Sesame Street international co-productions

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Sesame Street international co-productions are adaptations of the American educational children's television series Sesame Street but tailored to the countries in which they are produced. Shortly after the debut of Sesame Street in the United States in 1969, television producers, teachers, and officials of several countries approached the show's producers and the executives of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), renamed Sesame Workshop (SW) in 2000, about the possibility of airing international versions of Sesame Street. Creator Joan Ganz Cooney hired former CBS executive Michael Dann to field offers to produce versions of the show in other countries.

Contents

The producers of these shows developed them using a variant on the CTW model, a flexible model of production based upon the experiences of the creators and producers of the U.S. show. The model consisted of the combination of producers and researchers working together on the show, the development of a unique curriculum, and extensive test screening of the shows. The shows came to be called co-productions, and they contained original sets, characters, and curriculum goals. Different co-productions were produced, depending upon each country's needs and resources. They included both dubbed versions of the American show and versions created, developed, and produced in each country that reflected their needs, educational priorities, and culture. For example, the first HIV-positive Muppet, Kami, from the South African co-production Takalani Sesame , was created in 2003 to address the epidemic of AIDS in South Africa, and was met with controversy in the U.S. By 2006, there were 20 co-productions in countries all over the world. In 2001, there were more than 120 million viewers of all international versions of Sesame Street, and by the U.S. show's 40th anniversary in 2009, they were seen in more than 140 countries.

History

Sesame Street co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney (shown in 1985) was surprised when other countries approached the Children's Television Workshop requesting their own co-productions of the show. Joan Ganz Cooney.JPG
Sesame Street co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney (shown in 1985) was surprised when other countries approached the Children's Television Workshop requesting their own co-productions of the show.

A few months after the 1969 debut of Sesame Street on National Educational Television in the United States, producers from Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Iran and Germany requested that the organization responsible for the show's production, the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), create and produce versions of Sesame Street in those countries. [1] Even before the American show's debut, the CTW established an international division, which oversaw its licensing in other countries. According to Gregory J. Gettas, the division immediately developed four main licensing policies: (1) Like the American version, all foreign versions had to be broadcast without commercials; (2) any changes would have to meet high production standards, which protected the CTW's proprietary interests; (3) all versions had to reflect the country's cultural values and traditions; and (4) all changes would have to be approved, initiated, and supervised by a local committee working with the CTW. [2]

Many years later, co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney recalled, "To be frank, I was really surprised, because we thought we were creating the quintessential American show. We thought the Muppets were quintessentially American, and it turns out they're the most international characters ever created". [3] Michael Dann, a former CBS executive whom Cooney had hired as a CTW vice-president and her assistant, was assigned to field offers from other countries to produce their own versions of Sesame Street. Dann's appointment led to television critic Marvin Kitman stating, "After he [Dann] sells [Sesame Street] in Russia and Czechoslovakia, he might try Mississippi, where it is considered too controversial for educational TV". [4] [note 1]

By summer 1970, Dann had made the first international agreements for what the CTW later called "co-productions". 38 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television stations broadcast Sesame Street to Canada's English-speaking provinces. The Armed Forces Radio and Television Network agreed to air the first 130 episodes of the U.S.-made show for children of military personnel serving in 16 countries, including Iceland, Greece, Ethiopia, and South Korea. During his tenure at CTW, Dann also made agreements with several Caribbean nations, Mexico, Australia, [6] Japan, the Philippines, France, Israel, and Germany. [4] He later told author Michael Davis, "I was aggressive and I knew people around the world". [4] During the same period there were discussions about broadcasting the U.S. version in Britain or producing a British version of Sesame Street, but British broadcasters found the show too controversial and rejected the idea. The American version was broadcast throughout the UK on a limited basis starting in 1971, but went off the air in 2001. [7]

As of 2006, there were 20 active "co-productions". [3] By its 50th anniversary in 2019, 190 million children viewed over 160 versions of Sesame Street in 70 languages. [8] [9] In 2005, Doreen Carvajal of The New York Times reported that income from the co-productions accounted for U.S.$96 million. [10] Cole stated, "Children's Television Workshop (CTW) can be regarded as the single largest informal educator of young children in the world". [11] Studies conducted on the effects of several co-productions (Mexico in 1974, Turkey in 1990, Portugal in 1993, and Russia in 1998) found that viewers of these shows gain basic academic skills, especially literacy and numeracy, from watching them. [12]

