Goofs are mistakes that are made while filming a television series, movie, or other related project. Due to the nature of business involved in framing how puppets appear in a shot, hundreds of examples can be seen over the years where a puppeteer is visible on screen. This is particularly noticeable in the digital era where content is viewed within a platform container or computer display that shows the portion of a framed shot that was originally Template:Medialink of a CRT television box.
As such, goofs documented by Muppet Wiki include continuity errors, production equipment seen reflected in on-camera sets and props, body parts of a puppet falling off or manually changed throughout the course of the narrative, audio and editing errors, and a significant portion of a puppeteer in frame (more than a quarter of their head or a considerable amount of their arm).
Sketches
Picture | Description |
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"All Together Now" (First: Episode 0015) During the first verse, the daughter's left eye comes loose, and the puppeteer briefly ducks the puppet down to reattach it. At the end of the song, the characters all collapse on the wall, and the mother's left eye comes loose. | |
Big Bird Meets Little Bird (First: Episode 0028) Several times in the sketch, there's a visible opening between Big Bird's head and neck in which a bit of Caroll Spinney's hand is revealed operating the head. | |
F Cheer 1 (First: Episode 0092) Near the end of the skit, the nose of the Pumpkin Orange AM falls off. | |
4 Cheer (First: Episode 0132) When the balloons come in to the shot, a hand can be seen. | |
Pile of cookies (First: Episode 0153) Since the Muppet performers did not have headset microphones at the time (photographic evidence exists of this), the plastic clicking of Cookie Monster's googly eyes is picked up on the external boom mic. | |
Lefty the Salesman: Picture of Four Elephants (First: Episode 0292) Lefty has ears for most of the sketch. After the second close-up on the painting, he has no ears. | |
"J Friends" (First: Episode 0339) During the final verse, when the friends "jump with Jane," a puppeteer's forehead and the bottoms of the AMs, especially the Lavender, are briefly visible. | |
The Beach: Tough Eddie (First: Episode 0482) Right at the beginning, a bit of Tough Eddie, including his nose, is plainly visible on camera, just to Bert's left, as if Eddie were simply waiting for his cue. | |
Old West sketches: Surprise (First: Episode 0537) In one shot, the one in which Bad Bart has walked into the saloon and says Marshall Earp had better be there soon, he is standing in front of the wall, but in the next close-up shot of him saying he has a surprise for her, he is back in front of the door, with his head silhouetted against the sunset. | |
Cookie Monster Shares a Cookie (First: Episode 0623) When the girl first approaches Cookie Monster, she already has half a cookie with her (the top of it can be seen at the bottom of the screen). And then, when she lunges to eat it, the cookie slips from her hand, and she ends up munching on nothing more than a few fingertips full of air. | |
"The Subway" (First: Episode 0762) After singing the opening solo, the Green Anything Muppet with the shades turns and walks down the stairs into the underground subway station, and yet just a few seconds later he steps back into shot from off to the side to echo the policeman's "subway" line. | |
Sesame Street Pageants: The Four Seasons (First: Episode 1165) Cookie Monster stays on stage right before a cut to a close-up of the cast entering the stage from the wings. However, Cookie Monster is behind the cast entering the stage, despite being on stage in the previous shot. | |
Bed Making Cooperation (First: Episode 1388) At one point when Ernie and Bert switch sides (as Ernie complains the blanket on one side of the bed is crooked), the camera pans too far to the left, revealing the edge of the set. | |
"Don't Sing This Song" (EKA: Episode 2482) During the song, you can briefly see Kevin Clash performing Elmo behind Bob. | |
Alphaquest: M (First: Episode 2724) When the girl first enters the kitchen, one of the mittens she uses is plainly visible on the table, yet in the very next shot, it disappears. | |
"We Are All Earthlings" (First: Episode 2835) During the first chorus, the sound suggests that all the characters are singing in unison, yet some of them (Elmo included) are seen moving their mouths to no sound, as if to echo the title line, as would be done in the next choruses. | |
"Gospel Alphabet" (First: Episode 3825) During the intense gospel part, Bert loses an eye. The puppeteer attempts to hide this from the camera by having Bert stare off to the right, but he whips his head back to look at Patti. |
Episodes
Picture | Description |
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Episode 0871 Scene 5 As Bob moves the chair to the empty space, he exposes the mat concealing Jerry Nelson under the table. | |
Episode 1553 Scene 4 In wide shots, the lid to Oscar's trash can can be seen hanging from the side as Bruno carries it, but when the scene cuts to a close-up of the human cast sticking their heads out of the can, the lid is nowhere to be seen. | |
Episode 1592 Scene 1 As Big Bird leaves his nest to check on the alarm for a fire drill, a studio camera is seen through the door.
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Episode 1858 Scene 2 As Captain Vegetable puts hand to his chest during a heroic speech, his carrot emblem gets stuck to his hand and comes off his costume. He resets it in between shots. | |
Episode 3239 Scene 1 In the first shot, when Jamal is greeting the viewer, the camera is facing the balcony from inside the day care, where there appears to be no door leading outside. However, in the following shot of Zoe and Angela, a door appears halfway closed. | |
Episode 3879 Scene 5 The word "alive" appears at the top of the screen in one shot, but in at least one broadcast, the word does not appear, so Big Bird and Snuffy look up at nothing, and Susan points to nothing. | |
Episode 3976 Scene 4 Gordon and Bob carry Oscar's trash can into the apartment, but shortly afterward, as the hurricane hits, the can is right back where it usually is. | |
Episode 4067 Scene Kevin Clash's hand holding up Elmo's arm rods, and the sleeve of his shirt underneath Elmo can be briefly seen. | |
Episode 4200 Scene The rainbow drawing that Leela hands Rosita is clearly different from the one she had drawn just seconds before. |
Specials
Picture | Description |
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Big Bird in China In a continuity error, the first montage of Big Bird and Barkley in China shows the dog with the hourglass around his neck. They would not receive the item until later in the story. | |
Sesame Street, Special It seems that there was some reusing of old footage in the celebrity version of "Put Down the Duckie". Just as before, Ernie puts down his rubber duckie and begins playing his saxophone, but as soon as the instrumental bridge is over and Hoots starts singing again, the duck is back in Ernie's hand, only to disappear a few seconds later. | |
Sesame Street Stays Up Late During clips from the characters from Sesam Stasjon, the characters were riding a carriage and you can see Åsmund Huser performing Bjarne Betjent as the carriage rounds the corner. |
Movies
Picture | Description |
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Follow That Bird As Big Bird departs Sesame Street and the residents bid their farewell, the reflection of a monitor can be seen in the door of the Harmony Music Store, where Ferlinghetti Donizetti is peering out. | |
Follow That Bird Aerial shots show the underside of the wings of Ernie and Bert's biplane as being plain red, however, tighter shots show white stripes on the underside of the top wing. | |
Follow That Bird In certain shots during "Upside Down World", Ernie's tongue is peeling off his bottom jaw. | |
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland As the camera pulls out on a shot of Baby Bear and Gina in the laundromat, a lighting scrim gets caught in frame. |