Barrio Sésamo (Sesame District or Sesame Neighborhood in Spanish) was the Spanish version of the popular U.S. children's program Sesame Street. 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.
The show originally aired in Spain in the late-70s, as a dubbed version of the American Sesame Street. In December 1978, CTW began the show and created their own characters—Caponata, an orange, purple and yellow bird with curly pink hair (a full-body Muppet and counterpart to Big Bird), and Perezgil, a green snail with glasses (this character is permanently set on a wall) -- while retaining the American characters (Ernie and Bert, Kermit and Grover, etc.) for inserts. The original show wasn't successful, and so it was cancelled in May 1980.
From 1981 to 1983, a different children's program on Spanish television, La Cometa Blanca, included some sketches from Sesame Street. This program, was directed by Muppet fan Lolo Rico. It also featured some actors which would later appear in Barrio Sésamo, mainly Mari Luz Olier, Alfonso Vallejo and the child-actress Ruth Gabriel (then known as Ruth Abellán).
The Sesame Street sketches were successful with their young audience, that Sesame Street was given another chance for a Spanish TV show in 1983. 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:
The show finished around August 1986, and was replaced by Los Mundos de Yupi, a similar TV program starred by three extraterrestrial characters.
In 1996, the show returned with more new characters: Bluki (a blue full-body catlike Muppet), Vera (a yellow monster), Bubo (an owl) and Gaspar (a human Muppet). 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 various characters (such as a baby, a girl friend of Vera's, a clumsy man with a moustache, or a pig).
The show's directors were:
Barrio Sésamo on Muppet Wiki