On My Way to Where the Air Is Sweet
Celebrations for the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street have really dominated the media lately--from people picking their favourite segments to Cookie Monster wanting royalties for his eating style to books like Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street--and the Muppet characters, in particular, have been everywhere over the past couple of weeks. I can't really add anything to all that, but the many trips down memory lane have made me think back on my own tiny connection to the franchise.
You see, Canada use to have its own version of Sesame Street...sort of.
There are, of course, many international variations on the series, but the Canadian edition of Sesame Street wasn't as homegrown as most of those examples. The CBC originally had a deal with the Children's Television Workshop which let them insert Canadian segments into the otherwise American show, so we would still get the main "street" storylines with Big Bird et al. which are set in New York (as well as many of the American interstitials) while also getting interstitial segments (both animated and live-action) which were more specifically Canadian content. Eventually, Canadian Muppet characters were introduced and the show gradually morphed into the half-hour Sesame Park before being cancelled several years ago.
(Personally, I feel they missed a big opportunity by not creating an actual Canadian street for the CBC version, with bilingual signs and other features which would highlight the differences between Canadian and American urban culture.)
When I was seven, I was in one of those filmed-on-location segments.
It was about firefighters and what they do, and most of it was filmed at Fire Station No 4 on Osborne Street (which has gained more prominence recently for...well, something else) with a couple of CBC producers and a small camera crew. I was chosen along with three other students from my elementary school, and after we'd spent much of the day away from class, our classmates were mainly eager to know if we'd met any of the Muppets. (As a child, I suppose you can grasp the concept of TV production without necessarily realising that multiple locations might be involved...)
Don't go looking for it on YouTube--I've tried, and there appears to be little (if any) of the Canadian Sesame Street content uploaded. For that, I'm actually somewhat grateful, as I didn't really embrace the ensemble spirit of the piece and instead continued to embrace the role of Eager Student (a common role for me at that age) to the detriment of the other kids present. I'd probably cringe (then smile, then cringe again) if the clip were to surface now.
Nevertheless, they continued to reuse that segment for years afterwards, as they did with so many bits from the show (which is why we remember the classics so well, after all)...based on inquiries from curious neighbours at the time, I'd say it was still being edited into episodes until I was fifteen or sixteen. I'm sure there's a copy of it around somewhere.
You see, Canada use to have its own version of Sesame Street...sort of.
There are, of course, many international variations on the series, but the Canadian edition of Sesame Street wasn't as homegrown as most of those examples. The CBC originally had a deal with the Children's Television Workshop which let them insert Canadian segments into the otherwise American show, so we would still get the main "street" storylines with Big Bird et al. which are set in New York (as well as many of the American interstitials) while also getting interstitial segments (both animated and live-action) which were more specifically Canadian content. Eventually, Canadian Muppet characters were introduced and the show gradually morphed into the half-hour Sesame Park before being cancelled several years ago.
(Personally, I feel they missed a big opportunity by not creating an actual Canadian street for the CBC version, with bilingual signs and other features which would highlight the differences between Canadian and American urban culture.)
When I was seven, I was in one of those filmed-on-location segments.
It was about firefighters and what they do, and most of it was filmed at Fire Station No 4 on Osborne Street (which has gained more prominence recently for...well, something else) with a couple of CBC producers and a small camera crew. I was chosen along with three other students from my elementary school, and after we'd spent much of the day away from class, our classmates were mainly eager to know if we'd met any of the Muppets. (As a child, I suppose you can grasp the concept of TV production without necessarily realising that multiple locations might be involved...)
Don't go looking for it on YouTube--I've tried, and there appears to be little (if any) of the Canadian Sesame Street content uploaded. For that, I'm actually somewhat grateful, as I didn't really embrace the ensemble spirit of the piece and instead continued to embrace the role of Eager Student (a common role for me at that age) to the detriment of the other kids present. I'd probably cringe (then smile, then cringe again) if the clip were to surface now.
Nevertheless, they continued to reuse that segment for years afterwards, as they did with so many bits from the show (which is why we remember the classics so well, after all)...based on inquiries from curious neighbours at the time, I'd say it was still being edited into episodes until I was fifteen or sixteen. I'm sure there's a copy of it around somewhere.