40 Years of Sunny Days





Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days is a Sesame Street DVD set released on November 10, 2009, to celebrate the show's 40th Anniversary.

Guest stars featured in clips on the set include: Madeline Kahn, James Taylor, Patti Labelle, Batman, Lena Horne, Happy Days' Fonzie, the Star Wars droids, Mister Rogers, Diana Ross, Pee-wee Herman, Feist, Smokey Robinson, Destiny's Child, and Robert De Niro.

Each disc begins with a TV Montage introduced by Count von Count and featuring one clip from each of the 40 seasons (all of which are presented within the main program). Each five-year period begins with a look through a scrapbook representing the time periods, and many clips begin with behind-the-scenes photos related to the clip (with the first few seconds of audio heard over the picture). The set also comes with a commemorative booklet, a shortened 24-page version of Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street. Early copies were hardcover, but when distribution switched from Genius Products to Warner Home Video the booklet was changed to paperback.

Disc 1: Seasons 1-20
A * denotes that part of that clip was also featured in the "TV Montages" in this set.

Season 1

 * "Sesame Street Open" (including Gordon's opening line from Episode 0001)
 * "Henson #1 Song" *
 * "Rubber Duckie"
 * "I Love Trash"
 * Batman Around/Up/Through
 * "If I Knew You Were Coming"
 * "Bein' Green"

Season 2

 * Bert &amp; Ernie: Banana in Ear (part 1 only)*
 * "Henson Queen of Six"
 * "Mad Song"
 * Sorting Song with Cookie Monster

Season 3

 * Mad Painter #5
 * "Bienvenido Song"
 * "Lady Bug Picnic" *

Season 4

 * Herry &amp; John-John Count *
 * Talking Loud / Talking Soft
 * Remembering Bread, Milk, Butter
 * Kermit News: Sleeping Beauty (Prince Charming falls asleep)
 * Bert &amp; Ernie: Bert's Bust

Season 5

 * "Fat Cat"
 * O-Orange Man
 * Lena Horne: "How Do You Do?" *
 * "Doin' the Pigeon"

Season 6

 * Super Grover: Exit
 * Typewriter: N-Nose *
 * Invisible Ice Cream

Season 7

 * "Pinball Animation #7" *

Season 8

 * "People in Your Neighborhood" -- Elevator Operator and Pharmacist *

Season 9

 * Fonzie on/off/on
 * Clips From Hawaii (Snuffy lands on the island, Mr. Hooper surfs}
 * I-Beam *

Season 10

 * Telly Plugs in (Telly's first appearance) *

Season 11

 * Star Wars: "One You Go Beep" *
 * Kermit News: Foot Snuggies (with Dr. Nobel Price)
 * Geometry of Circles (with music by Philip Glass)
 * Monsterpiece Theater: Me Claudius
 * Martians: Radio
 * "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco"

Season 12

 * "Hello Hello Hello Song"
 * Dancing Dog Imagines
 * Two-Headed Monster: Telephone *
 * Bring Your Own Can Night (with Oscar the Grouch, Bruno the Trashman, and cast)
 * Mister Rogers Returns

Season 13

 * Making Crayons
 * Diana Ross: "Believe in Yourself"
 * Bert &amp; Ernie: Fish Call Quiet/Loud *
 * Madeline Kahn: "Friendship Song" (from Episode 1576)

Season 14

 * "Honker Duckie Dinger Jamboree"
 * James Taylor: "Jellyman Kelly" *
 * Bert &amp; Ernie: Snowman
 * "We All Sing the Same Song"

Season 15

 * Teeny Little Super Guy: School
 * Just Because (Big Bird comes to terms with Mr. Hooper's death) *

Season 16

 * "Peanut Butter Factory Song"
 * Smokey Robinson: "U Really Got a Hold on Me" *

Season 17

 * Elmo's Make Believe Trip (the performance that Kevin Clash notes is the moment when he "found his voice" as Elmo)
 * "Batty Bat Song"
 * Snuffy Is Seen *

Season 18

 * "Put Down the Duckie" (celebrity version) *
 * "Sing Your Synonyms"

Season 19

 * Pee-wee Herman's Alphabet
 * Maria and Luis Get Married
 * "African Alphabet" *

Season 20

 * OOOO-Klahoma!
 * Meet the Baby (Gabriela is born) *

Disc 1 Bonus Features

 * "Behind the Street" featurettes, which play when clicking the "enter" button when the Sesame Street logo appears on-screen, or can all be viewed all together by selecting "Play All".
 * An interview with Jon Stone on research and curriculum, and the barriers the show broke.
 * An interview with legendary puppeteer Caroll Spinney on Oscar the Grouch.
 * Behind-the-Scenes footage on Dr. Nobel Price.
 * Behind-the-Scenes rehearsal footage on "The Hello Hello Hello Song", "Two-Headed Monster: Telephone", "Bring Your Own Can Night", "The Honker-Duckie-Dinger Jamboree", "Friendship Song", and "Bert and Ernie: Snowman".
 * An interview with Kevin Clash on the creation of Elmo.
 * Easter Egg: One minute panning shot of the Street set from Big Bird's nest to the Fix-It Shop.
 * Fan Favorite Clip - Bert and Ernie: String Tied
 * TV Montage
 * On-screen pop-up facts
 * DVD Rom Feature: 189 pages of 40 years of credits in PDF format.

