Barrio Sésamo


Barrio Sésamo was the Spanish co-production of the popular U.S. children's television series Sesame Street produced by RTVE, Televisión Española and Sesame Workshop from 1979 to 2000. All American characters adopted Spanish names while for the title of the series a more appropriate Spanish name was chosen: barrio instead of Street.

Ábrete Sésamo (1974-1978) (1st Run)

Previously, from November 3, 1974 to March 29, 1978, segments of the American Sesame Street were simply acquired and dubbed into Spanish to be aired with the title Ábrete Sésamo as part of a program "container" called Un globo, dos globos, tres globos

Barrio Sésamo - 1st season (2nd Run)

In 1978,, Televisión Española and Children's Television Workshop agreed the terms for a co-production, after years where RTVE simply aired the original Sesame Street dubbed segments. Duncan Kenworthy was in charge of the USA production and Enrique Nicanor was assigned by as Director of the Spanish new show and designer of the two Spanish new original muppets "Caponata" and "Perezgil"
Other real actors performed the different characters living together with a lot of children in the neighborhood.
American characters adopted Spanish names:
The popularity of the series among children and adults, years after the series was aired and new times came with internet and globalization created confusion with the original American series so most of the media in Spain named the US series as "Barrio Sésamo" as well as named "Big Bird" as "Caponata".

End of the first season: controversy

The First Bario Sésamo season was cancelled by the station in 1981 when the station denied the authors to keep their rights on the characters. An agreement was 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.. As a result, the station canceled the series anyway firing the first creators and banned all the characters to appear in the new season despite the popularity of the show with young audiences. The person responsible for the Children's department at the station made the decision to ban the series with their characters of Caponata and Perezgil, commissioning the American co-production company, CTW USA, to create and provide new "Spanish" muppets with new names for the subsequent seasons. With that action, Barrio Sésamo was not longer a co-production with Spanish-created characters.
In 1983, one year after the re-invented new season started, a new government won the elections in Spain and new responsible officials were appointed as DG of RTVE the new staff fired the responsible people involved in the banning of the original series. The creator of the banned first season was called by the station and was appointed as new Head of the Children' Programmes Unit and later Director of the TVE-2 channel. He avoided to take any action against the new format of the programme itself and kept the new production format on air for the following years for the sake of the continuity of the excellence of the Sesame Street educational formula, actors and team created.

La Cometa Blanca (3rd Run)

From 1981 to 1983, a different Televisión Española children's program, La Cometa Blanca, included some sketches from Sesame Street. This program was directed by Muppet fan Lolo Rico and featured some actors who would later appear in Barrio Sésamo, mainly Mari Luz Olier, Alfonso Vallejo and the child-actress Ruth Gabriel.

Barrio Sésamo - 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons (4th Run)

The Sesame Street sketches in La Cometa Blanca were 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 was Espinete, a large pink hedgehog that 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. Some of the friends of Espinete were:
The show finished around April 1988 and was replaced by Los Mundos de Yupi, a similar program fully produced by Televisión Española, featuring three extraterrestrial characters.

List of the First season 1979-1980

Prima programa
Seganda programa
Programa piloto
Caponata y Perjil

List of 1980s series episodes

"Pack barrio Sésamo: Espinete y Don Pimpón"

Barrio Sésamo - 5th, 6th and 7th seasons (5th Run)

In 1996, the show returned with new characters: Bluki, Vera, Bubo and Gaspar. 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.
The show's directors were:
Enrique Nicanor
Antonio Torets
Jose María Vidal

Juega Conmigo, Sésamo">Play with Me Sesame">Juega Conmigo, Sésamo (6th Run)

Since 2006, Juega Conmigo, Sésamo is the Castilian Spanish dub of Play with Me Sesame which was broadcast in Spain over the network Antenna 3.

Super Healthy Monsters (7th Run)

Since 2012, Super Healthy Monsters is 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."

El Hotel Furchester">The Furchester Hotel">El Hotel Furchester (8th Run)

On April 28, 2016, El Hotel Furchester is the Castilian Spanish dub of The Furchester Hotel which was broadcast in Spain on TVE Clan.

Sesame Street - HBO Era">HBO">HBO Era (9th Run)

Since 2017, the show is part of the HBO programming in Spain under its original title, Sesame Street, with dubbed episodes of the HBO seasons.