Big Bird likes eggs ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

What better way to cap off a satisfying day of Roads Scholaring than with the ol' Bird!

Did you know that Big Bird got to appear on 'Hollywood Squares' once back in 1976?

I'm warning you that the sound on this clip is very loud and distorted, so make sure you have the volume down low:



According to legend, Oscar the Grouch appeared on 'Hollywood Squares' once too, but I've never been able to find that clip - and I probably won't, because most episodes from that era are lost forever. Because videotape was so expensive before the late '70s, TV networks and production studios erased most of the tapes of their programs, so the tapes could be used again.

And when the tapes were worn out, they'd just get tossed because they were so expensive to store. According to legend, ABC dumped all the tapes of early episodes of 'All My Children' in the East River, because they were taking up too much space. However, another story states that the warehouse where the videotapes were stored mysteriously burned down around 1976 - rendering the tapes ru.

Game shows and soap operas were the biggest targets for erasure.

Big Bird was such a smash hit on 'Hollywood Squares' that - instead of starting out with the center square - contestants kept picking Big Bird's square. Just so they could yak it up with the Birdmeister himself!