Season 21

 * Monsterpiece Theater: King and I *
 * AlphaQuest: Letter R
 * "Monster in the Mirror"
 * "Elmo's Song"
 * Grover's Restaurant: Most Important Meal

Season 22

 * Cecille the Ball: "I'm Gonna Get to You" *

Season 23

 * Does Air Move Things?
 * "What's the Name of That Song?" *

Season 24

 * Ooh What a Fabulous Party *

Season 25

 * Marilyn Horne: "C Is for Cookie" *

Season 26

 * Arrested Development: "Pride"
 * Dance Theater of Harlem: Five Birds
 * Luxo Jr.: Front/Back *
 * "My Name Is Zoe"
 * "B Is for Bubble"

Season 27

 * The Spin Doctors: "Two Princes" *

Season 28

 * Fay Family: To Market *

Season 29

 * Tony Bennett: "Slimey to the Moon" *
 * "Count Me In"

Season 30

 * Patti LaBelle: "Gospel Alphabet" *

Season 31

 * The Goo Goo Dolls: "Pride" *
 * Celebrity "Sing"

Season 32

 * Robert De Niro: The Actor Prepares
 * My Nest, My Home *
 * Elmo's World Games: Mr. Noodle (includes "Elmo's World" opening)

Season 33

 * "Bird on Me"
 * Destiny's Child: "A New Way to Walk" *
 * Fire on the Street

Season 34

 * "ABC Hip Hop" *

Season 35

 * TJ: "Me and My Chair" Song *
 * Elmo's World: Lord of the Feet
 * Six Feet Under

Season 36

 * Alicia Keys: "Dancin'" *
 * "A Cookie is a Sometime Food"

Season 37

 * Abby's Arrival *
 * Matt Lauer Interviews Cookie Monster
 * Law &amp; Order Special Letters Unit

Season 38

 * Can't Say the Alphabet Enough *
 * I Love Every Part of You

Season 39

 * Feist: "1234" *
 * The Golden Triangle of Destiny (giant boulder and laundromat trap sequences)
 * David Beckham: Persistent
 * Plain White T's
 * Neil Patrick Harris: The Shoe Fairy
 * Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures: Penguin

Season 40

 * "Guess the Seasons Song"
 * D-Dance *

Disc 2 Bonus features

 * Behind the Street featurette, including:
 * Leslie Carrara-Rudolph and Jason Weber talk about the creation of Abby Cadabby.
 * Behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage of "Guess The Seasons" and "D-Dance".
 * Green screen passes of Elmo and other characters, for "Lord of the Feet" and "D-Dance".
 * Bonus Behind-the-Street featurette, including:
 * Production meeting discussion and rehearsal for an early 1980s episode, featuring Oscar and Othmar the Grouch.
 * Interviews with Roscoe Orman and Jim Henson.
 * Archive photos during scene and menu transitions.
 * An on-screen pop-up feature with facts about Sesame Street.
 * Sneak Peek: Abby's Flying Fairy School -- "Cinderella" episode
 * TV Montage
 * Easter Egg: Four and a half minute high speed montage of building the Sesame Street set.
 * Link to sesamestreet.org/moresunnydays online DVD bonus.
 * DVD-ROM: 189 pages of credits of 40 seasons of Sesame Street in PDF format.

Vote
Genius Entertainment partnered with Amazon.com to allow fans to vote for one moment from a list of 10 clips to appear on the release. Voting was open from April 1st to April 28, 2009. The winning clip, with 27% of the vote, was "Bert and Ernie String Tied."

The nominees and results were as follows:
 * "Alligator King" (10%)
 * "Bert and Ernie String Tied" (27%)
 * "King of Eight" (5%)
 * "Henson Ball" (3%)
 * "Martian Beauty" (1%)
 * "What's the Name of that Song" (9%)
 * "I Just Adore Four" (1%)
 * "Pinball Machine 12" (24%)
 * "Caribbean Amphibian" (10%)
 * "Elmo's Debut" (6%)