Thursday, December 08, 2005

Sesame Biography Set to Re-air

A&E will re-air their wonderful behind-the-scenes special about Sesame Street - "Sesame Street Biography". The 2-hour special is being shown in two hour-long parts as a part of A&E's morning "A&E Classroom" programing block. The hour-long "Part 1" will air on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 at 7:00am ET/PT; and the second hour, "Part 2", will air the very next day (Thursday, December 22, 2005) at the same time (7:00am ET/PT) -- check your local listings for details.

This is an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at how the children's educational show is put together, from the initial writers' meeting through research, production, and actual filming. Viewers will see the Muppeteers working their Muppets and rehearsing without the Muppets on their hands, which Sesame Street had never before allowed to be filmed.

Sesame Street is a TV legend, pure and simple. Jim Henson's vision gave the world Big Bird, the Grouch, Kermit and countless other beloved characters, and has helped millions of kids get a jump start on the alphabet, counting and other essential skills. For this extraordinary portrait, Sesame Street's producers allowed A&E unrestricted access to all facets of the show's creation, and theyl follow one episode from the first writer's meeting to broadcast to see how it all comes together. Rare footage captures landmark moments, including the never-before-seen pilot episode, and extensive archival interviews with Jim Henson and Frank Oz offer insights into the creators' intentions.

If you haven't seen this great documentary (and even if you have) be sure to set your VCRs, program your TiVo and don't miss it both days. You can also buy the DVD of both parts from A&E's online store here. The $30 disc does not feature special cover-art, any disc menu pages or any special features like standard DVDs, it simply includes a copy of the program.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any word if this is the original 2 hour version or the edited hour long "kiddie" version?

Anonymous said...

A&E will be showing the two-hours split-up over two days (titled part 1 and part 2). Part 1 is the 21st, Part 2 is the 22nd. I'm now told that all the content from the 2-hour original will be there, just split into two parts.

I looked into it, and revised the news post to make it clear. The message "A&E Classroom" sent me alerting me of it did not mention it was going to be a 2-part (2-day) event -- but I e-mailed them and they told me this (and checking the TV listings for the days now conferm it as well).

Thanks for alerting me of this Stulz.

Anonymous said...

Anytime.

Anonymous said...

unfortunately A&E don't ship to germany...shame !