Sesame Workshop Library to be Digitally Preserved

[muppet maniac]

Here ya go..

http://www.nexsan.com./news/042104.html

[Whatever]

Wow, a lot of people on here would go mad with joy if they could watch all of the old Sesame Street episode online! My guess is that it will only be available to people who work for Sesame, though.

[AndyWan Kenobi]

Now, if only that drive would fit in my iPod, I could carry the entire run of Sesame Street around with me wherever I go!!

[Jessica]

Now, if only that drive would fit in my iPod, I could carry the entire run of Sesame Street around with me wherever I go!!

Haha! Yeah. Maybe if we bought 35+ iPods it would all fit.

[ssetta]

It IS only for people who work for the company. It's a shame, I know. Some of you may not believe this, but at the Workshop, they have this computer program called "Rosita", which is basically a list of all the segments that SS has ever created, and all the shows that they have ever appeared in. They even have a list of all the episodes, and the sketches that were all in them. The system is now on the Internet, but unfortunately, you can only access the website if you work for the company. Personally, I don't think that information is confidential, I think that it should be available online for all to see. I mean, what's so confidential about it? All they have to do is unlock that password!

[Drtooth]

Yeah... I mean, what's the point if it's for their eyes only? What do they plan on doing with it, anyway.


Maybe someone could hack in and see them for themselves.... not that I would. All I can do with computers is type and animate in Flash..... not that I condone the use of breaking in.....

[dvakman]

You're meaning to tell me that all of the SS episodes will be available on the internet, but we won't be able to view them???

OK, we need either:

a. One of us to get a job at Sesame Workshop
b. One of us to befriend someone who works there

Folks, we've got work to do.

Let's get to it.

[dvakman]

Additional Sesame Archive related articles!!!!

Technical in Nature, but Enlightening (http://www.broadcastpapers.com/asset/VenacaSesame03.htm)

Here's Another (http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=8014&c=19)

And Another (http://millimeter.com/ar/video_metadata_entry/)

Huge PDF File!!!! (Similar Content to Technical Article Above) (http://www.venaca.com/pdfs/Venaca-Sesame%20Workshop%20ROI%20Whitepaper.pdf)

Small Text, Old Article, But in Case You Haven't Seen It.... (http://www.ampexdata.com/News/Articles/sesamestreet.html)

Just in Case You Haven't Had Enough, A Discussion of the Above (http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/amia-l/2000/07/msg00103.html)

[Fozzie Bear]

Can I digitally preserve my head?

[dvakman]

Quote from archive worker in the above discussion regarding preservation and the Noggin/Unpaved factor:

"There were in fact 2 projects. They were started at the same time.
The actual preservation project of the entire 30 years content was done by VidiPax and was scheduled to be done in 9 months and would have been done in that time except for the fact that another channel was launched (Noggin) and the schedule of preservation was revised as tapes were shipped to the new channel at the customer's (Sesame Workshop's) request."

My more general question (after reading the articles) is that if the street segments are not meant to be used again (unlike the insert segments), why are they being preserved? Why are all the old episodes being preserved intactly, rather than just the individual segments? Maybe there is a small possibility (however remote) that these eps might still be made available in some way. Does anyone want to find out the addresses of those storage libraries? :confused:

[dvakman]

Oh, here's:

Part 2 of "Streetwise" Article (http://www.streamingmedia.com/r/printerfriendly.asp?id=8031)

[Beebers]

Can I digitally preserve my head?

Yes, and it beats cryogenics anyday.

:D :D :D

[Mark The Shark]

First, thanks to dvakman for the above links. I had read the Ampex article before; that story was going around a couple of years ago. It's all very interesting.

