Sesame Street Home Video

Background

Sesame Street Home Video was a home video label owned by Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop), established in 1986 as a joint venture with Random House Home Video under the name My Sesame Street Home Video. In 1993, the name was dropped, though it was re-established around 1995 when Sesame Workshop moved distribution to Sony Wonder. The label was retired again in 2001.

1st Logo (1986-1996)

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Nicknames: "Cookie Monster and the SS Sign", "My Sesame Street Home Video", "No, It is Not a Cookie!", "Cookie Monster Eating a Sign", "Delicious!"

Logo: Fading from the 1983 Children's Television Workshop logo and against a white background, we see the familiar green and yellow Sesame Street sign come up from the bottom of the screen, but with "MY" (in yellow) taking the place of "CTW", and the rectangle being elongated at the bottom to make room for the words "HOME VIDEO" (also in yellow). An animated version of Cookie Monster is behind the logo (but only his head and arms are shown). He looks back and forth, and then takes a bite out of the top left side of the sign and chews it noisily and messily! He then licks his finger, and he then he has a delighted expression on his face, with his eyes spinning around. As the logo fades out, Cookie says "Delicious!" (lifted from a pre-existing Sesame Street sketch).

Variant: There was a shortened version of the logo used in its later years, which opens with Cookie eating the sign.

FX/SFX: Cookie Monster looking around and eating the sign.

Music/Sounds: Cookie Monster (voiced by Frank Oz) munching on the sign with a slow-paced harmonica rendition of the Sesame Street theme tune used to introduce the show's "street scenes" at the time (until the end of Season 24 in early 1993) and Cookie Monster saying "Delicious!".

Music/Sounds Variants:

The Best of Elmo uses the 1992 "calypso" instrumental intro theme—also used to introduce the show's "street scenes" from 1993 to 2006—with this logo, and Cookie Monster's voiceovers are not heard (only munching sounds).
Also, on some tapes, such as Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street and The Best of Ernie & Bert, it uses the normal music, but without Cookie saying anything after eating the sign.

Availability: Rare.

Seen on old Sesame Street videos under the "My Sesame Street Home Video" label from the period distributed by Random House Home Video (there were 16 in all).
These videotapes' lids and reel are colored green (similar to Universal's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial videotape), so they're very easy to spot.
Though the last official video in the series was The Best of Elmo in 1994, Sony Wonder released more new videos in 1995-1996 with this logo, from Cookie Monster's Best Bites to Slimey's World Games.
This logo made a surprise appearance on a reprint of Do the Alphabet that carried the 2000 Sesame Workshop logo, though most DVD reprints of the series omit it altogether.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1996-2001)

Nicknames: "The Modified Sesame Street Sign II", "Elmo and Friends"

Logo: Against a sky background, we see a close-up of the Sesame Street sign. The camera zooms out under the sign, and we see Big Bird, Elmo, Snuffy, Cookie Monster, Ernie, and Zoe building something. Everyone except Elmo, who is standing on a ladder, walks away. Then, he puts their creation on the bottom of the sign and pulls the string, which stretches out to read "HOMe VidEO" with a smiley face in the first "O" a star dotting the "I", and three lines above the second "O". Elmo smiles and giggles at the end.

Variants: In 2000, this logo was modified twice due to Children's Television Workshop becoming Sesame Workshop.

On new releases, "CTW" was removed from the top of the sign, leaving the top of the sign blank.
On reprints of VHS tapes originally released in earlier years, "123" replaced "CTW".

FX/SFX: The Sesame Street Muppets building "Home Video" and Elmo showing "Home Video". The logo was done in 2D, cut-out animation.

Music/Sounds: A remix of the Sesame Street theme, as we hear Zoe (voiced by Fran Brill) giggling, Cookie Monster (voiced by Frank Oz) saying "This so very exciting!", Big Bird (voiced by the late puppeteer Caroll Spinney) saying "Hey, that looks good!" and Ernie (voiced by Steve Whitmire) humming and chortling. After the "Home Video" text is shown, Elmo (voiced by Kevin Clash) says "Yeah! Sesame Street Home Video!" and giggles.

Availability: Uncommon.

It is usually seen on Sony Wonder VHS tapes, beginning with 1996's Elmo Saves Christmas and ending with 2001's Elmo's Magic Cookbook.
In the UK, it was seen on a few Disney releases from the late '90s.
Despite the label being discontinued in 2001, this made a few surprise appearances on the 2002 release of Elmo Says BOO!, the 2005 Brazilian release of Elmo's World: The Great Outdoors!, and the 2006 Australian release of Get Up and Dance, respectively.

Editor's Note: This is a cute and friendly logo.