Sesame!
{{Short description|1983 Filipino children's television program}}
{{Infobox television
| image =
| caption =
| genre = Educational
| creator =
| director =
| company = Philippine Children's Television Foundation
Children's Television Workshop
| opentheme =
| country = Philippines
United States
| language = English
Filipino
| num_seasons =
| network =
| camera =
| first_aired = {{Start date|1983}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1984}}
| related = Batibot
}}
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.
Production
Sesame Street first aired in the Philippines in 1970.{{Cite news |last=Lohr |first=Steve |date=1985-07-24 |title=Home-Grown Values Replace Kermit in Filipino Version of 'Sesame Street' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/24/arts/home-grown-values-replace-kermit-in-filipino-version-of-sesame-street.html |access-date=2023-03-23 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title=Filipino Sesame Street facing tough times – UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/02/12/Filipino-Sesame-Street-facing-tough-times/1495603262800/ |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=UPI |language=en}}
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.{{Cite journal |last=Cipanas |date=1991 |title=Batibot : towards the development of supplementary modes of education for Filipino children |url=https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/handle/10356/93244 |journal=AMIC ICC Seminar on Children and Television |pages=8}}{{Cite journal |last=Gettas |first=Gregory J. |date=1990 |title=The Globalization of "Sesame Street": A Producer's Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30218580 |journal=Educational Technology Research and Development |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=60, 62 |doi=10.1007/BF02314645 |jstor=30218580 |issn=1042-1629 |url-access=subscription }} The English segments were filmed in the United States, while the Tagalog segments were filmed in the Philippines.{{Cite news |last=Cana |first=Paul John |date=7 September 2020 |title=Here's the Real Story of Batibot's Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing |work=Esquire Magazine |url=https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/batibot-pong-pagong-kiko-matsing-a00289-20200907-lfrm |access-date=23 March 2023}}
The choice was made to have turtle and monkey muppets due to those animals' frequent appearances in Philippine folk tales.
Cancellation
Government support for the show was pulled in 1984 after the Philippine economy collapsed. The Philippine producers were unable to afford their half of the co-production, and the arrangement dissolved.
Much of the show's crew and cast created the Philippine Children's Television Foundation, Inc. (PCTVF). 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.
Content
The show ran for an hour, with one half in English and one half in Tagalog.{{Cite news |last=Grana |first=Rhia D. |date=11 October 2020 |title=Nostalgia: The untold stories of 'Batibot,' according to Kuya Bodjie |work=ABS-CBN News |url=https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/spotlight/10/11/20/nostalgia-the-untold-stories-of-batibot-according-to-kuya-bodjie |access-date=23 March 2023}}
Messaging focused in part on teaching children a "sense of nationhood".
Characters
= Muppets =
- Pong Pagong – a turtle who wears a beanie
- Kiko Matsing – a monkey
- the Byaps-Byaps
= Humans =
- Ate Sylvia – played by Susan Africa{{Cite web |last=Yanoria |first=Luigene |date=18 September 2014 |title=Susan Africa is not your typical poor nanay on TV |url=http://ph.celebrity.yahoo.com/news/susan-africa-is-not-your-typical-poor-nanay-on-tv-074456172.html |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}}
References
External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5V3H73hVDk Theme song and clips (YouTube)]
{{Sesame Street international}}
Category:1980s Philippine television series
Category:1983 Philippine television series debuts
Category:1983 Philippine television series endings
Category:Philippine English-language television shows