Rugrats - "Wash/Dry Story"

From the people who brought you the episode, "Music," comes another musical episode for "Rugrats," called "Wash/Dry Story," inspired from the ever popular musical "West Side Story." Let's start the review, shall we?

When Stu inadvertently turns off the neighborhood water supply, the gang goes to the laundromat to do the laundry, but the problem is, The McNultys are there too, and Teddy McNulty sees Cynthia, and he wants to play with the Cynthia doll. The thing is Jonathan had taken Cynthia alongside with Charlotte's laundry because apparently, Charlotte doesn't do laundry, Jonathan does it for her. That seems kind of lazy. Kimi wants to return Cynthia to Angelica, but Teddy wants to keep her all to himself. That said, two groups of kids get into a standoff. Will they never cease? Stay tuned to find out!

The reason I like this episode is because it's a good satire on a classic musical. I mean you have Timmy McNulty as Riff Lorton, Kimi being Rita Moreno, Teddy being of course Richard Beymer as Tony Wyzek, and of course the music has a lot of good spoofs like for example, "Stray Cat Strut" by the Stray Cats, "Maria," and "There's a Place For Us." Clever parodies, clever plot. Too bad there's no parody of "I Feel Pretty." Come on, guys, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim would be proud. Also, I should point out that this is the last appearance of the McNultys, good riddance if you ask me.

The only other parody of West Side Story was perhaps the Animatiacs episode with the Goodfeathers, and that episode featured the voice of Ivy Austin from Sesame Street.

Just remember, the moral of the story is always keep your eyes on your prized possessions, if not, they end up in a laundry basket on the way to the laundromat.

Just remember, someplace, there's always a place for all of us to play, it's just not at the laundromat, and that's the moral, folks. Hope you enjoyed my first review on February.

Rugrats - "Music"

Bring up the orchestra, put on your singing voice, and get ready to sing-along with the Rugrats gang in the ever popular episode, "Music."

While listening to the radio, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Angelica perform music videos in order to teach Dil about music. Musical numbers include "Tricycle Not for You," "Pack Up Your Troubles," "Toyland," "You Make Me Love You," and "Beautiful Dreamer."

They try so desperately to get Dil to imagine the visuals like how the other kids would. Can they get Dil to imagine the visuals, or will they just follow Angelica's advice that he's not ready to learn yet?

Just watch and find out.

What I admire about this story is that it's a musical episode, kind of like SpongeBob's Jellyfish Jam, and I like Phil and Lil's "Tricycle Not for You" musical number, it has a sort of rock and roll feel to it, and Tommy's "You Made Me Love You," has a lounge feel to it, George Burns, eat your heart out. And even Didi is pretty good at singing Dil to sleep. At the end of the episode, one can realize that Dil really loves Tommy, because he dreams of him (Tommy) as he falls asleep. I think I like the "Beautiful Dreamer" rendition as much as Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Revue version that was performed by Odie.

In conclusion, even though PIEGUYRULZ has says that the Tales From the Crib movies that got a lot mixed reviews because it breaks the rule that a Rugrat should never sing. I'm afraid I have to disagree. I don't mind the characters singing that much.

And since this aired before "Jellyfish Jam" did, I can safely say this is a pre-"Jellyfish Jam" episode. By the way fans, you make me love you! Really, I do.

VeggieTales - "Daniel and the Lions' Den" Review

Let's start off the New Year with a another VeggieTales review. Only this time, we're going to go way back into 1993, 25 years it's been since the show first started. But Big Idea's not doing anything to celebrate is as far as I know due to VeggieTales in the House existing. This review is for "Daniel and the Lions' Den," from their very first show, "Where's God When I'm S-Scared?" Let's begin the review, shall we?