In 2001, Sesame Workshop introduced Sesame English , a series focused on teaching children and their families the basics of the English language and on familiarizing them with some aspects of American culture. As of 2009 it aired in several countries, including Japan, Korea, and Italy. [13] In 2003, in response to the epidemic of AIDS in South Africa, the co-producers of Takalani Sesame included the first preschool AIDS/HIV curriculum. They created the first HIV-positive Muppet, Kami, to confront the stigma of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. According to the documentary The World According to Sesame Street , the reaction of many in the U.S. surprised Sesame Workshop. Some members of Congress attacked Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop (previously, the CTW), and PBS. According to co-producer Naila Farouky, "The reaction we got in the U.S. blew me away. I didn't expect people to be so horrible ... and hateful and mean". [14] The controversy in the U.S. was short-lived, and died down when the public discovered the facts about the South African co-production, and when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and American televangelist and conservative activist Jerry Falwell praised Sesame Workshop's efforts. [14]

Gettas explained that what he called "Sesame Street's unprecedented appeal abroad" [15] was its broad appeal and adaptability to other cultures. Gettas stated, "Here is a program that speaks to them in their own language, on their level, and with respect for their intelligence". [15] According to Cooper Wright, the Sesame Workshop's vice-president of International Co-Productions in 2006, the "mission" of the co-productions was to "help children reach their highest potential". [3] The producers were further galvanized to accomplish this goal after the events of September 11, 2001. Cooney stated, "Our producers are like old-fashioned missionaries. It's not religion they're spreading, but it is learning and tolerance and love and mutual respect". [3]

Production

The earliest international versions were what then-CTW vice-president Charlotte Cole called "fairly simple", [1] consisting of dubbed versions of the show with local language voice-overs and instructional cutaways. Dubbed versions of the show continued to be produced if the country's needs and resources warranted it. [16] They utilized a variant of a flexible model called the CTW model, developed by the producers and creators of the original show, to create and produce independently produced preschool television shows in other countries. [1] The Workshop recognized that the production model developed in the U.S., which reflected its needs and culture at the time, served as a framework for other countries that wanted to repeat it. Its inherent flexibility was attractive to producers in other countries, who saw the model as "a methodological approach that is neither doctrinaire nor culture-bound" [17] that could be used to achieve different results in different countries. According to the 2006 documentary The World According to Sesame Street, the producers of the co-productions repeated the "experiment" [3] undertaken by the original U.S. show, but adapted it to each specific situation. In 1969, the producers of the original show depended upon government and foundation funding, but as Sesame Workshop CEO Gary Knell stated in 2009, the U.S. funding model would not necessarily be effective in countries with different economic and political structures. [16] All co-productions share elements with the American show, but because of their different needs, no two are exactly alike. According to Gettas, the producers of the programs would "rely on variants of the CTW model to help them create programming that faithfully reflects the linguistic, cultural, social, or religious diversity of their native lands". [17]

The 2006 documentary The World According to Sesame Street, which follows the production of some versions of the show Sesamestreet world.jpg
The 2006 documentary The World According to Sesame Street , which follows the production of some versions of the show

The need for preschool education in each country was assessed through research and interviews with television producers, researchers, and educational experts, which paralleled what the producers of Sesame Street did in the late 1960s. Then they convened the experts in a series of meetings, held in the individual countries, to create and develop a curriculum, the show's educational goals, and its set and characters, [18] as was done in 1968 in the U.S. [19] Finally, they held a series of meetings, both at the CTW offices in New York City and in the individual countries, to train the co-production team in the CTW model. Writing seminars were also held in New York. [3]

The co-productions consisted of unique characters, sets, and curricula designed to meet the needs of their own children. Cole reported that the goal of the co-productions was to provide children in each country a program that reflected their country's culture, local values, and educational priorities. She stated that this cultural specificity was the reason for the co-productions' success, popularity, and educational impact. [14] The co-productions combined universal curriculum goals that were common around the world with educational content that specifically addressed the needs of children in each country. [20] Another goal of the international co-productions of Sesame Street was, as executive producer Lutrelle Horne stated in 1987, the improvement of "the overall quality of a country's television". He added, "We give a country a model of how television can be used effectively to address people's needs". [21]

U.S. cast members Kevin Clash and Marty Robinson have cast and trained the international puppeteers. [22] At first, Muppet builder Kermit Love constructed the puppets for the new shows in the U.S. According to Gikow in 2009, Jim Henson's Creature Shop, overseen by Connie Peterson, has taken over puppet creation. The producers of Sisimpur , the Bangladesh co-production, created their own traditional puppets because their puppet-making craft is thousands of years old and an important part of their culture. [3] [18] The producers of each co-production developed and built their own sets, live-action videos, and animations in-country. After they developed, produced, and aired the new show, they conducted research to ascertain whether their curriculum goals were met, just as was done in the U.S. after the first season of Sesame Street. [23] According to producer Nadine Zylstra, they faced unusual challenges rarely experienced in the U.S. [24] For example, riots and conflicts between Serbs and Albanians in 2004 delayed production of the Kosovo co-production for three months. In 2005, a nationwide strike in Bangladesh temporarily stalled production of their show. [3]

