Friday, May 1, 2020

Rare Treats: A pilot episode of Sesame Street (1969)

It took five pilots, in all, before NET (now PBS) was able to launch Sesame Street.

Among the items of note:

We get the familiar theme song, sung by Bob McGrath (ex-Sing Along With Mitch), heard but not seen at this juncture. The video picks up the story of two boys who are making their way to the Street.

There, we're introduced to Gordon (Garrett Saunders, who was later replaced), acting as our host for the day.

Letter of the day is D, as illustrated in various sketches and animated cartoons. Independent producer Ken Snyder was responsible for some of the short bits. The producers took liberties with some clips from The New Adventures of Superman and Batman. In the former, we see a clip from "The Chimp Who Made it Big", the chimp in question being Titano, the Super-ape. And Batman (Olan Soule) talks to Ernie & Bert (Jim Henson & Frank Oz), which leads to a failed pilot in its own right....

The Man From Alphabet is a spy spoof of spy spoofs, starring Gary Owens (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop), who was also heard in one of the animated skits.

Scope the show, if you please:



No rating, just a public service.


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