The story is pretty basic. Daniel, played by Larry the Cucumber, tells King Darius, played by Archibald, about what his dream was, and thus, he was granted the second in command, thus, making the Scallions very unhappy and jealous. Of course, they decide to trick the king into making the city of Babylon pray to only him, and if they wouldn't, some of them would be thrown into the lion's den. So, of course, Daniel is the victim of this sort of thing and gets thrown into the lions' den. But the angel of the lord told him that God is always there with him, so Daniel praised the lord and slept through the night, heck, he even got pizza from the lions. King Darius gave thanks to God on that very day, and decides to try to punish the Scallions, but eventually, the Scallions ran away to Egypt, probably for good, but Darius and Daniel give chase. The end.

What's so cool about this story is that the CGI animation on this is very simple, it's so simple in fact that it almost looks like a traditional hand-drawn animated cartoon. I guess that would explain why they only had four people on staff working on the first show at the time. My favorite thing about the story is the Scallions, I don't call them villains. I know, technically, they did a bad thing by changing the King's rules and throwing Daniel into the Lions' Den, but I never would call them villains. What I'm trying to say is that the Scallions were more comical villains, unlike Lasombra from my Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie review. They also were kind of dopes, remember they were like, "Better not be a lion!" and "Those lions are gonna, um, lie on you!" I also like the song after Daniel was granted the second in command, called "Oh, No!" where the Scallions try to figure out what to do with Daniel. I don't call it a villain song, though.

So, bottom line, the story is interesting, funny, visually interesting, has great music, has super simple animation that I think PIXAR experimented with back in the 80's, and it has a nice moral, that even in the bottom of the lions' den, you are in God's hand. For those of you who are big fans of VeggieTales, go ahead and watch this super simple masterpiece. Right here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djuHWIlWIQA

My Little Pony: The Movie Review

Since it's New Year's Eve, I thought why not ring in the new year with a theatrical review. You see, while the Beauty and the Beast live action remake was a hit, it didn't quite bring in the numbers that the original Beauty and the Beast did. And even the critical reaction to it seemed to be kind of mixed, not even Jeremy of Cinema Sins liked it, nor the Electric Dragon. So, the movie industry went back to the drawing board with My Little Pony: The Movie. I don't think people really knew what to expect with this. I mean, it's a movie based off of the popular animated television series, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, And seeing this was from Canada with the American company of Hasbro Could these people do films based of TV shows like Rugrats and SpongeBob did. Because sometimes, films that are based off of TV shows are usually not that good. so people were kind of nervous, but at the same time, they were excited to see their favorite characters on the silver screen. And from my standpoint, My Little Pony: The Movie was as good as The Lion King, Okay, what's the story?

As Canterlot, Equestria is preparing for the annual Friendship Festival featuring a guest appearance by Songbird Serenade, voiced by Sia, an evil force enters the scene with Tempest Shadow and Grubber, voiced by Emily Blunt and Michael Pena respectively, who work for the Storm King as they take over Equestra and freeze up three of the four princesses. And luckily, Twilight Sparkle exits the scene with her friends and Spike, and they go on a mission to save Equestria and find the hippogriffs. Along with meeting some new people along the way, like Capper, voiced by Taye Diggs, Captain Celano, voiced by Zoe Saldana, and Princess Skystar, voiced by role model, Kristin Chenoweth. All this happens while overcoming dangerous parallels along the way. About two-thirds into the movie, Twilight gets captured by Tempest Shadow, and taken to the Storm King. Will the other main five and Spike save her? Well, watch to find out.

And it's great writing by Mulan and Toy Story 2 screenwriter, Rita Hsiao like this that makes this very epic. Yes, Tempest Shadow is kind of a villain, but she does have a backstory, that made Twilight feel bad for her. And yes, The Storm King is technically the villain, but not as much as Tempest Shadow was. But the dilemma that Twilight has to go through is actually a good dilemma. In fact, you're kind of siding with her when she ruined her chances to save Equestria. I even like the character of Princess Skystar, She's a very fun, active character kind of like Pinkie Pie. In fact, all of the characters are. Including Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Spike, and Fluttershy. As I said, I've never heard of Emily Blunt before this movie, but her song "Open Up Your Eyes" is a good song, perhaps one of MLP's best. The animation on the characters also looks pretty good. It's almost like the animation used in Friendship, but at the same time, it looks like animation from The Lion King. The dramatic moments are very strong. They're never out of place, they're very emotionally satisfying, and you relate with every single aspect of it. You relate with dealing with the inevitable, what will ultimately happen in the end. What should you do? What's the better thing for yourself and for others? What's the selfish thing? What's the unselfish thing? All this stuff plays in, and it's very, very smart and very, very well done. Also, I like how they also mention "everyone," and "everybody," those phrases are rarely used in the show, mostly because they think "everypony" is a substitute for "everybody" or "everyone." I also like the Jack Nicholson "Here's Johnny!" reference as well.

