Plaza Sésamo

Plaza Sésamo
Country of origin
Broadcast
Original run	November 1972 – present

Plaza Sésamo is a Mexican educational children's television series for preschoolers and is a co-pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, along with its predecessor Sesame Street, combining both education and entertainment. It is produced jointly by Sesame Workshop and Mexican television network Televisa. Hip TV Inc., a division of Los Angeles-based Hip Entertainment Group, were production supervisors for seasons 9, 10, and 11. The program first went on the air in 1972. Plaza Sésamo can be seen in Mexico on Televisa's XHGC-TV. In the United States, it can be seen on V-me and TeleFutura, as well as selected PBS stations. Season 11 launched 2005, and seasons 12 and 13 will debut in 2006 and 2007. New seasons of the show are produced intermittently. The show shares a lot of sketch footage with Sesame Street, dubbed in Spanish, but there is also a great deal of unique footage in the show, especially sketches featuring the live actors. It is estimated that Plaza Sesamo reaches 84 percent of Spanish-speaking households in the United States. Within Mexico, 72% of mothers watched the series as a child, and 98% of them want to expose their children to the series.^[1] It is the longest running children's series in Mexico. Note that there is also another Spanish-language version of this series known as Barrio Sésamo in Spain that went on the air in 1976 although new episodes have not aired since April 3, 1995 (as of November, 2006).

Characters

• Abelardo Montoya, the equivalent of Big Bird from Sesame Street, with green and red feathers (Mexico's national colours) and a short, orange beak shaped like that of a parrot. Played by Héctor Loeza. Abelardo's original name was Serapio Montoya, but it was later changed to Abelardo Montoya in honor to his orange dragon equivalent of early seasons.
• Lola, a joyful young Muppet who loves to play the harmonica, and make silly sounds with her voice. Lola is the equivalent of Elmo, often referring to herself in third-person. She is related to Pancho, and is Abelardo's best friend. Played by Rocío Lara.
• Pancho, Pancho Contreras, blue-colored monster, an equivalent of America's Oscar the Grouchon Sesame Street: a grouch who doesn't like to be bothered. Played by Odín Dupeyrón.
• Elefancio, Pancho's pet elephant. Only his trunk is ever seen.
• Cuernos (Horns), a red monster with a characteristic couple of horns and vicious teeth.
• Multimonstruos, Red Anything Monsters, appear as babies, pirates, etc.
• Multimuppets, Brown Anything Muppets
• Rosita, Female Purple Puppet (would later also be seen on the English-language Sesame Street
• El Barón Púrpura (The Purple Baron), a Muppet portraying a lackluster air pilot. A satire of The Red Baron.
• Paco, a parrot
• Bodoque, a grouch that lives in boxes
• Four recurring birds

Additionally, characters from the English-language Sesame Street occasionally appear in some segments:

• Beto y Enrique: same as Bert and Ernie
• "la rana Rene" (Rene the Frog): same as Kermit the Frog
• Archibaldo: "Grover"
• Greñaldo: "Herry Monster"
• Lucas, el monstruo comegalletas (Lucas, the Cookie-Eating Monster): the "Cookie Monster"
• El Conde Contar, same as Count von Count.

Featured adults

• Beatriz Aguirre
• Sergio Corona
• Mariana Garza
• Benjamin Hidalgo
• M¨Balia
• Pedro Romo

Notable guest stars

• Jorge Campos, footballer, season 11, 2006
• Francisco "Kikín" Fonseca, footballer, season 12, in a "Plaza Olimpiadas" segment
• Edith Gonzalez, actress, season 11, 2006
• Sebastián González "Chamagol", footballer, season 11, 2006
• Ana Guevara, athlete, season 12, in a "Plaza Olimpiadas" segment
• Andrea Legarreta, TV personality, season 11, 2006
• Fernando Platas, athlete, season 12, in a "Plaza Olimpiadas" segment
• Adal Ramones, comedian, season 11, 2006; season 12, Ramones hosts an American Idol parody ("Cantando por una fruta") with fruit Muppets.
• Marco Antonio Regil, TV personality, season 11, 2006

Theme Park

A theme park named Parque Plaza Sésamo, based on the television series, opened in Monterrey, Mexico.^[2] The park is open year round and offers summer educational camps for children ages 5 to 13. Park venues can be rented for special events.

References

External links

• Sesame Workshop: Plaza Sésamo (English Web site)
• Sesame Workshop: Plaza Sésamo (Spanish Web site)
• Hip TV Inc.
• Parque Plaza Sésamo