When countries were not able to afford creating original co-productions, the Workshop provided alternatives for them. [25] They created Open Sesame , a series with no specific cultural references in it and, as Horne described, "universally acceptable material". [18] The show was also broadcast on U.S. military bases. The Workshop's library of Muppet skits, short films, and animations were sold to many countries and were either broadcast in English or dubbed in the local language. According to Gikow, it often served as the basis for the creation of new material for their own co-productions. [18] As of 2009, the Workshop opened its entire library of episodes, short films, and animations created all over the world so that poorer countries could use and adapt them for their purposes. [25]

Co-productions

1970s

The first international co-production of Sesame Street was Brazil's Vila Sésamo , which first aired in 1972 and had an initial run of two years. Its set consisted of an open plaza. The Muppet Garibaldo was "the centerpiece" of the Brazil co-production and remained popular with viewers when the show was revived in 2007. Garibaldo's performer in the revival, Fernando Gomes, became a puppeteer because of the original Brazilian show's influence. It was broadcast in Portuguese. [16] [26] Plaza Sésamo was also produced in 1972, in Mexico. This co-production has also been broadcast in Puerto Rico and in Spanish-speaking Latin America since 1973, and has aired on Spanish television stations in the U.S. since 1995. [27]

Beginning in early 1973, Canada aired Sesame Street Canada . [26] A French-dubbed version was shown in 1975, which demonstrated the producers' commitment to bilingualism, one of their curriculum goals. [2] [26] [27] CBC Television enlisted television and radio producer Daniel McCarthy to work with the CTW to develop Canadian-specific set designs and themes, and along with Jim Henson, to create original Canadian Muppet characters. Segments from the American show were blended with original Canadian content, and McCarthy enlisted Canadian celebrities such as singer Anne Murray to appear. Like the American show, which encouraged children to learn both English and Spanish, Sesame Street Canada taught basic French words to its viewers. By the 1980s, the name was slightly altered to Canadian Sesame Street and the amount of Canadian-produced content was increased. In 1996, the series was retooled as a half-hour series with a brand new format, and was rebranded as Sesame Park. The series in its new format focused almost exclusively on Canadian content with occasional usage of segments from the original series. Sesame Park was canceled by CBC in 2001, with many of the show's Muppet characters being displayed in the CBC Museum in Toronto as of 2014. [28]

In 1973, West Germany, one of the first countries to approach CTW, began airing Sesamstraße . It has been continually produced since. [13] At first, this co-production incorporated original German animation and live action segments into the U.S. version. Starting in 1978, its producers began using puppets filmed in their own studio in Germany. [29] The Netherlands' version, Sesamstraat , began in 1976. This show has aired in both Dutch and Flemish. [25] In Sesamstraat's early years, Belgium television participated in its production, so it also aired there. [27] France aired Open Sesame in the early 1970s before creating its own co-production. One version created in 1974, Bonjour Sésame , was fifteen minutes long and had no street scenes. 1, Rue Sésame began production in 1977 before airing in 1978 ; its set consists of a courtyard of a building in a small French town. [13]

The final two co-productions of the 1970s, both made in 1979, occurred in Kuwait and Spain. The Kuwaiti show, Iftah Ya Simsim , which ran until 1990, was the first of its kind in the Arab world. It used Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), and was broadcast in 22 Arab countries. The show continued to be well-known decades after it went off the air. It returned in 2013, and had similar goals and objectives as the original version, including the use of MSA. [30] [31] Barrio Sésamo , made in Spain, featured over the years such characters as Caponata the hen, Don Pimpon, Espinete the pink hedgehog, and Perezgil, a snail character who was able to hide a thousand and one things in his shell. [32] One of the show's Muppet characters, Dr. Valentin Ruster, was based upon Dr. Valentín Fuster, a native Spaniard who worked at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Dr. Fuster's likeness was created to educate children in Spain about exercise and eating healthy. [33]

1980s

Kevin Clash (in 2022), who trained puppeteers for many international co-productions Kevin Clash Photo Op GalaxyCon Raleigh 2022.jpg
Kevin Clash (in 2022), who trained puppeteers for many international co-productions