Just when you thought Friendship is Magic couldn't get any better they surprise us with this very well-told, well-written, well-developed, interesting story by Meghan McCarthy, Michael Vogel, and Rita Hsiao, not a rehash, not a ripoff, It's clever, it's funny, it's dramatic, it's visually interesting, it's musically interesting, the characters are wonderful. I've gone on about it long enough. See it if you haven't already.

By the way, I hope you enjoyed all my reviews I've done this December. Have a Happy New Year and I'll see you in January.


This review is dedicated in loving memory to my idol,

Mary Tyler Moore 1936-2017. The star of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Change of Habit, The Dick Van Dyke Show, a guest star on That '70s Show, as well as the founder of MTM Enterprises.

Allegra's Window - "When is Reed Coming Home?"

I'm pretty sure a lot of you don't remember Allegra's Window, but it was a good show. It centered around a little girl named Allegra who witnesses what goes on in the world around her in Hummingbird Alley. Now, with that out of the way, let's review one of my favorite episodes, "When is Reed Coming Home?" And no, that's not a question, that's the title of the episode.

The plot of the story is that Reed, played by Bob Stillman, has to go on a business trip, and Lindi isn't sure about when he'll be coming home, Reed assures her that he'll be back late tonight after she and her friends have gone asleep, followed by a nice song written by Jeff Kindley called "He Has to Go Away, He'll Be Back Soon." Meanwhile, Riff constantly listens to music, unaware of what's going on. When he stops at Reed's for some tuna tiddly-widdlies, he notices that Reed has already left, leaving him to believe that Reed had moved out of Hummingbird Alley. But his friends reassure him that Reed loves both him and Lindi, and after all, he is his number one alley cat.

The episode is pretty good, it's cute, and has a lot of good musical numbers. Especially the one with the birds singing about how their mother bird who had left them to find them worms, and even Riff himself had a good number that was written by theme song writer, Barry Harman, called "He's Gone!" where he laments about Reed leaving despite the fact that he would eventually return. Fun facts I should mention is that Martin P. Robinson, the voice of Riff, also served as Muppet coordinator for the show, and Emily Squires, a veteran Sesame Street director, directed this episode, heck even Dick Weiss, who was the lighting director for several Nickelodeon shows that were taped in Florida, also served as one of the many lighting directors for Sesame Street during the 80's. It's like Nick Jr.'s own version of Sesame Street if you ask me. Another factoid I should mention is that Jim Jinkins, the creator of Doug, served as one of the creators of the shows, Allegra's Window aired after Nickelodeon's version of Doug ended, so, it was possible for him to work on both shows.

So, bottom line, this was a cute show, too bad it never had a DVD release, mostly due the fact that Cartoon Pizza (formerly known as Jumbo Pictures) closed operations, it's also because of the fact that Disney acquired Jumbo Pictures, much to the execs at Nick's chagrin. So, there's no chance of there being a DVD release any time soon. And even if it did, it would be from Amazon's Creative Space Made on Demand stuff, and you know how much I had those kinds of DVDs, it's hard for you to play them on your computer. All I can say is go watch it on Kimcartoon or at least buy the first season on iTunes.

Well, that's all the time I have today, good night.

What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?

