Posts made in February, 2016
Sesame Street Ep #666
The Count hangs out on Sesame Street.
The sixth season of Sesame Street debuted on November 4, 1974, with the ominously numbered episode 666 (which is available to watch on the Sesame Street: Old School Volume 2 DVD set). Despite that, as should surprise no one, nothing actually disastrous occurs, however I do wonder whether the hour’s framing device of the Count perching on the famous Sesame Street lamppost and counting all of the lights on Sesame Street going on in the early evening and off later at night was meant to be a sly little nod to it, due to the Count’s vampiric origins.
This is actually a very different way to start a Sesame Street season, which usually opens up on a bright, energetic scene that reintroduces and
Read MoreRay the Raychem Seal and Miss Piggy
Ray the Raychem Seal
Today I looked at two unrelated yet fascinating curiosities, the first of which is the first thing I’ve watched for the site that actually wasn’t created or run by Jim Henson at all but which is significant due to its performer, and the second of which features the debut of one of the most important characters in the entire Muppet canon.
We begin a short industrial video, much like the films Jim made for companies such as IBM, but this one was actually done by Dave Goelz, who is best known today for performing such beloved characters as Gonzo and Boober Fraggle. In my post on Jim’s 1974 appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, I discussed how Goelz originally became involved with the Henson Co., and how Jim initially hired him as a
Read MoreThe Muppets Valentine Show
“The Muppets Valentine Show”
In 1973, Jim Henson decided to once again pitch a TV variety show starring the Muppets, which had been a goal of his since all the way back in the immediately-post-Sam-and-Friends era but which had always failed to come to fruition due to American network executives not being able to get over their bias that puppets were for children, despite all the evidence as to how much adult audiences enjoyed the Muppets when they made appearances on other peoples’ shows and even on Sesame Street.
Jim’s written pitch announced that the “time is right for a variety show hosted by dogs, frogs, and monsters…The show is aimed at the adult or young adult audience, but it is a show for the whole family…The Muppets,
Read MoreJim and Kermit Visit Johnny Carson
Kermit and Jim visit Johnny.
On January 23, 1974, Jim Henson and Kermit made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, in order to plug The Muppets Valentine Show, the first Muppet Show pilot, which ABC aired as a special a week later on January 30th. More on that in another post, and how this pilot came to be, coming later today.
For now, however, just a quick recap of this visit to Johnny Carson. It starts off with Limbo: The Organized Mind, a recreation of the same sketch Jim brought to Carson in 1968. Here, however, rather than just the background projected footage, I was actually able to see the finished product, with Limbo’s floating face in front of it, which was fascinating but also quite creepy, as well, particularly the bit in which the eyes and mouth
Read MoreJulie on Sesame Street
Julie Andrews and Perry Como visit Sesame Street.
While one might expect an hour of TV starring Julie Andrews called Julie on Sesame Street to be either a PBS production or a special episode of Sesame Street, this actually isn’t the case. It was actually a nighttime network special, one of a series of specials starring Julie produced shortly after ABC canceled her critically acclaimed variety show, The Julie Andrews Hour, due to low ratings, which were largely the result of it having been up against Mary Tyler Moore.
In order to maintain a good relationship with her, ABC agreed to air the specials, which were shot in England and produced by ATV/ITV, a British entertainment company run by Lord Lew Grade, who would later go on to produce The Muppet Show, which might have never happened were it not
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