Wednesday, November 02, 2005

"Sesame Street" for Babies?

"Sesame Workshop is planning a new series of direct-to-DVD videos featuring the classic Sesame Street Muppets as babies. The all new series of DVDs, titled "Sesame Beginnings", will take a look at the baby back-stories of the beloved characters. Just picture a little rambunctious Cookie Monster, an even squeakier Elmo, a not-so-big Big Bird, and more. The program is designed to support infants, toddlers, and their parents with the building blocks of learning.

Unlike "Sesame Street", which is aimed at kids ages 3-7, this program will be aimed at a younger audience - kids under the age of 2. Each story will feature the Sesame characters at a younger age and show them learning, growing, building relationships, and having fun. Yet, just like "Sesame Street", the program will feature loveable puppet characters interacting, teaching, entertaining, and educating. Producers at Sesame Workshop hope that the "Sesame Beginnings" DVDs will not only entertain, but also help promote healthy relationships between caregivers and children. The first "Sesame Beginnings" DVDs are planned to hit stores in March 2006. Other related spin-off merchandise, such as dolls and toys, are already the works as well. I'll keep you posted as more information is available on the new production, the new products, and these new DVD releases.

6 comments:

Ed South said...

They've already got the whole nursery set for "Sesame Beginings" at Toys-R-Us!

Anonymous said...

Hopefully with some successful Sesame Babies products, Disney will notice and get us some Muppet Babies products!

Terrence said...

I am really looking forward to these DVDs since our 1 year old daughter already loves watching Sesame Street on PBS-TV.

Thanks Sesame Workshop!

Anonymous said...

I do wish they put some Muppet sketches on the DVDs, but I doubt it.

Anonymous said...

They won't put Muppet Babies on the Sesame Beginning DVD for many reasons:

1) They aren’t related (other than they are baby versions of Jim Henson puppets). You don't see Muppet Show episodes on regular Sesame Street DVDs, nor Muppets Tonight on as a bonus on the latest Elmo’s World DVD. One is a cartoon of the Muppet characters from the '80s, and one is a puppet show of Sesame Street characters from the 2000s.

2) They have different owners (Sesame Workshop owns SB, Disney owns MB). It would take some major deals to get all the legal stuff ironed out. It would make more sense for Disney to just release their own MB DVDs, rather than sell it to be a supplement on Sesame’s.

3) The shows have different Target Audiences. Sesame Beginnings is aimed at children under the age of 3 (Children born between 2002-2005). Muppet Babies was aimed at a slightly older audience ages 5-10 (over it’s run it was mainly aimed at children born between 1975-1990). Today it would be for children born between 1995-2000, however in today’s market Muppet Babies has more of a nostalgic audience (so it would still draw the older audiences). But MB and SB don’t match up in target market.

They both should be on DVD, but not the same DVD (for content, legal, marketing, and practical reasons). Maybe one day MB will get a DVD treatment, but this show should have nothing to do with it.

Anonymous said...

I'm looking for muppet babies wallpaper, blankets, etc. to decorate the nursery in. Any suggestions? I hope Disney does notice and starts to produce more Muppet Babies products!
please email me at herkens@gmail.com
Thanks :-)