Iftah Ya Simsim Iftah Ya Simsim is the Arabic co - production of " Sesame Street " . The series debuted at Kuwait in the fall of 1979 , and was the first " Sesame " co - production in Arabic . There were 130 half - hour episodes produced and broadcast on a weekday basis in various Arabic countries , before it returned to TV in 2015 . The original show featured Nu ' man , a full - body camel , Malsun , the ( originally yellow - green ) parrot , Yaqut , a female lavender monster with colorful bumps on her head and a long nose , and Abla , a full - body cat . For the show ' s 2015 revival , Yaqut and Abla were dropped , and yellow monster girl Shams was introduced , along with Gargur ( Grover ) and several Anything Muppets , camels , cows , chickens , penguins and other birds that serve as side - characters . The show ' s title means " Open Sesame , " but the neighborhood itself in the original 1979 show was called Shari ’ ' lshrin ( translated as " Twentieth Street " ) . Key locations included a juice stand Khalil ' s Refreshments , located at No . 8 , and Hisham ' s Shop , at No . 4 , which sells newspapers . The large house on No . 3 is the home of Hamad the engineer and his wife , Fatima the teacher . Their next - door neighbor is Laila the nurse , and beyond is a small park . The park contains a playground , fountain , and garden , and attracts the local children . The grandfatherly peddler Abdullah plies his trade there , selling toys , books , and games from his pushcart and regaling the kids with stories . The Arab states of the Persian Gulf Joint Program Production Institution bought the co - production rights for a nine - year period in 1977 . The Children ' s Television Workshop provided technical assistance , research , and provided a consulting producer . As with other co - productions , CTW also supplied Muppet sketches , cartoons , and film inserts , which were then selected and dubbed into Arabic . The studio " street " scenes were taped between May and December 1978 . Although produced in Kuwait , much like the original version of " Plaza Sésamo " , the series was intended for the entire Arab - speaking world , and the cast included a mixture of Kuwaitis , Saudi Arabians , Iraquis , and children from twelve different Arab countries , including Algeria . In 1990 , during the Persian Gulf War , Iraqi forces invading Kuwait captured videotapes of the series and the Nu ' man costume and brought them back to Iraq before being driven out by US forces . In 2003 , Iraq was invaded by US forces but they have never been able to find the videotapes nor the Nu ' man costume . To this day , the video tapes and the Nu ' man costume remain unrecovered . 2015 reboot . In 2011 , it was announced that the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States would be creating a new version for the Gulf nations . The new version began production in 2014 and debuted on September 1 , 2015 with 26 episodes . Each episode features the short - form series , " Super Healthy Monsters " . In 2017 , the show launched a special , 12 - minute version of the show for the month of Ramadan . Thirty episodes were produced and regularly feature " Super Grover 2 . 0 " , " Elmo ' s Game Show , " " Cookie ' s Crumby Pictures " , and segments from the " Dream , Save , Do " campaign , as well as interviews with children . The second season , with 52 episodes , premiered on September 22 , 2017 . The season introduces Elmo and Ka ' aki ( Cookie Monster ) to the street and cuts down the show from a half - hour to fifteen minutes . Also introduced are new song segments introducing the letter and number of the day , similar to those introduced on the domestic show in its 45th season . 2011 Advertisement . In 2011 , a Kuwaiti telephone company recreated the characters and used them in a commercial . They also produced promotion plush and a 1 GB Nu ' man USB flash drive .