Sweden's version of Sesame Street, Svenska Sesam (1981–1983), was originally a single-season full co-production, but did not integrate puppets. Dubs have aired before and after. [13] Israel filmed its co-production, called Rechov Sumsum , in 1983. It was the first co-production to devote an entire section of its curriculum to educating children about mutual respect, which was a priority due to "profound political tension in the region". [34] Its curriculum, which was based upon their viewers' needs, differed from many other countries and exposed Israeli children to children from different cultures. The show's counterpart of Big Bird was a hedgehog named Kippi, while Moishe Oofnik, who originally lived in a broken car, was the Grouch (and Oscar's cousin). [30] [35]

Also in 1983, Sesame was co-produced for the Philippines. It was bilingual (Tagalog and English) and featured Filipino human characters and Filipino content alongside Sesame Street material in English. It featured a turtle muppet named Pong Pagong (the show's counterpart of Big Bird) and a monkey muppet who lived in an abandoned jeepney named Kiko Matsing (patterned after Oscar the Grouch). Sesame ran for less than year when CTW decided to cancel its co-production in 1984 for unspecified reasons. [36] [37]

In 1989, Susam Sokağı , a co-production filmed in Turkey, featured versions of Big Bird and an "exuberant little-girl Muppet host" named Simi. [25] There have been three versions of Sesame Street in Portugal, including one co-production created in 1989. Rua Sésamo was also broadcast in the Portuguese-speaking nations Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Play with Me Sesame is the title of the current version. [27] [32]

1990s

Norway's co-production, entitled Sesam stasjon , began filming in 1990. The Russian co-production Ulitsa Sezam (Улица Сезам) debuted in 1996. No longer on the air, [21] one of its curriculum goals was to prepare Russian children to live in a "new open society". [20] Poland's Ulica Sezamkowa , which also premiered in 1996, has been since replaced by dubs of various Sesame Workshop programs and has changed its name to Sezamkowy Zakątek. In 1998, the Chinese co-production of Sesame Street, Zhima Jie , was created. An auto mechanic became the head writer of this show, broadcast in Mandarin Chinese, because there were few people with experience in writing for children in the country. [24] [26] It has aired in 40 local markets, comprising forty percent of all Chinese homes. [29] Its curriculum emphasized aesthetics. [38] The Chinese puppeteers were trained by Kevin Clash and Caroll Spinney. [3] Also in 1998, a fifteen-minute version of the Israeli show was dubbed in Arabic and renamed Shara'a Simsim ; this Palestinian co-production promoted children's sense of national identity. [27] [30]

2000s

In 2000, Egypt's co-production, entitled Alam Simsim (عالم سمسم), began to air throughout the Arab world and was broadcast in Arabic. [26] [30] Its curriculum focused on literacy, math, cognitive and social skills, girls' education, the environment, and health. The show was sponsored by its patron, Egyptian First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. A study conducted in 2004 showed that the show's efforts to educate Egyptian children about health were substantially influential. [39]

South Africa aired Takalani Sesame, also in 2000; it focused on AIDS education with the creation of the first HIV-positive Muppet, Kami, who was declared a UNICEF "Champion for Children" in 2003. [40] [41] In 2005, a study was conducted about the show's impact on AIDS education in South Africa; it found that viewers exposed to Takalani Sesame demonstrated more knowledge and awareness about HIV, AIDS, and its treatment. The study also found that the show had a wide audience, even in communities without good access to electricity. [42]

In 2003, Hikayat Simsim premiered in Jordan. According to its producers, its goal was to "promote respect in the face of conflict". [30] The show also focused on literacy, numeracy, health and hygiene, emotions, road safety, and the environment. [43] Afghanistan temporarily aired its first version of Sesame Street, called Koche Sesame in 2004, to help rebuild its educational system. Although this production filmed its own live-action films, it used Muppet segments filmed in the U.S., which were dubbed in Dari, one of the country's two main languages. The show's producers donated 400 education kits, which included a message from President Hamid Karzai, to schools, orphanages, and TV stations across the country. Its curriculum focused on encouraging awareness of other cultures, increasing opportunities for women and girls, and fostering children's interests in education. [24] [44] [45]

2004 saw the premiere of the Japanese co-production, simply titled Sesami Sutorīto . However, it was not as well received as the dubbed version of the original US series that previously aired on NHK, and ended soon after. One of the puppets created for the Japan co-production, a yellow bird named Arthur, was later brought into the American version as a generic background puppet. 2004 also saw the December debut of the Kosovan co-production, titled Rruga Sesam in Albanian and Ulica Sezam in Serbian. [46] The Workshop worked in conjunction with UNICEF to produce this show, to aid in the peace process between Albanians and Serbs. One of its goals was to demonstrate to Albanian and Serbian children that their counterparts were like them. [3] The producers of the co-production chose to present the languages of the region more evenly. Instead of showing words on screen, children were challenged to label objects verbally, thus learning that there are different ways to say the same thing. [21]

In 2005, Sisimpur aired in Bangladesh. This co-production's goal was to improve school achievement and decrease drop-out rates for children before the third grade. [24] This difficult co-production, which was beset by political difficulties and severe flooding that delayed production, was depicted in the 2006 documentary The World According to Sesame Street. [3] Galli Galli Sim Sim (Devanagari: गली गली सिम सिम) is the Hindi language adaptation of the series which aired in India from 2006 to 2018.