Remember back on October 12, 1998 when Nick Jr. aired yet another marathon for Blue's Clues, but this time it was called "Blue's Big Marathon!" And on that day it aired two new episodes, "Blue's Sad Day," and "What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?" Now, I didn't really like "Blue's Sad Day" mainly due to the fact that Blue is just so mopey and depressed over the Green Puppy knocking down her block towers. I may have hated that episode, but 12;30/11:30 central was able to make up for it by showing another new episode, "What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?"and I think this one was way better than the previous new episode. It aired after a rerun of my other favorite season two episode, "What Was Blue's Dream About?"Now, with all that off my chest, let's get into this review. shall we?

The plot of the episode is that, well, it's raining, hence the title, but Blue and Steve don't mind it very much, and they're in such a musical mood, that Blue decides to play Blue's Clues to figure out what to do today. Along the way, we tap dance our way into the kitchen, play the water xylophone with Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, do some clapping rhythms, play a game of "Repeat the Beat" from a video letter delivered by Mailbox, and finally, find the farm animals singing partner for their tunes and rhythm. Now, onto my opinions.

What's fun about this episode is that it's better than Blue's Sad Day, and it has Blue in the Blue's Clues mood, not only that, but the hair stylists in the studio really improved Steve's hair in this episode, it's still short like in "Blue's Sad Day," but it looks quite similar to his earlier Season Two hair style. But anyways, what's also great about this episode was the Open/Close Opera, a parody of the Anvil Chorus, Gonzo, eat your heart out, Mailbox singing along to the Mail Time song, but the best highlight of the episode is the Farm Song, where Steve sings the Birds, Cow, Sheep, Frog, and Pig animal sounds. Jeanne Simpson, who did the choreography for Blue's Birthday, was the choreographer for this episode. She did a fantastic job teaching Steve how to tap dance, hand clap, play the Thinking Chair, as well as the dancing in the skidoo sketch.

Okay, final thought. This is a fun musical, it's funny, visually interesting, and it has a great moral, you can always have fun inside no matter what mood you feel. And this episode really showed us that Steve and Blue didn't mind the rain at all. Same thing with Imagine That! and the Powerpuff Girls episode where they play Powerpuff Girls indoors at home. You can find this episode on the VHS Rhythm and Blue, or on the DVD, "Blue's Big Band," so, get your tapping toes ready for this funny musical episode, that will make you forget all about Blue's Sad Day and remember this episode by heart.

Blue's Birthday

And now, I would like to present a review for the Birthday episode that aired prime-time on Nickelodeon on June of 1998. It aired after "What Does Blue Want to Make Out of Recycled Things?" and before "What Was Blue's Dream About?" Let's give the premise first.

The plot of this special is that it's Blue's Birthday and Steve and the audience are getting ready for the big bash! Along the way, we play Blue's Clues to figure out what Blue wants for her birthday present, also, we finish setting the table, and adding one more balloon to the group, also, we skidoo into the Present Store to buy something for Blue for her birthday. The audience buys her a blue puppy doll, and (spoiler alert) a turquoise turtle named Turquoise, and last but not least, open presents. Everybody was there, including Gingerbread Boy, Baby Bear, Magenta, and many others. Now, let's give it a proper review.

This special is a heck of a lot of fun. It has all sorts of birthday feel to it, comedy, education, and of course, love. Also, I should mention that Mailbox gave Blue a birthday card, and the video letter includes guest stars including Gloria Estefan, who also appeared in Elmopalooza, which came out the exact same year this special did. Other celebrities include, Tia & Tamera Mowry, Amanda Bynes, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Rosie O'Donnell! What a star-studded video letter. Interesting fact: In the video version, the Rosie O'Donnell appearance was cut off for heaven who knows what, and it also had a longer opening and a longer ending with Steve getting a present from Blue, a cookie that thanks him for her birthday.

