Sesame Street Stays Up Late!
Sesame Street Stays Up Late! is a 1993 "Sesame Street" New Year's Eve television special with guest appearances of characters from the international versions of "Sesame Street". It aired on December 29, 1993 on PBS, and also marked Steve Whitmire's first performance as Ernie. Plot. Everyone on Sesame Street is preparing to celebrate New Year's Eve. However, Telly Monster quickly discovers that this means that the current year ends, which upsets him, and because he becomes afraid that he soon will enter an unknown year (mostly due to hearing false things about  it from Oscar the Grouch), he starts a campaign to prevent the new year from coming to Sesame Street. In the meantime, Elmo is the host of the monster news that shows how New Year's Eve is celebrated around the world. This is done by showing segments created by the Sesame characters from different co-productions around the world. Also, during the special, Wolfgang the Seal balances a beach ball on his nose because he was hired by Big Bird to be the Time Square ball. Near the end of the special, the cast does the countdown and Wolfgang  removes the ball in slow motion. When the ball drops to the ground, everyone cheers and welcomes in the new year. Telly is amazed that everyone is still here and happily joins the celebration. Then, Big Bird and everyone else make New Year's wishes while eating grapes, and sings "Faces That I Love". Even Slimey celebrates, much to Oscar's chagrin. The Cast of Sesame Street. Jim Henson's Sesame Street Muppets. Additional Muppets performed by Jim Kroupa, Peter Linz, Rick Lyon, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Noel MacNeal, and Alison Mork. Home media/Digital releases. The special was originally released on  VHS by Random House Home Video in 1994, where it was retitled as "Sesame Street Celebrates Around the World", which is what all rereleases of the special would use. The VHS later reissued by Sony Wonder in 1996, who eventually released the special on DVD in 2004, and was reissued by Genius Entertainment and Warner Home Video in 2007 and 2010, respectively. The 2017 Amazon Video digital download release, reinstated the special's original title of "Sesame Street Stays Up Late".