In 2008, Cambodia produced Sabai Sabai Sesame , a dubbed version of the original U.S. show. It aired twice weekly, and emphasized basic literacy, numeracy, and social skills. [32] [47] Northern Ireland's production, which was broadcast throughout the UK but was "rooted in everyday life in Northern Ireland", [48] was called Sesame Tree , and was set in and around a whimsical tree. [32] The show's curriculum focused on mutual respect and understanding. [48] Also in 2008, Jalan Sesama , the Indonesian co-production, premiered; its focus was the country's rich diversity. [49] [50] Denmark created Sesamgade in 2009, which contained elements of Play With Me Sesame and locally produced segments with Elmo. [25]

2010s

Nigeria produced its own version of Sesame Street, called Sesame Square , in 2010. Previously, they aired the U.S. version. Funded in part by a grant from the U.S. government, the show focused on AIDS, malaria nets, gender equality, and yams. It also featured the HIV-positive Muppet Kami from the South African co-production. [51]

After an absence of ten years, and almost 30 years after the 1983 movie Big Bird in China , 53 eleven-minute episodes of Sesame Street's Big Bird Looks at the World, filmed in Mandarin Chinese, debuted in early 2011 in China. Inspired by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the program emphasized emergency preparedness. [52] In the first week of December 2011, a Pashto and Dari-language version called Baghch-e-Simsim was launched in Afghanistan, [53] and in the same month Pakistan began airing its own Urdu-language version, called SimSim Humara , which was supposed to run for three years. In June 2012, the United States terminated funding for SimSim Humara due to allegations of corruption by the local Pakistani puppet theater working on the initiative. [54] [55]

2020s

In February 2020, a show called Ahlan Simsim was released on MBC3. The show is used to address dealing with issues in the Middle East. [56]

Sesame Workshop introduced two Rohingya Muppets, 6-year-old twins named Noor and Aziz, to help the education of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. [57] The characters were previewed in 2020 to children in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. [58] The initiative was developed in partnership with the Lego Foundation, the International Rescue Committee, and the Bangladeshi charity BRAC. In 2022, a video series titled Playtime with Noor and Aziz was released on YouTube; it is the first media for children in the Rohingya language. [59]