One thing I should point out by the way is that Steve's hair beginning with this episode is a little bit shorter than last time, in fact the only time in the episode where he retained his longer hair was in this shot right here on the left where he asks the audience if they can help him figure out what Blue wants for her present and to help get ready for the party, and also in the stock late Season One intro. This is strange because the episode that aired after this was "What Was Blue's Dream About?" where he retained the original hair style, I point all this out because Nickelodeon had a very strange airing order. I'd be willing to bet that that shot where Steve gets up after getting the notebook was taped much earlier in production, but that's just me.

Okay, final verdict? It is a good episode, not one of the best, but still pretty good. The highlights are the episode are present time, the video letter, and Pin the Flag on Mailbox, that's big-time birthday comedy right there. But, if I were to re-edit this special and make it into a pledge-drive, I would put in Sesame Street birthday related segments as well, like "A Cat Had a Birthday," Ernie and Bert celebrating the letter U's birthday, Charlie's Birthday at Charlie's Restaurant, "If I Knew You Were Coming," and the biggest highlight of them all, "Put Down The Duckie," the celebrity version, I would also put in the sketch where Kermit talks to Oscar about public television from the Sesame Street pledge-drive special that was also named Put Down The Duckie.

But in the end, it doesn't need to be a pledge drive or have all those things, but that's just me. Go ahead and check the episode out if you want to.

Sing Yourself Silly!

And now, let's review my favorite Sesame Street sing-along video

That's right, the ever popular Sing Yourself Silly! Released in 1990 by Random House Home Video and Children's Television Workshop, and re-released several times by Sony Wonder and Genius Entertainment and Warner Home Video, this is one of the best Sesame Street videos out there, period. This video, much like Count it Higher, was written by Christopher Cerf, and directed by Jon Stone as one of his last direct-to-video projects, it also was released April 30, 1990, during Season 21, a month before Jim Henson's death on May 16. I won't exactly spoil the video for you, so I'll just tell you the basic premise.

Big Bird is the host of this particular video showing us eleven silly songs for us to sing-along and say now that was silly! With appearances by Oscar the Grouch, Gladys the Cow, The Count, The Amazing Mumford, Forgetful Jones, The Honkers, Ernie, Kermit the Frog, Hoots the Owl, Maria and Luis, and Elmo to sum up everything that is really a good video. I won't spoil the songs much, but I'll list them anyway.

"The Honker Duckie Dinger Jamboree."

Written by Christopher Cerf and Norman Stiles and sung by Ernie (Jim Henson).

This segment was directed by Jon Stone and was taped on January of 1983, and the puppeteers included Jim Henson (Ernie), assisted by Ed Christie, with Cheryl Blaylock (the Blue Honker), Brian Muehl (the Purple Honker), Martin P. Robinson (The Dinger), and Kathryn Mullen (Mr. Honker) The song takes place on a farm from the looks of the set and the characters costumes and bandannas. This song was from Season 14.

"Ladybugs' Picnic"

A cartoon by Bud Luckey and written by Bud Luckey and Don Hadley and sung by Jerry Nelson. It was from 1971. I think this was one of Bud Luckey's last cartoons he ever did for Sesame Street.

"Jellyman Kelly"

Written and sung by James Taylor, this is one of the few Sesame Songs videos that features celebrity guests, the other was Dance Along. Jellyman Kelly was from Season 14 and it was also featured on the Sesame Street pledge-drive special, Put Down The Duckie. No, not the song, but we'll get to that later. This song is quite cute, it has James Taylor playing guitar and Howard Johnson on tuba and the kids singing backup.

"Wavin' Goodbye to You With My Heart"

Written by Lee Pockriss and Emily Perl Kingsley and sung by Polly Darton (Fran Brill).

One thing that confuses me was that Fran Brill was completely uncredited despite the fact that her voice was in this particular song. So, I can only assume that maybe Karen Prell probably did the puppetry for Polly Darton while Fran dubbed it in later. Fun fact I should note is that the character of Polly Darton was conceptualized by Emily Perl Kingsley. This song was from Season 12 (1980-1981)

"Old MacDonald Cantata"

Not much to say about this song, except, it is a short song that didn't need lyrics. It features the Honkers, the Dinger, Oscar's pet elephant, Fluffy, and an orange martian, who I think is performed here by Kevin Clash. This mini-segment was arranged by Dave Conner and was from Season 17 (1985-1986). After that, Forgetful Jones says "Now that was spinach!" But that's not the right word. And he walks off to try to remember.

