“The, the, that! Who how what? Why, why, why?” To mark the anniversary of German Sesame Street, Kika will be broadcasting an anniversary edition on January 8th with Ernie, Bert and Co.
COOKIES!!!!!! And right away! The cookie monster has high popularity ratings and probably even higher cholesterol levels. But now he’s calling for carrots more and more often, poor thing!epd
In 1973 the concept of “Sesame Street” was new, at that time there was no special television offer for children who did not go to school yet. The original idea of the American “Sesame Street” inventor Joan Ganz Cooney for the “Children’s Television Workshop” aimed to give socially disadvantaged children a better start at school. In the bumpy setting of “Sesame Street”, flesh-and-blood people acted together with puppets, with small game scenes and short cartoons intended to convey basic learning content such as spelling and counting.
At the start in Germany, however, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) strictly refused to broadcast it. BR television director Helmut Oeler claimed that there were “no underprivileged classes at all” in the Federal Republic and that “small German children could not identify” with the black children appearing in the program (who Oeler called with the N-word at the time). The Munich school expert Jürgen Zimmer, on the other hand, predicted that the series would be a “great breakthrough in children’s television programming”. The ARD broadcasters initially showed “Sesame Street” several times a week, while in the state of Bavaria the in-house production “Das feuerrote Spielmobil” defiantly flickered across the screens.
The Muppet Show and Sesame Street: Role Model Dolls
Nevertheless, the Bavarian concrete heads of TV could not stop the success of “Sesame Street”. From the start, the focus was on the charming and always animated dolls from the workshop of Muppet inventor Jim Henson. “They are great, incredibly reduced, but still expressive,” enthuses Gerlinde Waz, exhibition curator at the German Cinematheque Museum for Film and Television in Berlin. The characters of the hand puppets are role models, they are inquisitive, make nonsense and sometimes make mistakes, they learn and are allowed to be like children are.
In the 1970s, the pedagogical model of the American “Sesame Street” was quickly adapted to the German reality. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) brought the stories to us and created a classic of public children’s television. The scenes now took place in an open-plan house with a kitchen-cum-living room instead of on a street. German figures such as the clumsy bear Samson and the always somewhat bitchy bird girl Tiffy moved in, supported by well-known actors such as Lilo Pulver, Henning Venske, Manfred Krug, Uwe Friedrichsen and Horst Janson. Henson employees traveled all the way from America to design the dolls. From 1978, the NDR produced a German frame story. Later other characters like the constantly nagging outsider Herr von Bödefeld and the snail Finchen were added.
Germany 1980: Tiffy, Ilse Biberti and Herr von Bödefeld play doctor’s office.imago
Over the years, Sesame Street has also adapted to social changes. In 2005, Tiffy and Samson retired and were replaced by the single monster mum Moni and her daughter Lena. Feli Filo always had a laptop with him and the cookie monster had to eat healthily and instead of screaming “cookies, cookies, cookies” for “carrots, carrots, carrots”. Ernie and Bert sang with Herbert Grönemeyer, Xavier Naidoo and Lena Meyer-Landrut.
Sesame Street anniversary in the ARD media library: Ernie is planning a party for Bert
In total, the famous children’s show was shown in more than 150 countries. Just in time for the anniversary, the colorful theme world of “Sesame Street” is also presented in the ARD media library. Numerous videos offer fun and educational material for preschoolers. “The new appearance is a gift to our fans on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of German Sesame Street,” says Ole Kampovski, head of the children and youth department at NDR, “and the site will be continuously updated and expanded.”
There are playlists with popular spots for Sesame Street residents such as Elmo, the Cookie Monster or Grobi. Ernie and Bert can be experienced in funny versions of well-known fairy tale classics. In the “Sesame Street Talents” series, children show what they can do. And last but not least, there are many episodes of “One carrot for two” with wool and horse. The “Sesame Street” offer is also available at any time via a separate app.
In the birthday show “50 Years of Sesame Street” on January 8th, Ernie plans a party for Bert to celebrate their friendship. However, he involves his friend more in the party preparations than he would like. Show presenter Rüdiger also welcomes the sad Kummer family in his game show “Joy begins at 50”. Does this increase the mood? Celebrity birthday guests remember their childhood with “Sesame Street” and Caren Miosga moderates a special edition of “Daily Topics” together with Elmo, Wool, Horse and the Cookie Monster.
Rumpel (left) and Samson, the German star of “Sesame Street”epd
Under the motto “Sesame Street. 50 years of who, how, what!” the Hamburg Museum for Arts and Crafts invites you to a day of action with Ernie and Bert on the occasion of the anniversary. They answer questions and give away autograph cards, Elmo is also looking forward to young and old visitors. The program includes craft and painting workshops, Sesame Street screenings and a panel discussion with two former Samson cast members. By the way, Samson couldn’t speak and move both arms and hands at the same time, because the puppeteer had to control his mouth with one hand and only had one hand free. The costume alone weighed more than 20 kilograms.
Children and young people up to the age of 18 have free admission to the museum. There is also a large birthday cake – but only while stocks last!
In the past five decades, more than 2,900 episodes of the German edition of “Sesame Street” have been broadcast. The program is on weekdays at 7.45 a.m. in the Kika to see, on NDR television it runs Tuesdays to Fridays at 6 a.m.