See also

Footnotes

  1. In May 1970, the Mississippi state commission on educational television had voted to pull the show from the state's PBS station. [5]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Cole et al. p. 148.
  2. 1 2 Gettas, p. 57.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Knowlton, Linda Goldstein and Linda Hawkins Costigan (producers) (2006). The World According to Sesame Street (documentary). Participant Productions.
  4. 1 2 3 Davis, pp. 209–210.
  5. Guernsey, Lisa (22 May 2009). "How Sesame Street Changed the World". Newsweek. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  6. "When was Sesame Street first broadcast in Australia?". November 14, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  7. Geoghegan, Tim; Lane, Megan (6 November 2009). "Why did Britain fall out of love with Sesame St?". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  8. Wallace, Debra (6 February 2019). "Big Bird Has 4,000 Feathers: 21 Fun Facts About Sesame Street That Will Blow Your Mind". Parade. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  9. Bradley, Diana (27 July 2018). "Leaving the neighborhood: 'Sesame Street' muppets to travel across America next year". PR Weekly. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  10. Carvajal, Doreen (12 December 2005). "Sesame Street Goes Global: Let's All Count the Revenue". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  11. Cole et al., pp. 169–172.
  12. Cole, pp. 169–172.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Gikow, p. 255.
  14. 1 2 3 Cole et al., p. 147.
  15. 1 2 Gettas, p. 55.
  16. 1 2 3 Gikow, pp. 252–253.
  17. 1 2 Gettas, p. 56.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Gikow, p. 260.
  19. Finch, Christopher (1993). Jim Henson: The Works: the Art, the Magic, the Imagination. New York: Random House. pp.  53. ISBN   0-679-41203-4.
  20. 1 2 Cole et al., p. 156.
  21. 1 2 3 Gikow, p. 257.
  22. Gikow, p. 262.
  23. Cole et al., p. 164.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Gikow, p. 261.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 Gikow, p. 256.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 Cole et al., p. 149.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 Cole et al., p. 153.
  28. Potempa, Philip (4 April 2014). "Offbeat: 'Canadian Sesame Street' Basil Bear now museum memory". NWI.com. Munster, Indiana: The Times Media Company. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  29. 1 2 Cole et al., p. 152.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 Gikow, p. 259.
  31. Ghazal, Rym (8 October 2013). "Plans are well advanced for the popular children's show Iftah Ya Sim Sim to make a comeback to TV". The National. Abu Dhabi. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Gikow, p. 254.
  33. "Meet Dr. Valentin Ruster, Barrio Sesamo's Resident Muppet Doctor" (Press release). New York: Mount Sinai Hospital. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  34. Cole et al., p. 159.
  35. Cole et al., pp. 158–159.
  36. Carballo, Bibsy M. (April 19, 2010). "Batibot coming back with a bang". Philippine Star. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  37. "Smart launches 'Batibot' app, the first learning app". Manila Bulletin . 14 August 2015. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  38. Cole, p. 155.
  39. "The Impact of Alam Simsim's Health Education Outreach Initiative" (PDF). Cairo, Egypt: Social Planning, Analysis and Administration Consultants (SPAAC). October 2004. pp. 1, 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  40. Gikow, p. 258.
  41. "HIV-positive Muppet appointed as "Champion for Children"" (Press release). New York: UNICEF. 24 November 2003. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  42. Bucuvalas, Abigail; Kabba, Zainab; Baxan, Jean; Fuld, Janice; Osuntula, Ayobisi (2016). "Feathered and Furry Health Educators: The Sesame Street Approach to Child Health and Wellbeing in Egypt, Sub-Saharan Africa and Beyond". In Cole, Charlotte F.; Lee, June H. (eds.). The Sesame Effect: The Global Impact of the Longest Street in the World. New York: Routledge Publishers. pp. 125–126. ISBN   978-1-138-80690-0.
  43. "Studio Shooting of Hikayat Simsim's Season Finale". Albawaba News. Amman, Jordan. 14 June 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  44. Farmer, Ben (30 November 2011). "Sesame Street to be broadcast in Afghanistan". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  45. "How to get to 'Sesame Street' in Afghanistan". USA Today. Associated Press. 30 April 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  46. "Sesame Street teaches tolerance to Kosovo's children". osce.org . 7 December 2004. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  47. "Bert and Ernie make Cambodia debut". C21 Media. 12 August 2005. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  48. 1 2 Rutherford, Fiona (22 July 2010). "Elmgrove children branch out into new Sesame Tree". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  49. Moynihan, Jason (13 January 2007). "Sesame Street's coming to town!". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  50. Murray Hiebert; Ted Osius; Gregory B. Poling (September 2013). A U.S.- Indonesia Partnership for 2020: Recommendations for Forging a 21st Century Relationship (PDF) (Report). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 47. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  51. "A yam-packed 'Sesame Street' is tailored for impoverished Nigerian children". Fox News. Associated Press. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  52. Landreth, Jonathan (14 December 2010). "'Sesame Street' Ready to Return to China". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  53. Farmer, Ben (30 November 2011). "Sesame Street to be broadcast in Afghanistan". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  54. "Pakistan's Sesame Street U.S. funding is withdrawn". BBC News. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  55. "U.S. ends funding for Pakistani "Sesame Street"". CBS News. Associated Press. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  56. Ahlan Simsim, Sesame Street, 2019, retrieved 2020-06-26
  57. Beech, Hannah (December 19, 2020). "'R' is for Rohingya: Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for Refugees". The New York Times . Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  58. Romo, Christine; McFadden, Cynthia; Schapiro, Rich (December 17, 2020). "Sesame Street unveils Rohingya Muppets to help kids overcome 'unthinkable horrors'". NBC News . Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  59. Linnane, Rory; Volpenhein, Sarah (October 21, 2022). "Meet Sesame Street's new Muppets, on screens now thanks to Milwaukee's Rohingya community". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . Retrieved August 17, 2023.