"Everything in the Wrong Place Ball"

This song was written by Stephen Lawrence and Cathi Rosenberg-Turow and was performed by Oscar the Grouch (Carroll Spinney) and Grundgetta (Pam Arciero).

Bet you didn't know that this song was taken from Episode 2596, where Gina babysits Irvine while Oscar and Grundgetta are at the particular ball, however, that episode was more focused on Snuffy than Gina and Irvine. Anyways, after this song, Forgetful comes back but still can't remember the word, silly.

"One Banana"

This song was written by veteran Sesame Street song writer, Jeff Moss, and was performed by Jim Henson as the lavender Jamaican singer.

I don't know who directed it, but since it looks like this was from Season 15 (1983-1984), I can only assume that the late Lisa Simon directed this segment, since her name was in the credit.

Also fun fact: Martin P. Robinson and Richard Hunt were the backup singers. But I can still hear a bit of Jeff Moss singing along. At the end of the song, we see The Count count seven bananas while his bats are flying around.

"Calcutta Joe"

Another cartoon! This time, it was animated by Buzzco Associates and was written by Jeff Hale and Anna Dibble. Jeff Hale for those who don't know was the person responsible for the animation for the Jazz Number series, Pinball Number Count, The Typewriter, and the Ringmaster among others. This song was also performed by Jim Thurman, who was featured on several Sesame Street cartoons, mostly the Cliff Roberts ones, and he also served as one of the writers for The Electric Company. This cartoon was from Season 20 (1988-1989).

"Sesame Street: News Flash: Mary Had a Bicycle."

It all starts with Don Music having trouble finding a word that rhymes with snow, Kermit the Frog comes in to help him, trying out different efforts, like fleece being yellow as the sun, canaries, blue canaries, until finally ending up to a bicycle that was painted red as fire, and whenever Mary wanted to take a ride, the bicycle had a flat tire. This quickly results into a Big Band rendition of the song that was written by Sam Pottle and David Korr and performed by Don Music (Richard Hunt), with backup vocals provided by the Monotones. I can hear Christopher Cerf as one of the backup vocals, by the way. Oscar the Grouch found that segment to be yucky. This segment was from Season 6 (1974-1975)

"Ten Turtles"

Another song that was written by Bud Luckey and Don Haldey, only this time, it was perfomred by Steve Zuckerman.

For those who don't know, Steve Zuckerman is a composer responsible for the music for Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, as well as writing some songs for Sesame Street , like "Imagination Rain," "The Lowercase N," and my personal favorite, "I in the Sky."

Okay, only one more to go.

"Put Down The Duckie"

The closing number of the video! It was written by Christopher Cerf and Norman Stiles and performed by Jim Henson (Ernie) and Kevin Clash (Hoots the Owl). But this isn't the average Sesame Street song here, since this is a Christopher Cerf song, there has to be celebrities, and this song really pulled it off. I mean look at it, it's got people like John Candy, Andrea Martin, Mookie Wilson and Keith Hernandez, Jane Curtin, Madeline Kahn, Joe Williams, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Wynton Marsalis, Celia Cruz, Itzhak Perlman, Gordon Jackson, Jean Marsh, Paul Simon, Jeremy Irons, Pete Seeger, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, The New York Giants, they even got Paul Reubens in there, how the heck did that happen?

Fun Fact: Noel MacNeal assisted Ernie doing his right hand, and David Rudman provided puppetry for the lavender drummer.

This was a great song and a perfect song the end the entire Sing Yourself Silly! video.

