Release Date | 2009 |
Produced by | Genius Entertainment |
Catalogue no. | SS00161 |
Format | DVD |
Discs | 2 |
Region | 1 |
ASIN |

Booklet wrap-around

Disc menu

Pop-up trivia

Vintage interviews

Rehearsal footage

In the workshop

Archive photos during scene transitions

Henson #1 Song

Bein' Green



"I Can Remember": Bread, Milk, Butter

Geometry of Circles

Luxo Jr.

Monster in the Mirror

"Slimey to the Moon"


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, in addition to the various celebrities who appear in "Put Down the Duckie" and "Sing".
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 & Ernie: Banana in Ear (part 1 only)*
- "Henson Queen of Six"
- "Mad Song"
- Sorting Song with Cookie Monster
Season 3
Season 4
- Herry & John-John Count *
- Talking Loud / Talking Soft
- Remembering Bread, Milk, Butter
- Kermit News: Sleeping Beauty (Prince Charming falls asleep)
- Bert & Ernie: Bert's Bust
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
- "The People in Your Neighborhood" -- Elevator Operator and Pharmacist *
Season 9
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 #1 "Circle with Flower" (with music by Philip Glass)
- Monsterpiece Theater: Me Claudius
- Martians: Radio
- "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco"
Season 12
Season 13
Season 14
Season 15
- Teeny Little Super Guy: School
- Just Because (Big Bird comes to terms with Mr. Hooper's death) *
Season 16
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 of Cheryl Blaylock transforming a Large Lavender Live Hand Anything Muppet from Dominique into 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.
Disc 2: Seasons 21-40
Season 21
Season 22
Season 23
Season 24
Season 25
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
Season 28
Season 29
Season 30
Season 31
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
Season 34
- "ABC Hip Hop" *
Season 35
Season 36
Season 37
Season 38
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
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 Episode 1570, featuring Oscar and Othmar the Grouch.
- Interviews with Roscoe Orman and Jim Henson.
- 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%)
Edits
- "Kermit News: Sleeping Beauty" is presented with the late-1980s title card instead of the original.
- Herry's closing line, "Right!", in "Herry and John-John Count."
- Smart Tina's line "Do it, Roosevelt!", at the end of "Talking Loud/ Talking Soft."
- Lefty the Salesman's line "I didn't see nothing" at the end of "Invisible Ice Cream."
- The Martian sketch is edited at the end to omit them going extra crazy with their dancing and chanting "happy happy, boing boing!", etc.
- The last 10 seconds of "Me Lost Me Cookie."
- The opening wide shot in "Put Down the Duckie."
Notes
- Caroll Spinney wears a t-shirt with the Muppet Show logo on the back during behind-the-scenes footage of rehearsal of the "Hello Hello Hello Song" which is blurred out for the DVD release.
- Frank Oz is wearing a headband with his Muppet Show characters on it in behind-the-scenes footage of the snowman sketch. The images have been blurred out for this presentation.
- Caroll Spinney wears a Mickey Mouse t-shirt while rehearsing scenes from Episode 1576 which has been blurred out for the DVD release.
- A parody of the Birth of Venus from the Kermitage Collection can be seen on a wall in the bonus feature on the making of Abby Cadabby. The painting was blurred out for the DVD release.
- In December 2010, Amazon.com released an online exclusive version of the set with a bonus disc containing episode 4228.
- The behind-the-scenes footage was later released in The iTunes Store as a full, half-hour segment with new pop-up facts. The behind-the scenes of "The Friendship Song" was also later included on Old School: Volume 3.
Errata
- The season 2 version of "Rubber Duckie" is listed as a season 1 segment.
- "Ladybugs' Picnic" is listed as a season 3 segment, even though it would not air on the show until the following season.
- The celebrity version of "Put Down the Duckie" is listed as a season 18 segment. Although the song did debut in season 18, the celebrity version debuted later.
- The back cover of the DVD case for Disc 1 mentions Caroll Spinney performing Bruno the Trashman, who is incorrectly identified as "Biff."