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<i>Sesame Street</i> American childrens television show

Sesame Street is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop and was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. It is known for its images communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets, and includes short films, with humor and cultural references. It premiered on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high viewership. It has aired on the United States national public television provider PBS since its debut, with its first run moving to premium channel HBO on January 16, 2016, then its sister streaming service HBO Max in 2020. Sesame Street is one of the longest-running shows in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sesame Workshop</span> American nonprofit organization and childrens media producer

Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-known, Sesame Street—that have been televised internationally. Television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and foundation executive Lloyd Morrisett developed the idea to form an organization to produce Sesame Street, a television series which would help children, especially those from low-income families, prepare for school. They spent two years, from 1966 to 1968, researching, developing, and raising money for the new series. Cooney was named as the Workshop's first executive director, which was termed "one of the most important television developments of the decade."

History of <i>Sesame Street</i>

The preschool educational television program Sesame Street was first aired on public television stations on November 10, 1969, and reached its 54th season in 2023. The history of Sesame Street has reflected changing attitudes to developmental psychology, early childhood education, and cultural diversity. Featuring Jim Henson's Muppets, animation, live shorts, humor and celebrity appearances, it was the first television program of its kind to base its content and production values on laboratory and formative research, and the first to include a curriculum "detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes". Initial responses to the show included adulatory reviews, some controversy and high ratings. By its 40th anniversary in 2009, Sesame Street was broadcast in over 120 countries, and 20 independent international versions had been produced. It has won eleven Grammys and over 150 Emmys in its history—more than any other children's show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Hooper</span> Sesame Street character

Mr. Harold Hooper was one of the first four human characters to appear on the television series Sesame Street. Created by producer and writer Jon Stone, Mr. Hooper is the original proprietor of Hooper's Store, the neighborhood variety store and combination diner/corner store that serves as a place for Muppets and humans to meet and interact. Lee, a character actor and instructor was "perfectly cast" as Mr. Hooper. Mr. Hooper ranked first of all human characters of the show in recognition by young viewers. Mr. Hooper, who has been described as "slightly cranky but good-hearted" and "curmudgeonly", bridges the gap between the older generation and its young audience. Hooper's Store, "an idealized social institution", is an extension of his personality. He had a close relationship with the Muppet Big Bird.

<i>Plaza Sésamo</i> Educational childrens television series for preschoolers

Plaza Sésamo is one of the first international co-productions of the first preschool television program Sesame Street. Its first season premiered in Mexico in 1972, and the last season ended in 2018 during the holiday season and the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street, but the show returned in 2020 and was immediately a ratings hit. It also aired throughout Latin America, to a potential audience of 25 million children in 34 countries. Unlike some of the earliest co-productions, which consisted of dubbed versions of Sesame Street with local language voice-overs, Plaza Sésamo was a true co-production. Half of the show was adapted from the American show, and half was original material, created in Mexico by Mexican writers, performers, and producers. The first season consisted of 130 half-hour episodes. The Plaza Sésamo development process was similar to that of the American show. Its goals were developed by local experts in television, child development, and early education during curriculum seminars in Caracas, Venezuela. Sésamo's goals emphasized problem solving and reasoning, and also included perception, symbolic representation, human diversity, and the child's environment. Other goals included community cooperation, family life, nutrition, health, safety, self-esteem, and expressing emotions. Early reading skills were taught through the whole language method. The show's budget for the first and second seasons was approximately US$1.6 million.

<i>Ulitsa Sezam</i> Russian childrens television series

Ulitsa Sezam is the Russian production of the children's television program Sesame Street. The show was first released in 1996 and went off the air in 2010.

Elmo's World is a segment that is shown at the end of the American children's television program Sesame Street which premiered on November 16, 1998, as part of a broader structural change to the show. It originally lasted fifteen minutes at the end of each episode. The segment ran until 2009, and then returned in 2017. The segment was designed to appeal to younger viewers and to increase ratings, which had fallen in the past decade. The segment is presented from the perspective of a three-year-old child as represented by its host, the Muppet Elmo, performed by Kevin Clash in the original series and Ryan Dillon in the 2017 reboot.

<i>Iftah Ya Simsim</i> Arabic television series

Iftah Ya Simsim is the first international co-production of the American children's television series Sesame Street created in the Arabian world. It premiered in Kuwait on September 14, 1979, and was broadcast in 22 Arabic-speaking countries, running until June 23, 1989. The program continued to be well-known decades after it went off the air.

Baghch-e-Simsim is a Dari- and Pashto-language co-production based on the American children's television series Sesame Street. The series launched in Afghanistan in December 2011, and has aired on TOLO and Lemar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce</span> Unreleased episode of Sesame Street

"Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce" is the name of an episode on the children's television program Sesame Street. Produced in 1992, it never aired because tests showed several unintended negative effects. Sesame Street has had a history of presenting difficult topics as part of its affective curriculum goals, including death, marriage, childbirth, and disaster. Extensive research was done before these episodes were written and produced, to ascertain their focus, and after they aired, to analyze the effect they had on viewers, and that was the case for "Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce." The show's producers had expressed a desire to produce the episode as early as 1989, and they were convinced that it was a topic they should address after the US Census Bureau reported that 40% of American children had experienced divorce.

