Barrio Sésamo

Barrio Sésamo(Sesame Neighborhood in English) is the Spanish co-production of the popular U.S. children's television seriesSesame Streetproduced byTelevisión EspañolaandSesame Workshop(formerlyChildren's Television Workshop) from 1979 to 2000, the equivalent ofPlaza Sésamoin Mexico and Hispanic America. All characters adopted Spanish names while for the title of the series a more appropriate Spanish name was chosen: barrio (Neighborhood) instead of Street (calle).
Previously, from 3 November 1974 to 29 March 1978, segments of the originalSesame Streetwere simply acquired byTelevisión Española(TVE) and dubbed into Spanish to be aired with the titleÁbrete Sésamo(es. Open Sesame) as part of its program "container" calledUn globo, dos globos, tres globos.
In 1978, Televisión Española (TVE) andChildren's Television Workshop(CTW) agreed the terms for a co-production, after years where TVE simply aired the original Sesame Street dubbed segments. The new episodes included a 15 minute segment of dubbed footage, and another 15 minute segment of original footage.
Duncan Kenworthyfrom CTW was in charge of the USA production andEnrique Nicanorwas assigned by TVE as director of the Spanish segments and designer of the two Spanish new original muppets "Caponata"and "Perezgil"
Human characters includes:
American characters with Spanish names:
TheFirst Barrio Sésamoseason was cancelled by TVE in 1981 when they denied the authors to keep their rights on the characters. An agreement had been reached where the authors granted full commercial rights to the station except the right to be mentioned as authors and the right to deny the use of the muppets for commercial advertising of carbonized drinks and unhealthy products for children, the same rights thatJim Hensonkept with all his own characters. The station fired the first creators and banned the characters from appearing in the new season. The person responsible for the Children's Department at the station commissioned the American co-production company, CTW USA, to create and provide new "Spanish" muppets with new names. With that action,Barrio Sésamowas no longer a co-production with Spanish-created characters.
From 1981 to 1983, a different TVE children's program,La Cometa Blanca, included some sketches fromSesame Street. This program was directed by Muppet fanLolo Ricoand featured some actors who would later appear in Barrio Sésamo, mainly Mari Luz Olier, Alfonso Vallejo, and the child-actressRuth Gabriel(then known as Ruth Abellán).
TheSesame Streetsketches inLa Cometa Blancawere so successful with their young audience that the Spanish version was given another chance in 1983. Only José Riesgo as Julián returned from the first season. Caponata and Perezgil were replaced by two new Muppets totally designed, this time, and constructed by CTW. The main character wasEspinete, a large pinkhedgehogthat replaced Caponata. Like Caponata, Espinete was a full-body Muppet and was the main character on the show, played by Chelo Vivares.He became famous for sleeping in pajamas in spite of being "naked" the rest of the day.
Other characters included:
In 1983, one year after the second season started, a new government won the elections in Spain and José Maria Calviño was appointed asDirector General of RTVE. The new staff fired those involved in the cancellation of the original series. The creatorof the banned first season was called by the station and was appointed as new Head of the Children' Programmes Unit and later Director of theTVE-2channel.
The show finished around April 1988 and was replaced byLos Mundos de Yupi, a similar program fully produced by TVE, featuring three extraterrestrial characters.
In 1996, the show returned to TVE, this time being produced in bothCatalanand Spanish.
New characters includedBluki(a blue full-body cat-like Muppet),Vera(a yellow monster),Bubo(an owl) andGaspar(a human Muppet). Additional characters that made occasional appearances included a wild monster with red fur and a healthy appetite — portraying a role similar to Cookie Monster's — and a tan Anything Muppet that could be turned into characters (such as a baby, a girl friend of Vera's, a clumsy man with a moustache, or a pig). The show's directors were Enrique Nicanor, Antonio Torets, and Jose María Vidal (co-director).
Since 2006,Juega Conmigo, Sésamo,the Castilian Spanish dub ofPlay with Me Sesame, has been broadcast onAntena 3.
Since 2012,Super Healthy Monstersis a 5 to 7-minute series focuses on activities and foods that keep one healthy. Sesame Workshop produced 26 episodes in English, which initially aired dubbed in Spain on Antena 3 as a Barrio Sésamo mini-series called "Monstruos Supersanos."
On April 28, 2016,El Hotel Furchester,the Castilian Spanish dub ofThe Furchester Hotel, was broadcast in Spain onTVE Clan.
The show is part of theHBOprogramming in Spain under its original title, Sesame Street, with dubbed episodes of the HBO seasons from 2017 to present.
The rest of the episodes are in the website RTVE but they’re titled of the date.