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Rating:  -
I am among the people who grew up in the 1970s watching Sesame Street.No doubt about it,this DVD set definetly brings back childhood memories for me.I love it!
My favourite segments on this set are:
The Monster's 3 Wishes
Martians and the Telephone
Ernie and Bert's Noisy Bedroom
Ernie Counts Sheep
Ernie and Bert At The Movies
Kermit and the walking W
Kermit'original Bein'Green segment
Milk and Butter
Prairie Dawn's School Pageant
Beetle Bailey First and Last
I also especially enjoyed seeing the promotional film with Kermit and Rolwf.My best friend laughed his head off at Cookie Monster eating the truck.
My only disappointment is there only being four episodes.Unlike the previous DVD set of The Electric Company which contained twenty episodes.
Overall Sesame Street Old School is a real treat.These are the days of Sesame Street that rule.
Rating:  -
Very dissappointed in the quality of these CD's They have NOT been re-done at all, the pictures are so grainy and hard to see my grandaughter won't watch it. Don't waste your money.
Rating: -
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.
Rating:  -
I snapped up this DVD set not long after I'd discovered it had been released; I am 95% above and beyond satisfied; allow me to share what constitutes my percentages:
Contributors to my 95% satisfaction:
- Being able to view Sesame Street segments I have not seen in decades
- Watching my 2 year old's eyes light up at the discovery of "new" monsters and characters, such as Guy Smiley and Harvey Kneeslapper
- Hearing my 2 year old recite along with the various alphabet and number segments (such as "Madrigal Alphabet"); something she had NEVER done with the horribly sanitized, insanely predictable Sesame Street of today.
- Seeing Mr. Hooper alive and well
- Seeing all our favorites in their prime; so Gordon DID have hair once! And why does Luis look a bit like Ray Ramone? :)
Contributors to my 5% disappointment:
- Some retreading of segments. I thought I was going nuts when I'd watched one episode on Monday and saw the trippy "Daddy Dear" segment then...the next day I watched a different episode and saw "Daddy Dear" again! This happened with another animated "D" segment as well (the construction building having "D" themed floors..."dolls," "dogs," and "diamonds.")
Mind you, potential buyer, this repeating error only happens a handful of times amongst all 3 DVDs in the set, so take comfort in that. But shame on you, Sesame Workshop; there's certainly more than enough classic material you could have used; having repeats is absolutely unacceptable. You don't think we consumers are going to catch it, but trust us, WE DO! Sherlock Hemlock taught us all we needed to know!
- I would have loved to have seen full seasons on DVD as well, as opposed to 5 episodes. However, I believe Sesame Workshop atoned for their sins a bit by including the classic clips in this set.
If you're a Gen X-er and grew up with Sesame Street, you will love this set and pray for more to be released.
If you are a Gen X-er with a toddler, I'm pretty darned confident that you'll be amazed at how your little one reacts to this "new" Sesame Street. It doles out plenty of what the current stuff isn't: plenty of alphabet and counting, concepts like "enter/exit," hysterical Bert and Ernie skits (as opposed to the bland "Journey to Ernie" clips of today) and the wonderful "how-to" segments such as "A Stool for Me," "Hamburger Bun Factory, and even an older one on how cows make milk that must have been way before my time! So much creativity; you'll see it from the get-go and your child will, too.
A real treat for adults and children alike; highly recommended. (and I guarantee you'll have the "Captial I" tune in your head long after the DVD player is clicked off!) :)
Rating:  -
I was so happy to finally be able to see the old Sesame Street. I even told my grown kids to plan on a Sesame Street Night to relive the fun & introduce their kids to the beginnings of Sesame Street.
When I viewed the 1st disc I was only a little disappointed to see the entire 1st episode. There were even repeats within the episode. What I expected from the discription was a montage of excerpts from the 1st season: the whole 1st season, not just one episode.
Disc 2 was the same way: just 2 complete episodes; there were even repeats. And disc 3 was boring. I fast-forwarded through most of it.
The best parts of the 3 discs were the cut-outs.
Truthfully I was anticipating Volume 2 and also the Electric Company. However, I guess those volumes will only contain 1 or 2 episodes of each season. What a disappointment with all the possiblities of each year.
S. Markel
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