(Sorry for the double reply, but as it's on a separate subject, I think it will make for easier threading.)

I watched that witch episode (skipping through the non-story segments), and I'm not sure what to make of it. What an odd storyline.

Here's what I kept expecting to happen: the witch asks nicely for her broom back, the man says "well of course, since you asked so nicely", and they all live happily ever after.

In a way, that's exactly what happens, but in a bizarre fashion and minus the happily-ever-after part. The witch does ask nicely and the man does return her broom, but then the witch turns around and is like "aha, I tricked you" (through the power of appealing to his basic sense of decency?) and flies off—only to drop her broom again during the final moments of the episode. What?

One thing I appreciate about Sesame Street is that it generally doesn't talk down to kids too much, and perhaps this exchange is an example of that. Kids aren't stupid—they realize that not all misunderstandings are easy to resolve, or worth resolving.

But I still can't figure out what Sesame Street was hoping to teach here!

Oh cool, your first link answers my original question:

> As part of Sesame Street's 50th anniversary, it was announced that the Sesame Workshop would be donating almost 4,500 episodes across 49 seasons to be preserved by the American Archive of Public Broadcasting

The episodes are available to members of the public in-person at the Library of Congress or at WGBH Boston.

Yes, it would be much better if they could be streamed over the internet, but I'm really glad to learn they're publicly available in some form.