Sesame Park (partially found Canadian co-production of Sesame Street; 1972-2001): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:07, 1 August 2022

Status: Partially found

Sesame Street Canada, later known as Sesame Park, was a television show that ran on CBC. It was originally (from 1972 to 1996) comprised of Canadian-made content mixed with segments from the American series Sesame Street before transitioning to the fully original Sesame Park, which ran from 1996 until 2001. Both shows ran on weekdays at 11am, in keeping with the target audience of preschool children. Much of the material from both series is now considered lost.

The show

National public broadcaster CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) had bought the rights to beloved American kid's show Sesame Street just as federal regulations were being introduced mandating that a certain percentage of the country's TV programming be actually Canadian-made. To ensure compliance, the CBC opted to modify Sesame Street with original segments surrounding bilingualism, multiculturalism, and Canadian history.

Each episode kept the original "street" segments that progressed the plot of the episodes, with some non-street shorts and skits being replaced with Canadian content - often at the expense of more familiar American characters and scenes. The 'CanCon' from this era ranged from 12 to 20 minutes of an hour long episode, increasing to approximately 30 minutes by 1981.

All this caused some protest, with children being photographed holding signs saying "Bring Back Bert!" Many contemporary debates around Canadian media content regs centered around Sesame Street. The issue was however not as controversial as it might have been, inasmuch as most Canadian households also had access to the original American PBS broadcasts thanks to border stations (notably WNED Buffalo, which is available across most of Ontario). The CBC edition was thus generally seen as a novelty rather than a deprivation.

In 1987, the CBC added original Canadian Muppet characters, including Basil the polar bear, Louis the (French-speaking) otter, Dodi the elderly bush pilot and Katie, a little girl in a wheelchair. They appeared in the opening credits and in short skits that replaced some American "street" segments. Beginning in 1996, the show was revamped to be a solely Canadian production, with Basil, Louis et al becoming the core cast, joined by a new character, Chaos the cat. Episodes were shortened to 30 minutes, featured entirely original "street" segments, and only occasionally included American content. The "street" segments were located in a park, giving the show the name Sesame Park.

Availability

Many clips of the Canadian segments are available online, and six full episodes from the two series are available. It is unknown exactly how many episodes were made in either case, due to the show lagging about a year behind the original Sesame Street broadcasts. Thanks to archives of the CBC Kids website, Sesame Park's website is still available, confirming the number of episodes made, episode names for the last two seasons, and some descriptions.

It is unknown how much content the CBC still has, and if they would be able to release it due to legal rights with Sesame Workshop.

External links

References

CBC website for the show From 2000-2001
Article detailing information on the show from 1992

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-''Sesame Street Canada'', later known as ''Sesame Park'', was a television show that ran on CBC. It was originally comprised of Canadian made content mixed with segments from the American series Sesame Street, before later turning into it's own show. Sesame Street Canada ran from 1972 to 1996, with the fully original content Sesame Park running from 1996 until 2001. The shows ran on weekdays at 11, being mostly aimed at preschoolers like Sesame Street.
+''Sesame Street Canada'', later known as ''Sesame Park'', was a television show that ran on CBC. It was originally (from 1972 to 1996) comprised of Canadian-made content mixed with segments from the American series ''Sesame Street'' before transitioning to the fully original ''Sesame Park'', which ran from 1996 until 2001. Both shows ran on weekdays at 11am, in keeping with the target audience of preschool children. '''Much of the material from both series is now considered lost.'''
-===History===
+===The show===
-Due to legal issues with the amount of imported content in Canada, CBC decided to air the beloved childrens television show Sesame Street, albeit modified with new Canadian segments surrounding bilingualism, multiculturalism, and Canadian history to replace the segments which were irrelevant to Canadians. This did cause some protest, with children being photographed holding signs saying "Bring Back Bert!" Many debates surrounding Canadian nationalism in television centered around Sesame Street, due to the rights being bought right at the same times laws surrounding import laws in tv were being introduced.
+National public broadcaster CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) had bought the rights to beloved American kid's show ''Sesame Street'' just as federal regulations were being introduced mandating that a certain percentage of the country's TV programming be actually Canadian-made. To ensure compliance, the CBC opted to modify ''Sesame Street'' with original segments surrounding bilingualism, multiculturalism, and Canadian history.
-Each episode kept the original "street" segments that progressed the plot of the episodes, with some non-street segments being replaced with Canadian content. The canadian content from this era ranged from 12 to 20 minutes of an hour long episode, with the amount of content increasing to approximately 30 minutes in 1981.
+Each episode kept the original "street" segments that progressed the plot of the episodes, with some non-street shorts and skits being replaced with Canadian content - often at the expense of more familiar American characters and scenes. The 'CanCon' from this era ranged from 12 to 20 minutes of an hour long episode, increasing to approximately 30 minutes by 1981.
-In 1987, some original Canadian Muppet characters were added for the street segments and the opening, including Basil the polar bear, Louis the otter, Dodi and Katie, a humanoid muppet in a wheelchair.
+All this caused some protest, with children being photographed holding signs saying "Bring Back Bert!" Many contemporary debates around Canadian media content regs centered around ''Sesame Street''. The issue was however not as controversial as it might have been, inasmuch as most Canadian households also had access to the original American PBS broadcasts thanks to border stations (notably WNED Buffalo, which is available across most of Ontario). The CBC edition was thus generally seen as a novelty rather than a deprivation.
-Beginning in 1996, the show was revamped to be solely Canadian production, with the Canadian Muppets added in 1987 becoming the core cast, and adding a new Muppet named Chaos the cat. Episodes were shortened to 30 minutes, with it's own "street" segments, and occasionally American segments. The "street" segments were located in a park, instead of a street, giving the show the name "Sesame Park".
+In 1987, the CBC added original Canadian Muppet characters, including Basil the polar bear, Louis the (French-speaking) otter, Dodi the elderly bush pilot and Katie, a little girl in a wheelchair. They appeared in the opening credits and in short skits that replaced some American "street" segments. Beginning in 1996, the show was revamped to be a solely Canadian production, with Basil, Louis et al becoming the core cast, joined by a new character, Chaos the cat. Episodes were shortened to 30 minutes, featured entirely original "street" segments, and only occasionally included American content. The "street" segments were located in a park, giving the show the name ''Sesame Park''.
 ===Availability===
-Many clips are available online, and six full episodes from the two series are available. It is unknown exactly how many episodes were made, due to the show getting content after Sesame Street with about a year's delay. Sesame Park is the most documented, with the amount of episodes, names of the episodes of the last two seasons, and some episode descriptions.
+Many clips of the Canadian segments are available online, and six full episodes from the two series are available. It is unknown exactly how many episodes were made in either case, due to the show lagging about a year behind the original ''Sesame Street'' broadcasts. Thanks to archives of the CBC Kids website, ''Sesame Park'''s website is still available, confirming the number of episodes made, episode names for the last two seasons, and some descriptions.
-Utilizing the wayback machine, the Sesame Park website is available through the CBC Kids website, giving us episode times and descriptions. It is unknown how much content, if any, the CBC still has, and if they would be able to release it due to legal rights with Sesame Workshop.
-===Gallery===
+It is unknown how much content the CBC still has, and if they would be able to release it due to legal rights with Sesame Workshop.
-Unavailable due to error messages when uploading files, will be added shortly
 ===External links===
 *[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Park Wikipedia page detailing the history]