Today it was reported that most 10th graders in Washington state can not pass the Math state expectiations.
I blame a severe lack of the good Sesame Street stuff. Oh sure, it still comes around in rotation (at least some of it)… but the good stuff… not as often.
Some favourites:
- 1-20 indian man with 4 arms:
- The pinball machine we all wanted
- My Martian Cutie (Number 9)
- The Ladybug Picnic.. and for those of you studying kaballah.. IN HEBREW!
- Trippy basic addition and subtraction to 5
- The alligator king (7)
- The animated rock tribe ritual of passage unto the realm of 12 actually kind of disturbing in reflection.
- Early scary computer counts to 4
- Let’s sing a song of 10
- These featured a clumsy baker taking a dive with X number of pastries. See if you can identify the baker. This was the only time you saw this mainstay of Sesame Street on screen.
- Personally, I wish I could find “Let’s sing a song of 9” because it is the first appearance of Rowlf the Dog.
- The crazy number painter played by “The Jefferson’s” neighbor Paul Benedict was a favourite, but the shorts were killed in the 80’s because it was perceived that they encouraged graffiti. In this episode he tries to paint a “7”. In this short he runs into a random female (the second person in the elevator)… Bonus points if you can recognize this actress before she was discovered.
- And if you really want to understand me and where I get it… hands count to 11
Hopefully we can all count now.
Personally, I love these because they fire off synapses deep in my brain that have a warm nostalgic buzz to them.
Oh, and in case you really can’t figure it out…
The baker is the only time we see Jim Henson the man rather than running a muppet.
The young unknown actress is Stockard Channing
Oh man! The number painter guy! that totally brings back memories.
Did a quick search for number painter on youtube and found many more.
For some reason, this one for number 3 (also starring Stockard Channing) has stood out best in my mind. Just something about him constantly painting the number on food. Ha ha… look at Stockard eat!
Wow, that’s a blast from the past! I LOVED the ladybug one and the alligator king, and the Charlie-Chaplin-esque painter guy. And I swear they showed the skit with the baker every 5 minutes, and I didn’t realize that was Henson until I recognised his voice. Wow.
In retrospect, I think animated skits like those are responsible for my mild synesthesia. Suddenly it all makes sense.
There was another one that sticks in my mind teaching kids how to pronounce the letter combination “tion”… it had some funky music that stuck to my brain like anything!
Wait, I found it! It’s from the Electric Company, not Sesame Street. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrfhDxpEq24&search=tion
I still want this. It’d be for my boy. Yeah, that’s it. The boy needs it :).
I bought this
I very much strongly reccommend this!
I missed this when when my kids were watching SS — was the baker Frank Oz? It certainly sounds like his voice….
Wow… that’s a super-duper long version of the pinball machine.
I also learned how to count to ten in spanish from some sesame street song….
Good selections. I personally always loved http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWrUykkc-bs&search=sesame%20street%20two%20little%20girls for Two.
You know, it would be really cool it the put all the episodes of sesame street on DVD’s. I would love to have the entire collection, especially since they took away the cookie monster.
“Personally, I love these because they fire off synapses deep in my brain that have a warm nostalgic buzz to them.”
Exactly!
Wow, thanks for the nostalgia trip. (Suddenly wondering what mass-psychological effects watching this stuff had on all of us…)