Barrio Sésamo

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Barrio Sésamo (Sesame District or Sesame Neighborhood in Spanish) was the Spanish version of Sesame Street, a children's television program. The show premièred in 1979. It was formed for locally-produced segments alternated with a dubbed version of the American program, in which many characters had Spanish names.

In the first season of this show, it featured two Muppets: a full-bodied red hen named Caponata (similar to the original Big Bird and often mistaken in Spain) and a male green snail named Perezjil (a pun with the surnames Pérez and Gil, and the word perejil, Spanish for parsley). Emma Cohen was the actress that played Caponata. This first season ended in 1981 and was replaced by another children show called La cometa blanca.

In 1983, after the end of that show, Sesame Street returned in the most remembered and successful season. Only José Riesgo as Julián returned from the first season, with the rest of the cast leaving. Caponata and Perezjil were replaced by two new Muppets. The main character was Espinete, a large pink hedgehog that replaced Caponata. Like Caponata, Espinete was a full-body Muppet and was the most important 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:

  • Don Pimpón (Alfonso Vallejo): Another full-body muppet. This farmer was an undetermined brown being, similar to a Sesame Street monster.
  • Chema (Juan Sánchez): The baker of Barrio Sésamo.
  • Ana (Isabel Castro): The young friend of everybody.
  • Don Julián (José Riesgo): The old owner of a mobile news stand.
  • Matilde (Mari Luz Olier) and Antonio (José Enrique Camacho): married owners of an horchata shop
  • Roberto (Roberto Mayor) and Ruth (Ruth Gabriel, as Ruth Abellán): Matilde and Antonio's children

The show finished around the middle of the 1980s, and was replaced by Los Mundos de Yupi, a similar TV program starred by three extraterrestrial characters.

In the mid 1990s, a most recent version of this show aired, and featured four new Muppet characters Bluki (the full-body blue cat), Vera (the female yellow monster), Bubo (the brown owl), and Gaspar (a red-haired smiling man who works at the market).

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