''Sesame Park'' is the Canadian version of ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

'' co-produced by

Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...

and the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

. The series originally functioned as a re-edited version of the original American series, and was named ''Sesame Street Canada'' and later, ''Canadian Sesame Street'', with some of the segments replaced with ones produced in Canada and later featuring Canadian-exclusive Muppet characters. In 1996, the series adopted a new format and was renamed ''Sesame Park''.

''Canadian Sesame Street''

Daniel McCarthy, the director of the CBC Sesame Street Project, developed ''Sesame Street Canada'' for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

. The series, which debuted in 1972, was originally a hybrid of American and Canadian production segments. McCarthy partnered with the Children's Television Workshop to introduce new, CBC-produced segments to the show's original American footage. He also introduced distinct Canadian themes and set designs to the show. The series was later titled ''Canadian Sesame Street.'' During the 1970s and 1980s it anchored a three-show block that included '' Friendly Giant'' (later replaced by '' Fred Penner's Place'') and '' Mr. Dressup''. Most of the production of the Canadian segments took place in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Halifax, and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Content

In 1972, the bulk of ''Sesame Streets content was licensed out to

, originally as five-minute interstitials during commercial breaks. CBC then added live-action and animated segments teaching about Canadian culture and French bilingualism, replacing segments on Spanish and American history on the original program. Some Spanish segments still aired in Canada, although fewer in number and usually related to the show's Hispanic main-cast characters, Maria and Luis. In 1981, the amount of Canadian content per show was increased to 30 minutes. In 1990 a seasonal special was created for the series, titled Basil Hears A Noise.

Characters

In 1987, a series of specially made Canadian Muppet characters were introduced, including Basil the Bear (similar and equal in role to Big Bird), French-Canadian Louis the

Otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

(similar and equal in role to Oscar the Grouch), and Dodi the bush pilot. The following year, additional new characters included Dr. Bazuki, Fern, Robert, and

wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

-user Katie. The Henson Muppet shop also provided some Anything Muppets which could be redressed to become whatever characters the script called for, including Barbara Plum (a parody of CBC broadcasting legend Barbara Frum). Beau

Beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

, an animated character, would discuss national symbols, particularly those appearing on Canadian money. In 1994, anchorman Peter Londonbridge and storyteller Margaret Redwood were added to the cast.

Messaging

The 1987 season focused on multiculturalism, family, and the environment.

''Sesame Park''

In 1996, the CBC decided to take on the job of producing different kinds of content for the series; specifically to have their own "street". Producer Shirley Greenfield and screenwriter Jill Golick decided to set the show in a park, rather than on an urban street. A new half-hour series entitled ''Sesame Park'' was born. The series premiered in September 1996. It joined the CBC Playground lineup on October 21, along with '' Wimzie's House''. The show's animated sequences were created in Toronto, while live-action segments were shot in Regina,

, and

. ''Sesame Park'' was cancelled in 2001 for undisclosed reasons.

Characters

Added to the cast were a Muppet kitten named Chaos (who is similar to Elmo, serving the same role, and is named after Golick's own cat), and a human character named Ray. Basil was now played by Bob Stutt. Guest appearances included '' Red Green'', a Canadian situation-comedy character played by Steve Smith, Eric Peterson as

Old King Cole "Old King Cole" is a British nursery rhyme first attested in 1709. Though there is much speculation about the identity of King Cole, it is unlikely that he can be identified reliably as any historical figure. It has a Roud Folk Song Index numbe ...

, and Janet-Laine Green as Goldilocks.

Content

About sixty percent of the new series was produced in Canada, with the remaining forty percent being segments from Children's Television Workshop.

Awards

In 1999, the series received its nomination and win from the Gemini Awards, for Best Preschool Program or Series (Wendy Smith, Susan Sheehan, Duncan Lamb). Bob Stutt was nominated that year for Best Performance in a Preschool Program or Series. In 2000, Sheila McCarthy won Best Performance in a Preschool Program or Series, for her role in an episode of the show, beating out fellow guest star Pier Kohl, as well as others. In 2001, the series won Best Preschool Program or Series (Wendy Smith, Susan Sheehan, Duncan Lamb), beating out ''Land O' Hands'' and ''The Nook Counting Network''. Guest Eric Peterson won again for Best Performance in a Preschool Program or Series, beating out Pier Kohl, James Rankin, Natasha LaForce and Gisèle Corinthios.

Legacy

As with the original ''Sesame Street'', some segments of ''Canadian Sesame Street'' and ''Sesame Park'' were farmed out to other versions of ''Sesame Street'', in particular, '' Plaza Sésamo'', the

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n version of ''Sesame Street''. In addition, since the rise of

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

in Canada in the 1970s (and before that for communities close to the US border), the original American ''Sesame Street'' could still be viewed on PBS-affiliated stations. ''Sesame Street'' now airs on

Treehouse TV Treehouse TV (commonly known as Treehouse) is a Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel that was launched in 1997. Its name comes from sister network YTV (Canadian TV channel), YTV's former programming b ...

, a Canadian channel aimed at preschoolers, with specials airing on the

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...

, one of Canada’s major terrestrial broadcast networks. Various segments, including '' Global Grover'' and '' Elmo's World'', have aired separately on the channel for many years after '' Open Sesame''.

Cast

* Tim Gosley - Basil the

Polar Bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

(1987–1996) * Trish Leeper - Katie, Barbara Plum * Rob Mills - Dodi (1987–1996), Garth Burmengi * Pier Paquette - Louis the

* Derek Ritschel - Ray * Gord Robertson - Dodi (assistance in flying sequences) * Bob Stutt - Basil the

(1996–2001) * Karen Valleau - Chaos the Cat * Noreen Young - Dodi (1996–2001)

References

External links