A couple of things I noticed on a couple of "Sesame Street Unpaved" episodes which aired on Noggin which may or may not pertain to this:

#406
Early in the show, the "Dee Dee Dee" song clip with Ernie and Cookie Monster is played (aside from Sam The Machine, #406 is worth having just for this song segment alone; it's one of Cookie Monster's finest moments). Ernie is singing about the letter "D" and when Ernie mentions an object which starts with the letter "D," Cookie Monster races to produce the object, or a sign with its name on it, or draw it on a sketch pad. Aside from teaching about the letter "D," it's funny just for the sake of being funny. But anyway...if you have that episode on tape, look closely at Cookie Monster during this segment. His chest area is quite dark and I swear (or affirm) that I am seeing digital artifacts flashing on his chest during this song...like a low-bit-rate MPEG or slow-speed DVD-R. And that was how it looked on air (when Noggin aired it). Apart from that though, #406 seemed to stand out among "Unpaved" episodes for generally having crisp and clean image and sound throughout, and that can be variable from one show to the next. It's an excellent-*sounding* episode.

#1839
Yes, this has to do with the famous "Death Of Mr. Hooper" scene. At the very tail end of the scene, when the whole cast forms a circle around Big Bird, is it my imagination or as the camera slowly pulls back and the scene slowly fades, does the "slowness" make it more noticable that these shows seem to have been duped on some "economic" (low bit rate) digital format? And I do need to acknowledge that I know very little about digital archiving...but there just seems to be something funny about these two segments in particular which I couldn't help noticing.

Anyway, I'm just rambling, for what it's worth...

[Fighbird]

My more general question (after reading the articles) is that if the street segments are not meant to be used again (unlike the insert segments), why are they being preserved? Why are all the old episodes being preserved intactly, rather than just the individual segments? Maybe there is a small possibility (however remote) that these eps might still be made available in some way.

I think it's for archival reasons only - I mean, what's the point of having an archive containing 30+ years of shows, but "we kinda sorta cut away the old street segments because of space limitation, non-PC content, or whatever". Who knows? Something like Unpaved might return again (or those classic SS DVD compilations we fanboys are all craving for).

Also, I remember when Germany started to air Sesame, that in the days before they started making their own street segments, they just aired the complete (german dubbed) american episodes - street segments and all. I am also guessing, that they'd like to have complete episodes available, in case a new channel wants to start airing SS. But then again, this was back in the early 70's, so it seems highly dubious by now. But you never know... :)

[gymkatarules]

When they say that the sketches will be available online, they mean that the producers and editors of the show will be able to access the video clips remotely. They don't have to be in the same room as the server housing the episodes to pull from them. Online doesn't necessarily mean "connected to the world wide web." It just means that they can access those files, like a big network.

Hope that clears it up.

This does, I think, mean good things for us old Sesame Street fans, as it will be easier for Sesame Workshop to create new DVDs of older material. The video will already be digitzied and producers won't have to spend hours running through tape after tape of archives. It'll all be at the click of a button.

The Complete Bert & Ernie, anyone???

-Chris

[Mark The Shark]

When they say that the sketches will be available online, they mean that the producers and editors of the show will be able to access the video clips remotely. They don't have to be in the same room as the server housing the episodes to pull from them. Online doesn't necessarily mean "connected to the world wide web." It just means that they can access those files, like a big network.

Hope that clears it up.

This does, I think, mean good things for us old Sesame Street fans, as it will be easier for Sesame Workshop to create new DVDs of older material. The video will already be digitzied and producers won't have to spend hours running through tape after tape of archives. It'll all be at the click of a button.

The Complete Bert & Ernie, anyone???

-Chris

That brings up an interesting point. Let's say that somewhere down the line, someone at Sesame Workshop did decide to release "season sets" (or some equivalent thereof) of "Sesame Street" and maybe even "The Electric Company." Would there even really be any point in trying to do comprehensive sets? Apart from the fact that they've done over 4,000 shows, so much of that material is redundant, with some segments often being repeated more than once even within the same episode. One figure that always gets tossed out there is how there are 780 "Electric Company" episodes. But it was very much the same thing: just like "Sesame Street," "The Electric Company" produced 130 shows each year, and then started over again, reusing and recycling segments over and over...and I've even heard a rumor (don't know whether there's any truth in it or not) that there actually was no *new* material produced for the final season of "The Electric Company;" that the 1976-1977 season consisted *entirely* of recycled old segments. I don't know if that's true or not, but even if it isn't, a very large part of the shows consisted of repeats, and that was true right from the beginning (though probably more so towards the end). I wonder if someone were to make an effort to compile every piece of film or tape ever used on the shows into a comprehensive, complete collection, but just not repeating anything, how many hours they'd come up with. I'm guessing a lot less than it would appear.

