Play with Me Sesame

Play with Me Sesame is an American children's television series, and a spin-off of Sesame Street. It featured Sesame Street Muppets, including Bert and Ernie, Grover, and Prairie Dawn. The series was produced by Sesame Workshop and Nick Digital, both based in New York City. It originally aired from April 1, 2002 until September 2, 2007 on Noggin, a cable channel operated by Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop at the time. The show aired reruns on Sprout until 2016.

Play with Me Sesame
GenreChildren's television series
Opening theme"Play with Me Sesame"
Ending theme"Play with Me Sesame (instrumental)"
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes104
Production
Production location(s)Kaufman Astoria Studios, New York
Camera setupVideotape, Multi-camera
Running time24 minutes
Production company(s)Sesame Workshop
Release
Original networkNoggin (2002-2007)
Sprout (2007-2016)
Picture format480i (SDTV)
Original releaseApril 1, 2002 (2002-04-01) –
September 2, 2007 (2007-09-02)

Segments

Play with Me Sesame features many different segments, such as:

At the Show
  • Ernie Says: A game similar to "Simon Says".
  • Ernie's Interactive Games: Beginning in Season 3, Ernie can play games with Bert and the kids.
  • Prairie Dawn's Art Class: A segment where Prairie Dawn showcases drawings made by kids. When airing on Noggin, Prairie shows artwork that was sent in for the show. When airing on Sprout, the segment would cut to The Sunny Side Up Show, where the artwork sent into Sprout would be shown instead.
  • Prairie Dawn's Music Class: Beginning in Season 3, Prairie would trade her art segment for one oriented around music.
  • Sesame Computer: The gang plays games on the computer from their website at Noggin.com, such as "Oatmeal Art," "Pigeon Patterns," "Perfect Pair," and "Ducks in a Row".

Finale
  • Move and Groove with Grover: The viewer dances along to a music video. Grover often interrupts to point out some things and to tell the viewer more. Other times, he sings basic songs such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or "A Very Simple Dance".
  • Grover's Musical Segment: Beginning in Season 3, Grover invites the children to sing, dance and play along with the Sesame Street Muppets.
  • End Segment: A short and final game of Ernie Says is played. The first statement is usually "Ernie says, say goodbye..." The special circumstance in which the characters say goodbye ties into the theme. For example, Ernie says to say goodbye while wiping windshield wipers in the car-themed episode.

Cast

Muppet performers
  • Fran Brill as Prairie Dawn and Zoe (Season 2), Little Bird and Wanda Cousteau (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Steve Whitmire as Ernie (Seasons 1 and 3), Kermit the Frog (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • John Tartaglia as Ernie (Season 2)
  • Eric Jacobson as Bert and Grover
  • David Rudman as Cookie Monster, Chicago the Lion and Ernestine (Season 2), Baby Bear, Humphrey, Davey Monkey, Athena the Owl and Sonny Friendly (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Martin P. Robinson as Slimey the Worm (Season 2), Telly Monster, Buster the Horse, Dinger, Monty and Mr. Snuffleupagus (Classic Muppet Segments)

Additional performers
  • Pam Arciero as Grundgetta (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Lisa Buckley as Betty Lou (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Tyler Bunch (Season 3)
  • Tim Lagasse (Season 3)
  • Jim Martin
  • Carmen Osbahr as Rosita (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Matt Vogel as Fred the Wonder Horse
  • Jim Henson as Ernie, Kermit the Frog, Maurice Monster, Harvey Monster, Bip Bippadotta and Guy Smiley (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Jerry Nelson as Count von Count, Biff, Herry Monster, Mr. Johnson, Two Headed Monster (Left Head), Simon Soundman, Fred the Wonder Horse, Frazzle, Farley and Martian (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Frank Oz as Bert, Cookie Monster, Clancy and Grover (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Kevin Clash as Elmo, Benny Rabbit, Kingston Livingston III, Baby Fats Domino, Baby Natasha, Wolfgang the Seal and Hoots the Owl (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Brian Muehl as Dr. Nobel Price and Purple Honker (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Lulu (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Richard Hunt as Forgetful Jones, Sonny Friendly, Old Mcdonald, Kermit the Forg, Two Headed Monster (Right Head), Gladys the Cow and Placido Flamingo (Classic Muppet Segments)
  • Joey Mazzarino as Ingrid, Joey Monkey, Merry Monster, Papa Bear, Horatio the Elephant and Martian (Classic Muppet Segments)

International

Play with Me Sesame UK

One version of Play with Me Sesame produced for the United Kingdom began airing on Playhouse Disney UK in November 2004.[1] It showcased old and new Muppet (and sometimes film) clips from Sesame Street, with new linked segments, that featured Bert, Ernie, Grover, and Prairie Dawn. The show also included cameos by Zoe, Cookie Monster, and Ernie's cousin Ernestine.

This version also featured two British Muppets, Kit and Domby, who live in a castle on top of a hill. They spent most of their time in the castle kitchen, bedroom and living room, which were very similar to Bert and Ernie sketches. Kit had an English accent, whilst Domby had a Scottish accent. They sometimes visited schools and playgroups, to sing or talk with the children.[2]

Ireland (Tar ag Spraoi Sesame)

In Ireland, the show aired on TG4, dubbed in Irish, as Tar ag Spraoi Sesame during the Cúla 4 children's programming block. Sesame Workshop worked with production company Telegael to adapt the American footage. In the development phase, the title was initially announced in July 2007 as Sraid Sesame (literally "Sesame Street").[3]

The series' voice director, Padraic O Neachtain, said they "had to find voices that were as close as possible to the originals and the most likely candidates.... would be sent for approval to Sesame Workshop in the United States where a final decision would be made."[4] The series' adaptation coincided with the pre production of Sesame Tree, a Sesame Street co production for Northern Ireland.

Merchandise

The series' episodes were released onto DVD in the end of 2007 by Genius Entertainment.[5]

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gollark: Milo is part of <@227994547626573824>'s Opus OS, by the way.
gollark: Inventory System and Turtlegistics are a bit outdated now but generally work, Wyvern is my project and has a different CLI-only client/server approach but is a bit bad.
gollark: Milo, Artist, Turtlegistics, Inventory System, Wyvern.

References
  1. "Disney adapts pre-school show for UK". www.broadcastnow.co.uk. 21 October 2004. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  2. Cole, Charlotte F. (March 22, 2016). The Sesame Effect: The Global Impact of the Longest Street in the World. Routledge. p. 48. ISBN 1138806919.
  3. "Donegal News "Donegal actor tipped to become 'Elmo' in Sesame Street" 7/20/07". Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  4. O'Connor, John. "An Sraid Sesame Archived 2007-11-03 at the Wayback Machine." Munster Express. July 20, 2007
  5. https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/31188/play-with-me-sesame-playtime-with-grover/
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