Canadian Muppets

[MIKEB97]

Hi:

We are all familiar with Basil, Dodi, Louis, Katie and Chaos From Sesame Park. But, does anyone recall other Muppets that were seen on the original Canadian Sesame Street?

*Dr. Bouzouki
*Barbara Plum
*Peter Londonbridge
*A Robot
*A Guy who told Dodi about trees (forgot his name)

Out of curiosity, When did Basil, Louis and Dodi first appear?

 

[Mr.Penguin]

We are?!

 

[MIKEB97]

Hi Mr. Penguin:

If you aren't familiar with Louis, Dodi and Basil, here's some insight: The Original Canadian Sesame Street consisted of three Muppet characters; Basil was a polar bear, Louis was an otter and Dodi was a pilot. Later, more Muppets were added. Barbara Plum was a newscaster as was Peter Londonbridge. Katie was a disabled girl, as she had a wheelchair. When Sesame Park debuted, Chaos the Cat was added to the cast. Hope this helps.

 

[Mr.Penguin]

THANKS! I live in Nevada so, I don't get that. Aand I don't search
that.

-

 

[WiGgY]

Does Henson own the rights to all the other Sesame Streets or did they go to Sesame Workshop too? Or did Henson never own them in the first place.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I believe the characters are (were) owned by Henson and licensed to CBC. Presumably, Sesame Workshop's deal to buy "Sesame" character rights included the international Sesame characters as well.

There were other incidental characters as well - a Margaret Atwood character (I can't recall the last name) and a few others as well. Does anyone remember specific names?

Incidently - I've already posted this in another thread - the Canadian Muppets are currently on display at the CBC Museum in Toronto (admission is free). I have pics of the exhibit posted in my Yahoo Briefcase if anyone is unfamiliar with these characters.

 

[ssetta]

About how long did Sesame Park last? Because I think they just cancelled it last year, didn't they? And also, did they use a lot of old clips from our Sesame Street?

 

[Mr.Penguin]

I don't know. Henson seems to have to buy the rights...

 

[jeffkjoe]

Isn't SESAME STREET called SESAME PARK in CANADA?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

CBC began taping Canadian segments that were inserted in to Sesame Street Canada beginning in 1970. At first I believe these were segments in French to replace the Spanish ones or those that were distinctly American in the U.S. version to keep the show relevant to Canadian audiences and in line with CBC's children's programming objectives at any given time (like PBS, CBC is a government-funded public broadcaster).

TVO (Ontario's version of PBS) also ran Sesame Street for many, many years until dropping it to produce more original shows since CBC also carried the program. I don't recall if TVO ran the show with Canadian inserts or just aired the U.S. version.

Basil, Dodi and Louie were added to the show as "The Canadian Muppets" around `88. Katie was added shortly thereafter. I believe Chaos joined the cast in 1995 (I may be wrong about that). Also in 1995 the name of the show was changed to "Sesame Park" and became 100% Canadian (no segments from the U.S. version were used).

Last fall, I seemed to recall being told by one of the puppeteers that the last episodes of "Sesame Park" were taped in 2000, although it's possible they aired much later. The show was likely axed to free up programming money for new projects. "Sesame Park" is in reruns now. There are no new episodes of any version of "Sesame Street" airing on any Canadian stations, but most homes can get a PBS channel on either cable or antenna.