Shalom Sesame DVD Club

Posted on December 5, 2012 at 8:00 am

The popular Shalom Sesame DVD series has announced a Shalom Sesame DVD Club. Grover the Muppet and Anneliese van der Pol (That’s So Raven, Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast) travel to Israel to meet new people and learn new things in this 12-part DVD series co-produced by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, and Israel ’s Channel HOP! Each 30-minute, live-action and animated DVD focuses on storylines drawn from Jewish cultural traditions, highlighting lessons on Hebrew letters and words, unique sites in Israel , and Jewish values. Through Sesame Street characters, celebrities and stories, viewers learn about Jewish traditions, culture and holidays. Guest appearances by celebrity talent include Debra Messing, Achinoam Nini, Mira Awad, Jake Gyllenhaal, Christina Applegate and Greg Kinnear.

The club is free and members can opt for purchasing the entire DVD series or single titles for a 15% discount , in a single shipment or on a monthly basis.

Shalom Sesame’s “Chanukah the Missing Menorah” episode on PBS this December. The 12 DVDs in the series are: “Welcome to Israel,” “Chanukah: The Missing Menorah,” Shabbat Shalom, Grover!,” “Grover Plants a Tree,” “Mitzvah on the Street,” “Be Happy, It’s Purim!,” “It’s Passover, Grover!,” “Grover Learns Hebrew,” “Countdown to Shavuot,” “The Sticky Shofar,” “Monsters in the Sukkah,” and “Adventures in Israel.” Each Shalom Sesame DVD includes over 20 minutes of bonus extras including trailers, sneak peeks of all titles, Grover’s Video Player (music videos), sing-alongs and Karaoke of favorite tunes like “Aleph Bet Song,” “Rosh Hashanah Hannah” (a spoof of Hannah Montana) and the famous “Rubber Duckie” song (in Hebrew) among others. A highlight of Grover’s Video Player on Adventures in Israel is “There Must Be Another Way” by Achinoam Nini, Mira Awad and Shalom Sesame friends – the song that represented Israel in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

Follow Shalom Sesame on YouTube and Facebook and watch “Chanukah: The Missing Menorah” on your local PBS station.

Big Bird Halloween Costumes — The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Yellow

Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:00 am

Mitt Romney’s comment about cutting funding for PBS at the first Presidential debate has made Big Bird one of the most popular costumes for Halloween this year. But that’s not all good news. The Children’s Television Workshop, producers of “Sesame Street,” sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company behind a “sexy big bird” costume. It’s not just a matter of licensing revenues and copyright protection. The characters who are important to children should not be trashed by being sexualized.

Tribute: Sesame Street’s Jerry Nelson

Posted on August 24, 2012 at 8:29 pm

We bid a sad farewell to Jerry Nelson of Sesame Street, and the Muppets, who has died at age 78. He will probably be best remembered for providing the voice of The Count.

He was also featured as Sherlock Hemlock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95GJ-kJ-Nzc

Lisa Henson, daughter of Muppet founder Jim Henson, said, “Jerry Nelson imbued all his characters with the same gentle, sweet whimsy and kindness that were a part of his own personality. He joined the Jim Henson Co. in the earliest years, and his unique contributions to the worlds of Fraggles, Muppets, Sesame Street and so many others are, and will continue to be, unforgettable. On behalf of the Henson family and everyone at the Jim Henson Co., our deepest sympathies go out to Jerry’s family and to his many fans.”

May his memory be a blessing.

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Actors Television

Sesame Street Celebrates Kwanzaa

Posted on December 26, 2011 at 7:48 pm

Warm holiday greetings to those who celebrate Kwanzaa, honoring the seven principles, including unity, collective work and responsibility, creativity, and faith.

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Holidays

New Sesame Street Character Teaches Kids About Food — And Hunger

Posted on October 16, 2011 at 3:32 pm

In observance of World Food Day, “Sesame Street” has a new toolkit to help families make good decisions about food, so that even those on a limited budget can make meals that help families grow and stay healthy. A new Muppet character named Lily is one of the 17 million children in America who do not have a reliable source for their next meal. “Sesame Street” allows Lily to tell her story to help children who watch develop empathy and kindness, to give children in poverty a character they can identify with so they will not feel as isolated, and to remind everyone of the importance of access to wholesome and nourishing food. Lily will not be a regular on the show, but appears in “Sesame Street’s” special on food and on the website.