Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days [DVD]

I thought this was an excellent product for the money! For me, as well as many others, we knew exactly what we were paying for (you really expected 40 complete seasons for $20? That's 50 cents a season... come on.) This is basically the 'best-of'... there are 2-3 segments from the first 40 seasons of the show. My kid absolutely loves it, and if you feel like watching it with them but are interested in any historical facts or tidbits, there is a special feature to turn on the pop-ups facts while you watch. (Which kids will decide if they want to pay attention to or not, but I think they're cool. Like now I know that Big Birds birthday is Nov 2nd!!)As far as the episode of Mr. Hoopers death, the adults explain to Big Bird that Mr. Hooper is not coming back, "Just because." It's not scary - it is sad, though. But death is a part of life. They don't say "he was old" because children think their parents are old, and they don't say "he was sick" because children get sick and their friends get sick all the time. "Just because" was good for Big Bird to hear. All in all, for $20 this is 2.5-3 hours of good entertainment for the lil ones... and admittedly, I liked it too. :)

This is better than ordering the individual 3 volumes of Old School unless you are die Sesame Street collector like me...this 40th is the way to go A LOT of old and new for everyone A+++ it covers all 40 years especially the 69-89 years my era of Sesame Street

Sesame Street is very educational. This is a great set. Sometimes I think they skim over the timeline too fast but it’s still excellent for my one-year-old. She’s very entertained with it. But just to be clear this is not every episode Of the last 40 years. It’s more like highlights from the past 40 years. There’s two discs each disc about an hour and a half long.

This anniversary collection was obviously put together with care. Most of the songs on "Sesame Street Platinum Hits" are here on video, as well as plenty of muppet action, educational video and all of the creativity and joy that make up Sesame Street. I found nuggets from my childhood that my daughter seems to love too (Remember Lady Bug Picnic?) A couple of the celebrity songs feel dated (the Spin Doctors?). But, there are great songs here from Feist, Alicia Keys and others. Sure it does include a couple of the more emotional episodes from Sesame Street's past including the passing of Mr. Hooper and the loss of Big Bird's home in a bad wind. But, they are here for how well these difficult times were dealt with. Enjoy and share!

I grew up watching Sesame Street like most of the people my age (28). We purchased this set for our daughter's first birthday and I watched it with her. I loved seeing the stuff from the early years and I recognized a number of the songs and animations from the time period when I was a daily viewer of the show.I wish they had included longer pieces of material. I realize it's 40 years worth of a show, but I would have happily paid a little more money for a larger collection of material - it's all packed onto 2 DVDs with very little bonus material.I would have liked to see some behind the scenes stuff with Jim Henson and the rest of the Muppeteers, like what is on the DVD of The Labyrinth.Mr. Hooper had already died by the time I was born but I must have seen old re-runs of the show at some point because I remembered the character. It's very touching to see that Big Bird still has the drawing of Mr. Hooper in his nest, I hadn't noticed that until recently. Sesame Street has always found ways to teach, entertain and help kids understand weighty issues, I think the way they dealt with the death of Mr. Hooper and the hurricane that destroyed Big Bird's nest were poignant and appropriate - I admit, both made me cry.In all, it's still a great collection well worth the price, I just wish there were longer clips and more of them - maybe for the big 50th anniversary of the show they'll expand upon this set.

I love watching this with my son. He loves the same segments that I loved as a child. Honestly, how many tv shows/movies can 2 generations enjoy?It's also fun to see Sesame Street before too many "cooks" got involved. Having segments cut because of public pressure is just silly in my eyes. If I don't want my son to watch something, he won't watch it.My only complaint is that you can't skip to the menu. You have to watch the feel good commercial about PBS/Sesame Street EVERY time you watch a SS DVD. Do you know how many times I have watched that thing? I can recite it, in Whoopi's voice, in my sleep.

This set contains two discs which feature highlights from each of the fourty seasons. The menu allows you to browse by seasons and then by clips, or play by season. It's a fun way to get to know Sesame Street if you don't already, and I use some of the clips when teaching. I have also given it as a gift to friends with young children, and it has been a huge hit with all of them. I personally enjoyed seeing all the old school clips I remember from when I was a kid, and I delight in newer ones such as "Case of the Missing M," which is a parody of Law and Order, or Cookie Monster eating fruits with Matt Lauer on a mock TODAY show episode.

This is the only show that my two-year-old son has displayed any interest in and I love that they've generally kept the same model for so many years. I remember waking up as a child waiting for the street lights to go off below our Chicago apartment building so I'd be allowed to turn on Sesame Street. Great tool for introducing kids to many different educational and social topics. However, kids screen time should always be in moderation and should never be a substitute for one on one time with mom or dad.