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A "lost" Sesame Street episode has found its way back to the internet. The 15-minute long video was uploaded to r/lostmedia by Reddit user sarsaparilla170170.
The deleted episode was deemed "too scary" due to its involvement with the Wicked Witch. After numerous complaints from parents, the Children’s Television Workshop decided to take down the episode after its initial broadcast in 1976.
Since then, the video has been archived safely in the Library Of Congress.
The lost episode of Sesame Street featured Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West
The episode featured Margaret Hamilton in her iconic role as Wicked WItch of the West from The Wizard of Oz! She donned green skin and black robes with a pointy hat for the said episode.
The episode begins with David walking out of Hooper's store, where the Witch’s broom falls on him from the sky. Trying to find her broom, the Wicked Witch walks over to David and demands her broom be returned.
Their conversation soon turns into a quarrel, leading the Witch to try and pull the broom out of David's hand. Sadly, it was revealed that she can't take the broom if somebody is already holding it.
She then tries again to get her broom back, but David reveals that he will not return the broom until the Witch treats him with respect. Furious at his demands, the Wicked Witch made it rain inside Hooper’s store.
Later in the episode, she threatens to turn David into a basketball and Big Bird into a feather duster, but they do not cower at her threats.
In the end, she decides to disguise herself as an old woman to get her broom back but only succeeds after behaving respectfully with David.
She then rushes away from Sesame Street.
The episode ends with a comic twist, where the Witch loses her broom one more time, which unfortunately falls on David again.
The video was taken off television for being too scary
The episode premiered on February 10, 1976. But after the initial broadcast, the Children’s Television Workshop received a notably large number of negative letters regarding it.
Parents all over America shared that their children were too scared to complete the episode. Apparently, kids were scared by the Witch's looks and portrayal. Additionally, the episode upset the Wiccan community in the country, who were offended by the negative portrayal of witches.
This led the production house to take the episode off the show. The episode was not completely lost because it was archived in the Library Of Congress.
Low-quality recordings of the episode have popped up numerous times on the internet, but the good quality of the video can only be viewed at the library.
The episode was also part of a 2019 event called "Sesame Street: Lost and Found," held at the Museum of the Moving Image, where they showed clips from the episode discussing the interesting story behind it.
Sesame Street is a long-running American children's show that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. The show is produced by Sesame Workshop, previously known as the Children's Television Workshop.
Created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, the show has been a big part of children's entertainment since November 10, 1969.
