Sesame Street: Old School Volume 1 (1969 - 1974) [DVD]

At 23 years of age, I can truly say that I have been a lifetime fan of Sesame Street. Watching the 3-DVD set of Sesame Street - Old School, Vol. 1 has been both nostalgic and enlightening. Because I was born practically a decade after most of the material on this set originally aired, I expected most of the content to be new to me (I was barely a year old when Mr. Hooper's death was explained to the world), but that was not the case. Many of the short films and interstitials were familiar (and not just because I used to watch Sesame Unpaved on Noggin) to me as a viewer from the mid-1980s, and I think that just underscores the quality the show has exhibited from the beginning. Sesame Street truly revolutionized children's programming, not just because it was educational, but because it was (and remains) entertaining, not pandering. I'll admit, seeing Gordon with an afro, Orange Oscar and the first few tries at Big Bird's head still freak me out a bit (as they did when I saw them on Noggin several years back), but the show itself is just as good as I ever remembered, something that cannot be said for most nostalgia entertainment (like Transformers or He-Man or JEM).The set contains five full episodes from the first five seasons, and 54 (the liner notes are incorrect, they should have asked Count for help) bonus clips. The set also includes the 25 minute pitch-film that was made before the series originally aired, explaining Sesame Street's message and motive. Although the episodes have a disclaimer that it is not necessarily intended for today's pre-school children, I believe they would probably enjoy "classic" Street even more than the current lineup of shows. The fact that today's pre-schoolers may be more advanced than the Sesame Street of yore can really be attributed to Sesame Street itself, and that's pretty cool. Still, I personally appreciate that the aim of the set is at adults, because so many of us associate our childhood with Sesame Street. A booklet is included that gives a brief overview of the series from the first five years and I found it informative.According to Muppet Central, a few sketches were altered or removed for music copyright issues (one with Stevie Wonder, one with Rogers & Hammerstein), but because I never saw the originals, I found nothing amiss. What astounded me more than anything was that at the end of the first five years, more than 600 episodes of the show had been produced. No wonder they can't release full seasons! Although the full-length episodes are great, my favorite part are the additional sketches from each respective season. Seeing Kermit sing "Bein' Green" in its original form, the "Bread, Milk and Butter" cartoon and the "In in the Sky with Diamonds" parody is a real treat.The picture quality is great -- especially considering the program's age (and the fact that it was one of the first programs to be recorded on video, although film was used for most of the interstitials) -- I doubt the show ever looked as good as it looks right now. The sound quality is good too -- mono of course -- but clear and crisp.Overall, I highly recommend this set for anyone who loves or loved Sesame Street. For those who were born after these episodes aired (like me), looking back at the beginning is really special. It is clear that everyone involved had a true love for teaching and interacting with children and taking television to another level.

I purchased this collection as much for my three children as for myself. I started watching Sesame Street in about 1973 and thought that it was just about the coolest thing I'd ever seen. My mother once told me that Sesame Street was in New York City and I remember thinking that everyone in Manhattan must know Big Bird. The Sesame Street of these DVD's is the gritty, tire-filled urban landscape that I recall--with all the adults I knew and loved and trusted (a very beautiful young Maria...a dorky but loving Bob...a cool as a cucumber David...the can-do Luis) doing what they did best--teaching children not just how to read and count, but how to cooperate, share, resolve differences, and maybe most importantly accept one another regardless of gender, color or language. Today's Sesame is really a pale, anemic version of "my" brilliant Sesame, and I suspect that if this DVD sells well (which I suspect it will) the producers of the show will have to admit that somewhere, they veered away from the show's true mission--to meet the educational and psychosocial needs of preschoolers in all economic demographics. Cue Abby Cadabby?...oh, wait. Never mind.That being said, what do you get on this collection? Everything you knew you loved but haven't seen in 30 years. The 10 minute montage on the milk cycle. The absolutely spectacular "handclapping" sequence (guaranteed to stick in your head for hours afterward. As my 21-month old succinctly put it after viewing the segment for about the 30th time, "This is fun.") Remember "Can't you see? There's a bird on me"? How about when nobody could see Snuffy except for Big Bird? Lena Horne singing to Grover? James Earl Jones doing the alphabet? Luis demonstrating "exit" using nothing but a brick wall? Bert and Ernie at the movies? Count von Count counting to 6 using Ernie's pyramid of blocks? A wildlife segment on...the jackrabbit? How about a jazzy ode to a tiger ("Who you lookin' at tiger, and what do you see?")? Kermit getting dissed by a little girl who thought that Cookie Monster was part of a standard recitation of the alphabet? Could this collection be any more perfect as a representation of how television for children can and should be?Professionally, I'm a middle-school language arts teacher and K-12 reading specialist. I am amazed by the high level of instructional material that can be gleaned for children from just these three DVD's. Phonemic awareness in the form of rhymes, word games, basic vowel-consonant word patterns (CVC, CVCC), concepts of print--all of these fundamental skills can be explored with emerging readers to increase their own sensitivity to the way language works. The shows also explore a comprehensive sight word vocabulary that rivals any Dolch list. I have to say that the newer shows just don't do as good a job in presenting basic reading concepts. In my opinion, there's no need to reinvent the wheel here--just mix up the old reading segments (Dan the man with the golden "an") in with the newfangled Elmo/Zoe crowd and everybody's bound to be happy.I cannot wait for other volumes to come out. Will I be as eager to buy them once they lose their Henson-centricness? Hmmmm.