Sesame!
1983 Filipino children's television program
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Sesame! was the Filipino co-production of the American children's television program, Sesame Street. It ran for a single season in 1983, after which it was replaced by Batibot.
Filipino
Children's Television Workshop
| Sesame! | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Educational |
| Country of origin | Philippines |
| Original languages | English Filipino |
| Production | |
| Production companies | Philippine Children's Television Foundation Children's Television Workshop |
| Original release | |
| Release | 1983 – 1984 |
| Related | |
| Batibot | |
Production
Sesame Street first aired in the Philippines in 1970.[1][2]
Negotiations for a localized production began in 1983, and the series was jointly created by Children's Television Workshop and the Philippine Sesame Street Project (PSSP), which was funded by the Philippine government.[3][4] The English segments were filmed in the United States, while the Tagalog segments were filmed in the Philippines.[5]
The choice was made to have turtle and monkey muppets due to those animals' frequent appearances in Philippine folk tales.[1]
Cancellation
Government support for the show was pulled in 1984 after the Philippine economy collapsed.[2][3] The Philippine producers were unable to afford their half of the co-production, and the arrangement dissolved.[3]
Much of the show's crew and cast created the Philippine Children's Television Foundation, Inc. (PCTVF).[3] This foundation went on to create Batibot, which maintained much of the Sesame Street formula while being produced solely by a Filipino team. The show was able to retain use of the Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing puppets due to a license agreement with Children's Television Workshop.[5]
Content
Characters
Muppets
- Pong Pagong – a turtle who wears a beanie[1]
- Kiko Matsing – a monkey[1]
- the Byaps-Byaps[1]
Humans
- Kuya Mario portrayed by Junix Inocian[7][8]
- Ate Sylvia – played by Susan Africa[9]
- Luz portrayed by Dessa Quesada
- Aling Nena portrayed by Angie Ferro
- Mang Lino portrayed by Joe Gruta
- Ben portrayed by Tito Quesada