Sesame Park

Sesame Park
Also known as	'Sesame Street Canada Canadian Sesame Street'
Created by	Daniel McCarthy
Country of origin	Canada
Original language(s)	English French
Production
Producer(s)	Daniel McCarthy
Running time	5 minutes (1972–1981) 60 minutes (1981–1996) 30 minutes (1996–2001)
Release
Original network	CBC Television
Original release	1972 – 2001
Chronology
Related shows	Sesame Street

Sesame Park is a Canadian version of Sesame Street. In its first format, it was referred to as Sesame Street Canada and later, Canadian Sesame Street and was a re-edited version of the American series; it adopted a new format and the Sesame Park title in 1996.

Daniel McCarthy, the director of the CBC Sesame Street Project, developed Sesame Street Canada for CBC Television. The series, which debuted in 1972, was originally a hybrid of American and Canadian production segments. McCarthy partnered with the Children's Television Workshop (now known as Sesame Workshop) to introduce new, CBC-produced segments to the show's original American footage. McCarthy introduced distinct Canadian themes and set designs to the show. He brought in Canadian entertainers and personalities to film segments aimed at Canadian children. McCarthy also introduced basic French language lessons created specifically for Sesame Street Canada as well.

Between 1972 and 1995, the series, originally known as Sesame Street Canada and later Canadian Sesame Street, became an institution for preschool Canadian children.

In 1972, the bulk of Sesame Street's content was licensed out to CBC Television, originally as five-minute interstitials during "commercial" breaks. CBC then added live action and animated segments teaching about Canadian culture and French bilingualism, replacing segments on Spanish and American history on the original program. (Some Spanish segments still aired in Canada, although fewer in number). Most of the production of the Canadian segments took place in Winnipeg and Montreal.

In 1981, the amount of Canadian content per show was increased to 30 minutes. In 1987, a series of specially made Canadian Muppet characters were introduced, including Basil the Bear (played by Bob Stutt), French-Canadian Louis the Otter, Dodi, a bush pilot, and Katie, a girl in a wheelchair.

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