Overall, I can't say there's anything in this video that frustrates me or anything that I hated, and this video really taught me something, that just because Frank Oz was credited but didn't do any voices doesn't mean it's not good, I can only assume he did some puppetry for the Honkers and the Monotones, also, just because Joe Raposo was also credited but there no songs on this video that weren't written by him doesn't mean it's not good either. I like all the songs, it's a flawless, flawless sing-along video, that makes you say "Now that was silly!"

If you want to see the video for yourself, go ahead and check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P00QCZfpF7A

This sing-along video is a production of the Children's Television Workshop.

Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street Review

Time for me to review another direct-to-video musical video but not a sing-along video in my opinion,

Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street! One of the best Sesame Street videos made period. We're going to count down the songs, and the extra, and we'll pick one is the best okay. Anyways, this video was written by Christopher Cerf and it was directed by Jon Stone, who also directed "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street."

The Count (Jerry Nelson) is your VJ host on The Count's Countdown Show as he presents the top 7 videos of the week, however, it still features the usual My Sesame Street Home Video appearances by Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, because all of these videos had Carroll Spinney in them. Here are some fun facts, Martin P. Robinson, the voice of Telly and Riff was the announcer, and David Rudman assisted Jerry Nelson with the Count on his puppetry, doing his right hand. The Count framing segments are pretty good. The reason I think it's good is because it looks like they were taped during production of Season 20, hence the lighting, but the 1982-1988 Big Bird puppet was used here, so, if I didn't know better, maybe that puppet was originally going to be a part of Season 20. But I'm just making wild guesses and getting ahead of myself, onto the countdown.

Number 7: The Ten Commandments of Health

The song was written by Christopher Cerf and Thad Mumford.

The song was performed by Dr. Thad and the Medications with Dr. Thad (Thad Mumford) providing the lead vocals. What I like about this song is how the Fat Blue patient (Jerry Nelson) keeps memorizing Dr. Thad's lyrics, but keeps getting put down by one of the doctors. Also note that Christopher Cerf, Frank Oz, and Richard Hunt can also be heard as the backup doctors. This was a clever parody of "The Ten Commandments of Love," despite myself never hearing the actual song. Also, this is one of Thad Mumford's very few involvements with Sesame Street, his other involvements were "Oh, G (I Love That Letter)," "Me Going to Munch You, Munch You," as well as backup vocals by the Monotones in "With Every Beat of My Heart." He was also the writer for the other Sesame Workshop program, The Electric Company, and he later went on to write for various shows like Good Times, ALF, A Different World, The Duck Factory, and of course, M*A*S*H. Next number.

Number 6: Do-Op Hop!

Here's my personal favorite song on the video. "Do-Op Hop!" it was written by Norman Stiles with music by Christopher Cerf.

From 1984, this particular song was performed by Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) backed up by the Moo Wave cows. What I like about this song is that it's fun, it has a good rock and roll beat to it, as well as good choreography by all of the animals. Especially at the end when Kermit gets tossed up in the air as a way of hopping. In fact, Noel MacNeal, the voice of Magellan, Leon, and Kako provided most of the tossing of the puppets as well as the puppetry for the dog during Kermit's second verse. According to The Count, there were 62 hops!

Number 5: ZZ Blues

After a celebrity appearance by Big Bird, we get Over the Top performing ZZ Blues. It's obvious that I've never heard the band, ZZ Top, these guys really knew how to parody the band with those long bears and everything like that. In my opinion, I just don't think this song kind of fits for my taste, it wasn't that catchy, but the visuals were at least interesting, like for example, the Zebra, the multicolor lighting, the zipper, and the dancing Z. The song was written by Christopher Cerf and Sarah Durkee.

Song Extra: Honk Around the Clock

This song was written by Christopher Cerf and Tony Geiss (who created the character of the Honkers)

This song, sung by Christopher Cerf, has the Honkers literally honking around the clock at the Sesame Street Fever disco palace. The song's title by be a parody of "Rock Around the Clock," but it sounds nothing like Bill Haley and the Comets' own song. All I can say is that it's pretty catchy.

