40 Years of Sunny Days

Release Date	2009
Produced by	Genius Entertainment
Catalogue no.	SS00161
Format	DVD
Discs	2
Region	1
ASIN	B002K0WBWI

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

Bert and Ernie: Banana in Ear

"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

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

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

• "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

• "The 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 #1 "Circle with Flower" (with music by Philip Glass)
• Monsterpiece Theater: Me Claudius
• Martians: Radio
• "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco"

Season 12

• "Hello Hello Hello Song" (from Episode 1530)
• 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 & Ernie: Fish Call Quiet/Loud *
• Madeline Kahn: "Friendship Song" (from Episode 1576)

Season 14

• "Honker Duckie Dinger Jamboree"
• James Taylor: "Jellyman Kelly" *
• Bert & 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 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

• 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 & 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 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."

Other releases

DVD2010
Warner Home Video

International releases

United Kingdom (DVD)2010
Abbey Home Media Group

Australia (DVD)2010
Madman Entertainment
Special edition

Australia (DVD)2010
Madman Entertainment
Standard edition

Promotions

2010
T-World's Artist Collaboration with Sesame Street

See also

• Sesame Street: 40th Anniversary

External links

• Muppet Central review
• Valley Courrier review