Plaza Sésamo

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Plaza Sesamo is a Mexican educational children's television series for preschoolers and is a co-pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, along with its predecessor Sesame Street, combining both education and entertainment. It is produced jointly by Sesame Workshop and Mexican television network Televisa. Hip TV Inc., a division of Los Angeles-based Hip Entertainment Group, were production supervisors for seasons 9, 10, and 11. The program first went on the air in 1972.

Plaza Sesamo can be seen in Mexico on Televisa's XHGC-TV. In the United States, it can be seen on Telefutura, as well as selected PBS stations.

Season 9 launched 2005, and seasons 10 and 11 will debut in 2006 and 2007. New seasons of the show are produced intermittently.

The show shares a lot of sketch footage with Sesame Street, dubbed in Spanish, but there is also a great deal of unique footage in the show, especially sketches featuring the live actors.

It is estimated that Plaza Sesamo reaches 84 percent of Spanish-speaking households in the United States. Within Mexico, 72% of mothers watched the series as a child, and 98% of them want to expose their children to the series.[1]

It is the longest running children's series in Mexico. Note that there is also another Spanish-language version of this series known as Barrio Sésamo in Spain that went on the air in 1976 although new episodes have not aired since the mid 1990s (as of November, 2006).


Contents

[edit] Characters

  • Abelardo Montoya, the equivalent of Big Bird from Sesame Street, with Green and Red feathers (Mexico's National colours. Played by Héctor Loeza. Abelardo's original name was Serapio Montoya, but it was later changed to Abelardo Montoya in honor to his orange dragon equivalent of early seasons.
  • Abelardo, the dragon, an equivalent of Big Bird in the earlier seasons of the show.
  • Lola, a joyful young Muppet who loves to play the harmonica, and make silly sounds with her voice. Lola speaks the same way Elmo does, often referring to herself in third-person. She is related to Pancho, and is Abelardo's best friend. Played by Rocío Lara.
  • Pancho, Pancho Contreras, blue-colored monster, is similar to Oscar on Sesame Street: a grouch who doesn't like to be bothered. Played by Odín Dupeyrón.
  • Elefancio, Pancho's pet elefant. Only his trunk is ever seen.
  • Cuernos (Horns), a red monster with a characteristic couple of horns and vicious teeth.
  • Multimonstruos, Red Anything Monsters, appear as babies, pirates, etc.
  • Multimuppets, Brown Anything Muppets
  • Rosita, Female Purple Puppet
  • El Barón Púrpura (The Purple Baron), a Muppet portraying a lackluster air pilot. A satire of The Red Baron.
  • Paco, a parrot, an equivalent of America's Oscar the Grouch
  • Bodoque, a grouch that lives in boxes
  • Four recurring birds

Live actors

  • classical actress Beatriz Aguirre
  • veteran performer Sergio Corona
  • former kids' group singer Mariana Garza
  • soap star Benjamin Hidalgo
  • OV7 member M¨Balia
  • actor Pedro Romo

Additionally, characters from the English-language Sesame Street occasionally appear in some segments:

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] Theme Park

A theme park named Parque Plaza Sésamo, based on the television series, opened in Monterrey, Mexico.[2] The park is open year round and offers summer educational camps for children ages 5 to 13. Park venues can be rented for special events.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sesame Workshop: Children's TV series Plaza Sésamo heads back in studio for a milestone new season focused on health; fact sourced to Gemark Research, "Plaza Sesamo Market Research Study", September 2005.
  2. ^ Parque Plaza Sésamo: Main Web Site.

[edit] External links

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