<i>Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street</i> 1974 book by Gerald S. Lesser

Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street (1974) is a non-fiction book written by Gerald S. Lesser, in which he describes the production of Sesame Street, and the formation and pedagogical philosophy of the Children's Television Workshop. Lesser was a professor at Harvard University, studying how social class and ethnicity interacted with school achievement and was one of the first academics in the US who researched how watching television affected children and their development. He was initially skeptical about the potential of using television as a teaching tool, but he was eventually named as the advisory board chairman of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the organization created to oversee the production and research of Sesame Street, and was the show's first educational director. Lesser wrote the book early in Sesame Street's history, to evaluate the show's effectiveness, to explain what its writers, researchers, and producers were attempting to do, and to respond to criticism of Sesame Street.

In 1969, the children's television show Sesame Street premiered on the National Educational Television network in the United States. Unlike earlier children's programming, the show's producers used research and over 1,000 studies and experiments to create the show and test its impact on its young viewers' learning. By the end of the program's first season, Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the organization founded to oversee Sesame Street production, had developed what came to be called "the CTW model": a system of planning, production, and evaluation that combined the expertise of researchers and early childhood educators with that of the program's writers, producers, and directors.

Sesame Street is an American children's television program that is known for its use of format and structure to convey educational concepts to its preschool audience, and to help them prepare for school. It utilizes the conventions of television such as music, humor, sustained action, and a strong visual style, and combines Jim Henson's Muppets, animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. The show, which premiered in 1969, was the first to base its contents, format, and production values on laboratory and formative research. According to researchers, it was also the first to include a curriculum "detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes".

Music of <i>Sesame Street</i> Music of the television show Sesame Street

Music has been a part of the children's television show Sesame Street since its debut on PBS in 1969. For the first time, music was used as a teaching tool on a TV program for children; the songs written and performed on the show fulfilled specific purposes and supported its curriculum. The music on Sesame Street consisted of many styles and genres, but was consistent and recognizable so that it could be reproduced. The producers recorded and released dozens of albums of music; many songs became "timeless classics". In order to attract the best composers and lyricists, CTW allowed songwriters to retain the rights to the songs they wrote, which allowed them to earn lucrative profits. Sesame Street Book & Record, recorded in 1970, went gold and won a Grammy. As of November 2019, Sesame Workshop has partnered with Warner Music Group's Arts Music division to reform Sesame Street Records to make the music of Sesame Street fully available.

The children's television show Sesame Street, which premiered on public broadcasting television stations in 1969, was the first show of its kind that utilized a detailed and comprehensive educational curriculum, with specific educational goals, in its content. Its goals were garnered from in-house formative research and independent summative evaluations, and its first curriculum was created in a series of five seminars in 1968.

The children's television program Sesame Street premiered in 1969 to high ratings, positive reviews, and some controversy, which have continued during its history. Even though the show aired on only 67% of American televisions at the time of its premiere, it earned a 3.3 Nielsen rating, or 1.9 million households. By its tenth anniversary in 1979, 9 million American children under the age of six were watching Sesame Street daily. Its ratings declined in the 1990s, due to societal changes. A survey conducted in 1996 found that by the age of three, 95% of all American children had watched it. By its fortieth anniversary in 2009, it was ranked the fifteenth most popular children's show.

A few months after the 1969 premiere of the children's television program Sesame Street in the U.S., talks began in the United Kingdom to broadcast the programme or develop a co-production on British television. The idea was controversial at the time; the BBC was opposed to it, and ITV was reluctant. Response from parents, educators, and television officials to the show was varied, ranging from distaste to acceptance. After much public debate, the BBC chose not to air Sesame Street for several reasons, including the show's educational methods, its creation for American audiences, and the UK's long history of quality educational television programmes for young children. ITV, after much research, including a report entitled Reactions to Sesame Street in Britain, 1971, chose to air Sesame Street on a limited basis. It then switched to Channel 4 in the 1980s and aired there until 2001, when it was pulled from its regular schedule, replaced by The Hoobs.

Rechov Sumsum is the Israeli adaptation of the U.S. children's show of the same name.

<i>Batibot</i> Philippine version of the American childrens television series Sesame Street

Batibot is a Philippine television educational show produced by the Philippine Children's Television Foundation (PCTF). It debuted in 1984 as the replacement of Sesame, a co-production of PCTV and the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) from 1983 to 1984.

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