[dalexandre]

I would pay alot of money for acess to that archive...

[AndyWan Kenobi]

The Complete Bert & Ernie, anyone???

I would totally totally fork over the dough for that!

[dvakman]

I wonder if someone were to make an effort to compile every piece of film or tape ever used on the shows into a comprehensive, complete collection, but just not repeating anything, how many hours they'd come up with. I'm guessing a lot less than it would appear.

I was thinking about this earlier today. Suppose a DVD set could be done for each season (pipe dreams, I know...). Each season set would be comprised of :
1. The "best of" street scenes for that year
2. Animations and live action introduced for the first time on that particular year

This would still be pretty big, but much more feasible than releasing all the episodes. I know it would make me a very happy camper!!!

[zanimum]

...and I've even heard a rumor (don't know whether there's any truth in it or not) that there actually was no *new* material produced for the final season of "The Electric Company;" that the 1976-1977 season consisted *entirely* of recycled old segments.

That's likely the case... The Jetson's first run of three season, was simply the first season's 24 episodes over and over. Still, most sources credit it for running three seasons before syndication.

[Splurge]

and I've even heard a rumor (don't know whether there's any truth in it or not) that there actually was no *new* material produced for the final season of "The Electric Company;" that the 1976-1977 season consisted *entirely* of recycled old segments.
Well, there must have been some new material. After all, there was the final song, "That's All". :) And in that director skit which focused on "Good night", Rita asked Judy how long she was on the Electric Company. When she was told, she responded, "Six years. And you still don't read the card!"

But a lot of the video bits in which the performers looked like they did in '77 ("That's All" is a good basis, except for Rita), it seems like were a lot of short scenes to introduce us to the concept that was "coming up next". Or stopping in to remind us to "keep watching" for more "if" (or whatever).

There were clearly some new skits apart from alerting viewers, I'm sure the Cinderella "coach" skit was one of them, but clearly, they were winding down. So I guess I understand why someone might think there was no new material, when there technically was.

[mikebennidict]

i'm most familiar with the last 2 years of it's run since tEC was reshown up til 1985 and those were the only 2 seasons that were reshown for some reason but i recall seeing many skits from previous seasons reshown and seeing the Noggin reruns where they did show episodes from all seasons, just like SS they always used older segments in the newer episodes.

[MuppetQuilter]

It's not like the archive is new. It's the format that's been updated. Much more convienent to have 4000+ episodes archived digitally, where they can be accessed via desktops and searched via episode #, Muppet, actor, guest star, song, or some other topic. It's got to make it much easier for SST to actually work with their library. Before, when a new puppeteer was going to take over an old Muppet some poor slob had to dig through piles of tapes and run a reel of skits with the old character for the new guy. Now they can just type in something (say 'Gladys the Cow' who came back not that long ago) and run the stuff onto a CD.

Beyond that, even if Sesame Workshop never allows any of the old street segments to see the airwaves again (which I find unlikely) it is standard practice to archive footage and store it. Wasn't always the case with television (or movies for that matter) but it definitely is now.

[Rosewood]

I revived this thread because this subject has been on alot of peoples minds lately. My question is this: are they truely doing this to save the old vintage clips from destruction, or is there an alterior motive to all this? And how far did this project ever really get? I think this subject would be a good one to start addressing again.

[D'Snowth]

Huh, I could've sworn that I already posted in this thread. Oh well, YAY! Classic Sesame DVD's!

[Ilikemuppets]

Cool.