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What's the story with Sesame Park?

Buck-Beaver

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I don't know how much that was a factor in CBC's decisions with the show. The decision to make Sesame all-Canadian was spurred (in part) by ongoing complaints that the show was a US import (CBC defended that for years by saying it was an excellent US import) and primarily because around 1995 the CBC had a mandate (some would say pipedream) to make it's schedule 100% Canadian content. One of the first areas where this was implemented was in children's programming and thus Sesame Park was born.

Sesame Park is not the first international Sesame to be cancelled. The Chinese version of the show only lasted a few years and the Isreali/Palestinian co-production (which grew out of the Isreali version of the show) was put on hiatus a few years ago at the beginning of the second Palestinian uprising.

Does anyone know if the Russian show is still running? I know it was as recently as three years ago.
 

YellowYahooey

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I believe Sesame Park was quietly cancelled in 2002 because of the CBC's ongoing saga of budget cuts at the time. CBC workers went on strike in 2001, which usually happens when the network's viewership falls, revenues are not that great, and workers want to remain on the job. While the reasons for Sesame Park's cancellation are undisclosed, I wouldn't be surprised if, sometime in 2002, CBC was assessing the programming it aired at the time, and decided which shows stay and which shows go. Sesame Park was one of the shows that got the ax in 2002, after airing the same final season over and over again like no tomorrow for 21 months. Talk about overkill!

I also feel as if children's viewing habits have changed since the turn of the century, or maybe children back then, and today, find computer games more interesting than kids' programming.

CBC cancelled reruns of another long-running children's program, Mr. Dressup, four years later. And the year before, CBC workers were locked out for two months. There seems to be a correlation between strikes/lockouts and eventual cancellation of programming.

Some international versions of Sesame Street were cancelled over time, and there may have been more international versions cancelled since the last post in this thread was made back in June 2003. With the American version being reduced to 30 minute broadcasts, and moving to HBO a few years ago, it gets me wondering if the Sesame Street franchise may be on the way out? I don't know how ratings are doing for the newer episodes of the American version.

Looking back at a 2001-02 TV schedule, there was a time when Sesame Park was up against the first half of the U.S. counterpart - the latter of which many Canadians chose over "Park".

Also, a bit off-topic, but Sesame Park really does exist in Canada. It's not a park, but it's a residential district in St. John's, Newfoundland.
 
Last edited:

Careforwilkins

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Found it:https://www.google.com/maps/place/S...a660881ba6d4ac!8m2!3d47.5188882!4d-52.7613521
I believe Sesame Park was quietly cancelled in 2002 because of the CBC's ongoing saga of budget cuts at the time. CBC workers went on strike in 2001, which usually happens when the network's viewership falls, revenues are not that great, and workers want to remain on the job. While the reasons for Sesame Park's cancellation are undisclosed, I wouldn't be surprised if, sometime in 2002, CBC was assessing the programming it aired at the time, and decided which shows stay and which shows go. Sesame Park was one of the shows that got the ax in 2002, after airing the same final season over and over again like no tomorrow for 21 months. Talk about overkill!

I also feel as if children's viewing habits have changed since the turn of the century, or maybe children back then, and today, find computer games more interesting than kids' programming.

CBC cancelled reruns of another long-running children's program, Mr. Dressup, four years later. And the year before, CBC workers were locked out for two months. There seems to be a correlation between strikes/lockouts and eventual cancellation of programming.

Some international versions of Sesame Street were cancelled over time, and there may have been more international versions cancelled since the last post in this thread was made back in June 2003. With the American version being reduced to 30 minute broadcasts, and moving to HBO a few years ago, it gets me wondering if the Sesame Street franchise may be on the way out? I don't know how ratings are doing for the newer episodes of the American version.

Looking back at a 2001-02 TV schedule, there was a time when Sesame Park was up against the first half of the U.S. counterpart - the latter of which many Canadians chose over "Park".

Also, a bit off-topic, but Sesame Park really does exist in Canada. It's not a park, but it's a residential district in St. John's, Newfoundland.
 

YellowYahooey

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I am thinking the demise of "Sesame Park" was perhaps due to licensing issues with Sesame Workshop who may have wanted a certain amount of money which CBC could not afford (after all, there was a CBC strike fairly recently at the time), and if this is true, that probably explains Park's demise in 2002 for undisclosed reasons. We'll never find out the official reason becase it is kept behind closed doors at the CBC, but I think licensing issues may sound like a plausible reason, but just an educated guess on my part.

I realize that all of the seasons of Park had the CTW branding on the Sesame Park sign, but the last season had "123" replacing CTW, implying that the series was initially licensed by the Children's Television Workshop, and when the "123" replaced the CTW on the sign it implies that Park was licensed by Sesame Workshop during the final season.
 

minor muppetz

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I realize that all of the seasons of Park had the CTW branding on the Sesame Park sign, but the last season had "123" replacing CTW, implying that the series was initially licensed by the Children's Television Workshop, and when the "123" replaced the CTW on the sign it implies that Park was licensed by Sesame Workshop during the final season.
The change from "ctw" to "123" on the Sesame Street sign also changed on the domestic show, due to the Children's Television Workshop changing its name to Sesame Workshop.
 
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