: Gina has been on Sesame Street for twenty years (long enough to qualify as a classic character, in my opinion). She's run a veterinarian clinic there for seven of those years...but next season, the vet's office is going to be replaced by an auto-repair shop! Since Gina becoming a mechanic seems totally out of character, I'm worried that the Workshop is planning to write her off the show. Hopefully, an official press release will either confirm or deny my suspicions in a month or two.

In the beginning...

In honor of Sesame Workshop's 40th anniversary, I thought I'd post the first clip they broadcast to test the show. (Believe it or not, I was lucky enough to trade for a copy of the test show before Old School Volume 2 came out; this one is clearer than the one on the "official" DVD set!)

Test Show #1 Opening (take 2!)