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D is for Drawn!

Reader Matt Ferguson has compiled an entire alphabet’s worth of Sesame Street animation. There are 26 short films from A-Z, and not only do they bring the memories flooding back, but they remind me how much wonderful, experimental, and just plain fun animation the show had. I haven’t seen an episode of Sesame Street since I was 6 years old — does the show still have the same variety of fun, animated bits?

  • http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com El Negro Magnifico

    “does the show still have the same variety of fun, animated bits?”
    Not really. If any of these old segments appear, they’re often truncated and have additional sound effects (for shorter attention spans, I gather).

  • http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com El Negro Magnifico

    “does the show still have the same variety of fun, animated bits?”
    Not really. If any of these old segments appear, they’re often truncated and have additional sound effects (for shorter attention spans, I gather).

  • johnf

    I don’t think the new episodes of Sesame Street have ANY animation in them now. As far as I know the show has been changed so that there are 4 blocks of muppet segments only.

    Starting in the later ’80s I worked for years as an animator on the Canadian Sesame Street show (Sesame Park), and also did items for Sesame Street International.

    When animation made the shift from being shot on film, to computers the experimental work really disappeared. I found it interesting that once the show “discovered flash” the budgets for the animations they commissioned were really cut to the point that you could only do experimental work if you were willing to do it on your own time.

    I’m not sure if this is directly because of the influence of flash, or perhaps it is just that new people started working on the show that did not have either the budget, or interest in experimental animation.

    It is too bad that this work has disappeared, because I am sure that a lot of animators really enjoyed contributing to it, and I thought they were a nice contrast to the muppets and live action.

  • johnf

    I don’t think the new episodes of Sesame Street have ANY animation in them now. As far as I know the show has been changed so that there are 4 blocks of muppet segments only.

    Starting in the later ’80s I worked for years as an animator on the Canadian Sesame Street show (Sesame Park), and also did items for Sesame Street International.

    When animation made the shift from being shot on film, to computers the experimental work really disappeared. I found it interesting that once the show “discovered flash” the budgets for the animations they commissioned were really cut to the point that you could only do experimental work if you were willing to do it on your own time.

    I’m not sure if this is directly because of the influence of flash, or perhaps it is just that new people started working on the show that did not have either the budget, or interest in experimental animation.

    It is too bad that this work has disappeared, because I am sure that a lot of animators really enjoyed contributing to it, and I thought they were a nice contrast to the muppets and live action.

  • avgbear

    The best letter spot ever:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=wstW5S_OuNo

  • avgbear

    The best letter spot ever:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=wstW5S_OuNo