My Sesame Street Home Video

Random House Home Video began releasing Sesame Street videos in 1986, under the label My Sesame Street Home Video.

The packaging originally had a bordered photo of Muppet characters. The picture was held by an illustrated Big Bird, and the logo was the Sesame Street sign, with "My" written where the "CTW" logo is usually printed, and "Home Video" underneath the Sesame Street text. Cookie Monster was also illustrated holding the logo, which had a bite mark on the left. The back of the packaging included a list of other videos in the collection. These videos originally came with a small activity book, which was discontinued in the early 1990s. By then, the video covers were redesigned, removing Big Bird and using different border colors.

The title sequence had an animated opening with Cookie Monster biting the street sign, followed by a fade to black and, in many of the releases, Cookie exclaiming "Delicious!" Then the title would appear in either chalk board or printed lettering, with Big Bird announcing the video title. The closing sequence had an illustration of Cookie Monster holding a chalk board with the credits listed.

Videos in this collection from 1986 include: Learning About Letters, Learning About Numbers, Getting Ready to Read, I'm Glad I'm Me, Play-Along Games and Songs, and Bedtime Stories & Songs.

Videos released in 1987 include Learning to Add and Subtract, Getting Ready for School, Sing-Along, and Big Bird's Story Time.

Four more were released in 1988: Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street, The Best of Ernie and Bert, The Alphabet Game, and Big Bird's Favorite Party Games.

After this, Random House stopped releasing new videos under the My Sesame Street Home Video label, instead releasing television specials, new-to-video specials without the label, and a new collection called Sesame Songs Home Video. Then in 1994, Random House released two more of these videos: A New Baby in My House, and The Best of Elmo. For both of these videos, Elmo read the video title, and the closing featured stills from the videos. When Random House released Put Down the Duckie, the video featured a promo for the My Sesame Street Home Video line, even though the video itself was not under that name.

In 1995, Sony Wonder started releasing Sesame Street videos. Although at least three videos that were originally released by Sony Wonder, Cookie Monster's Best Bites, Do the Alphabet, and Elmocize, had the My Sesame Street Home Video opening, the packaging did not promote My Sesame Street Home Video, and when Genius Entertainment gained the license, most (if not all) re-releases of previous videos edited the opening sequence.

Most of these videos were also released by Sony in Japan, with the same logo but different cover art. In Japan, the covers featured an illustration of a character as opposed to a live action photo.

Video Numbers

Each video was numbered with a proof-of-purchase box on the side:

1. Learning About Letters
2. Learning About Numbers
3. Getting Ready to Read
4. I'm Glad I'm Me
5. Play-Along Games and Songs
6. Bedtime Stories and Songs
7. Getting Ready for School
8. Learning to Add and Subtract
9. Sing Along
10. Big Bird's Story Time
11. The Alphabet Game
12. Count It Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street
13. The Best of Ernie and Bert
14. Big Bird's Favorite Party Games
15. A New Baby in My House
16. The Best of Elmo

Notes

• The key Muppet Performers in original material for most of these videos included Caroll Spinney (Big Bird, Oscar), Martin P. Robinson (Snuffy, Telly), and Kevin Clash (Elmo, Hoots). Jerry Nelson and Richard Hunt also performed their characters in new material for several videos, while characters performed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz mainly appeared in preexisting inserts.