Song #4: Letter B

This 1979 song was written by Christopher Cerf, as requested by Oscar the Grouch, and sung by The Sesame Street Beetles, with Richard Hunt provided the lead vocals. This is another song, that I refer to to be pretty weak, but on the plus side, there is a much better Beatles spoof song coming up in a few songs. I still like Richard Hunt as the lead vocals. Fun fact: This song is a parody of the Beatles song, "Let it Be." When the Beatles' catalogue was still owned by Northern Songs, the company attempted to sue Children's Television Workshop for $5.5 million. They cited that the song too closely resembled "Let It Be." Before the case came to trial, Michael Jackson purchased the Lennon/McCartney catalogue and the suit was dropped. The Children's Television Workshop was only fined $50, which was paid out of Christopher Cerf's own pocket. Paul McCartney, who was not involved in the lawsuit, wrote to Cerf saying that he liked the song This info was not by me, but I read it from The Muppet Wiki, just bare with me okay, the rest will still be my material, like for example, I will say that the name of their album, Sesame Road, would eventually become an actually Sesame Street album a few years later in 1993, now, with that out of the way,let's keep going.

Song #3: Wet Paint

Written by Christopher Cerf and Jon Stone and sung by How Now Brown (Christopher Cerf) and the Moo Wave This song is so cool, it's your stereotypical 1980's music video parody with some clever twists, the music has a cool rock and roll beat attached with the Moo Wave (Ivy Austin and Cheryl Hardwick) harmonizing during the chorus verses by How Now Brown. A fun fact is that I should mention is that this segment originally began with an intro by a Hot Pink VJ voiced by Fran Brill, heck, her name is even in the credits in the video.

Song #2: Do De Rubber Duck

Another song that was written by Christopher Cerf and Norman Stiles. It was performed by Ernie and his friends, Telly Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit the Frog, The Count, Biff, Guy Smiley, Gladys the Cow, Elmo, and Hoots the Owl. Fun facts I should mention is that Noel MacNeal actually did the puppetry for Oscar hear while Carroll Spinney dubbed it in later, and David Rudman, who helped Jerry Nelson in the framing material did the puppetry for Kermit in this song, while I guess Jim Henson was too busy performing Ernie. Another Muppet performing contribution I should mention is M. Elizabeth Huston (or her nickname, Michael Huston). I like the ending where everyone disappears and Ernie looks around and says, "Whoops! Where did everybody go?" They must've left one heck of a clog in the drain. And at the end of the son, The Count acknowledges his appearance and says that there were 247,561 bubbles in Ernie's bathtub.

And now, we saved the best for last.

Song #1: Count it Higher!

This song according to the Count will always be number one, why? Because it's his favorite song, that's why, coincidentally, this is my favorite song too. Anyways, this song was from 1973 of Season 5, and it was the musical debut of Christopher Cerf and his band, Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats. The Alphabeats here are performed by Richard Hunt (the green one), Jeff Moss (the lavender one), and Jerry Nelson (the Hot Pink little one). And the best part is the song is so catchy that you could never get it out of your head. That explains why it would always be number one. Also, this song is a spoof on the hit song "Twist and Shout," originally covered by The Top Notes and The Isley Brothers, but it was made famous by The Beatles. This song will forever be one of my favorite Christopher Cerf songs on Sesame Street.

Bottom line, this was a great musical full of great Sesame Street music videos, most of them from the 80's that is. My only complaint is the fact that the song from 1987, "Healthy Food" by Cookie Monster and the Fly Girls is never on this video, I wonder why, did they not know they had a song already taped and written, oh well, I'll never know. Anyways, it was a great video that was taped during Season 20 and was the video that really wanted the people on Sesame Street to start working on the Sesame Songs video series. Christopher Cerf, Jon Stone, and Jerry Nelson were all terrific in their roles as the stars of this particular masterpiece.

If you wanna see the video as a whole: Check it out in the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-PzWYsQX58

One more thing, the video was brought to you by the letters B, and Z, and by the number 10 (hence the songs.) Sesame Street is a production of the Children's Television Workshop.