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Sesame Street
Premiere November 19, 1973 (0536)
Finale May 17, 1974 (0665)
Episodes 130
Fan mail postcard-1973 front
SSSeason5Cast

The season 5 cast of Sesame Street.

SSMuppets74
Song

"Doin' the Pigeon"

Mahnasesame2

"Fat Cat"

HorneGrover536

Lena Horne and Grover sing "How Do You Do?"

0554i

Big Bird goes for a ride in Gordon and Susan's Volkswagen Beetle in Episode 0554.

Song

"Count It Higher"

JohnnyCashOscar

Johnny Cash serenades Oscar with a rendition of "Nasty Dan." Cash and his family make an appearance for the street scenes of Episode 0558; two of the segments would become inserts, airing in multiple episodes.

SuperGrover Title

Super Grover

Characters

The Twiddlebug family. From left to right: Timmy, Tina, Tessie, and Thomas.

0638b

Construction worker Sully joins his old pal Biff for the first time in Episode 0638.

3153

One of Sesame Street's short Sand Alphabet segments.

FredTheWonderhorse

"And now, riding out of the pages of history, Marshal Grover and his wonder horse Fred!"

MariaChaplin

Maria begins her recurring appearances mimicking silent movie star Charlie Chaplin.

Pageant

The first of Prairie Dawn's Sesame Street pageants.

StreeringWheelClosing

Sesame Street's mid-70s closing sequence, first airing later this season.

Sesame Street Season 5 aired from November 19, 1973, to May 17, 1974.

Overview[]

The curriculum for Season 5 focuses on "affect behavior, which includes lessons on emotions and feelings. Children will be able to recognize feelings and emotions including pride, love, fear, anger, surprise, happiness, and sadness taught through the human hosts, the Muppets, and animated films."[1] With this in mind, specific subjects include self-esteem and coping with failure, exemplified by songs such as Joe Raposo's "Trying Song." The practice of entering social groups is also discussed, notably when Lena Horne teaches Grover that a simple "How Do You Do?" can be enough to meet new people. Other topics include covering complex geometric shapes.[2]

Characters and segments[]

This season introduces new Muppet characters including the Twiddlebug Family[1] who try to solve problems such as the quickest way to get to the zoo, though they don't always come to the most practical solutions. Construction worker Sully joins his partner Biff, who was introduced in the previous season.[3] Rock musicians Chris and the Alphabeats (later known as Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats) make their debut with "Count It Higher," with the lead singer being voiced by songwriter Christopher Cerf.

Several established characters are given recurring segments. Grover has two new alter egos: Marshal Grover, partnered with the much wiser Fred the Wonder Horse, and Super Grover, a bumbling but well-meaning superhero. Prairie Dawn plays piano and hosts the first of her Sesame Street pageants with the help of her friends, and Maria begins to portray the silent-movie legend Charlie Chaplin in pantomime sketches. The short Sand Alphabet segments by Eliot Noyes, Jr. frequently appear, as well as a film series starring a man who displays animals in the form of shadow puppets that children offscreen identify. Artist Etienne Delessert also provides ten animated segments to teach affective skills.[4]

Episodes[]

Episodes 0536 - 0665 (130 episodes)

Notes[]

  • This is the last season to feature Hal Miller as Gordon.
  • This is also the last season to use the illustrated credit crawl which was introduced during season 3. Starting with Episode 0640, a new credit crawl is introduced featuring a drive through the countryside. Although the previous sequence would be re-used one last time in the 5th season finale, this credit crawl would be used up until season 9.
  • After this season, Joe Raposo left the show to work on other projects. He would return to his original role as music director in season 15.
  • This is also Jeff Moss's final season on the writing staff until season 14.

Cast[]

Cast
Northern Calloway, Loretta Long, Will Lee, Bob McGrath, Emilio Delgado, Sonia Manzano, Hal Miller, Joe Ponazecki, Paul B. Price; Linda Bove (Uncredited: Recurring guest)
Jim Henson's Muppets
Caroll Spinney, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt (Uncredited: Fran Brill, Jane Henson)
Guest Stars
Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Jimmy Collier, Morgan Freeman, The Harlem Globetrotters (including Marquis Haynes and Meadowlark Lemon[3]), Lena Horne, Krazy Kat, Rita Moreno

Characters[]

Humans
David, Susan, Mr. Hooper, Bob, Luis, Maria, Gordon, Wally and Ralph, Willy, Mr. Macintosh, Linda, Officer Krupky
Muppets
The Amazing Mumford, Anything Muppets, Baby Breeze, Bad Barney, Bad Bart, Bart, Bert, Biff, Big Bad Wolf, Big Bird, Big Jeffie, Bip Bippadotta, Cookie Monster, Count von Count, Ernie, Farley, Fred the Wonder Horse, Gladys the Cow, Grover, Guy Smiley, Hardhead Henry Harris, Harvey Kneeslapper, Herry Monster, Kermit the Frog, Lefty the Salesman, Little Bird, Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats, Little Jerry and the Monotones, The Martians, The Mudman, Oscar the Grouch, Prairie Dawn, Prince Charming, Roosevelt Franklin, Sam the Robot, Sherlock Hemlock, Simon Soundman, Smart Tina, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Sully, Suzetta Something, The Three Little Pigs, Twiddlebugs

Credits[]

IllustratedClosingBuilding

Portion of the season's illustrated credit crawl depicting 123 Sesame Street.

Season_5_credit_crawl

Season 5 credit crawl

credit crawl

Sources[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Virgin Islands Daily News: Sesame Street Back In Its Fifth Season
  2. Truglio and Fisch. G is for Growing. p. 31
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Deseret News: 1...2...3...4...5 for Sesame St.
  4. "Sesame Street Opens 5th Season Monday for Kiddies." The Lima News. November 18, 1973
  5. later season credits


Previous season: Next season:
Season 4 (1972-1973) Season 6 (1974-1975)
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