Sesamstrasse

Sesamstrasse ("Sesamstraße" in German) is the international version of Sesame Street in Germany. Sesamstraße was the first co-production of Sesame Street outside the United States.

Sesamstrasse has been running on Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) since 1973; it's now in its 32nd season. Sesamstrasse can be watched on ARD and KiKa also.

History
The first four seasons of Sesamstrasse were American episodes dubbed to German. In 1977, a German street set was built for German framing stories: Samson the bear and Tiffy the bird/monster replaced Big Bird (Bibo) as a main character in 1978.

Other characters that were added later were Uli Von Bödefeld (Uli is short for Ulrich), also called Herr von Bödefeld (1978-1988), Finchen the Snail (1980's), Rumpel the Grouch (1989) and Buh the Owl (1989). Newer additions are Feli Filu the Monster reporter, the comic duo Pferd the Horse and Wolle the sheep, a few grouches (including Grouchella and an Übergrouch) and some Anything Muppets.

Just as in its American counterpart, the German characters have been remodeled over the decades. Most obvious were changes in the first main characters Samson and Tiffy (as can be seen here and here ), but also Finchen and Buh have had their fair share of fabric surgery.

In 2005, Tiffy was temporarily replaced with single mom Mona and her pink and furry daughter Lena, due to the puppet being worn out too bad. In 2005 it has been sent back to Sesame Workshop for repair. Supposedly though, the character will be back on the show sometime in 2006.

Simson came on as Samson's cousin; it was an older puppet being re-used, with slight changes to his appearance (equipped with a hat, a tie, etc.).

Leonie Löwenherz (Leonie Lionheart in English), a female lion, was featured for a very short time after the set and puppets were destroyed in a fire. Just like Uli von Bödefeld, she was most likely built by German Fabula FilmpuppenWorkshop, and not the Sesame Workshop. After her short-lived Sesame career, she got her own (ALF-like) show called "Leonie Löwenherz" on ARD, featuring herself, her two lion brothers and a few human characters.

Germany's grouchy character is called Rumpel. He hates rain when others love it, but loves rain when others complain about it. His best friend is a worm named Gustav.

Little Bird has made some cameos, along with Ernie and Bert.

The early characters were built by Kermit Love's puppet company; nowadays, the Muppet Workshop builds the puppets for Sesamstrasse.

From 1977 to 1988, the fact that the street stories took place in a studio was never kept a secret. Some parts of the street were simply 'matted in' during an episode, or the characters would ask for help from the studio crew. (One episode about Samson trying to scratch an annoying flea ends with the entire studio crew itching!) The matting also allowed the characters to show up in different locations, like a beach or the roof of the studio.

In 1988, the set and the puppets were destroyed in a fire. They were rebuilt in 1989. A puppet lion named Leonie Löwenherz filled the gap between these seasons.

The new set was centered around a bicycle shop; it also featured Samson's cave and a barrel for Rumpel. The street stories no longer took place in a studio.

Sesamstrasse fans categorize the series in the good old classic "Studio Episodes" and the "Bicycle Shop Episodes", in the same way the American fans talk about the "pre-Elmo days".

Like most international co-productions of Sesame Street, fifty percent of each episode consists of dubbed American material. The German episodes feature many early sketches, sometimes even from Sesame's first season in 1969. Long gone characters like Schlemihl (Lefty), Robert (Guy Smiley), Sherlock Humbug (Sherlock Hemlock), Don Schnulze (Don Music), and Professor Hastig (Professor Hastings) are still big favorite main characters in Germany.

One of the most controversial moments on Sesamstrasse was in a film directly showing a birth of a human baby.

List of characters for Sesamstrasse

 * Samson, a male bear, similar in role and full-body puppet, to Big Bird (1978-present)
 * Simson, Samson's cousin and lookalike, often seen with a hat or a tie to distinguish him from Samson (on and off in 1989-2000)
 * Tiffy, a pink female bird (1978-2004, supposedly back in 2006)
 * Finchen, a (former male, now female) snail (on and off from 1978, 1989-present)
 * Rumpel, an Oscar the Grouch-like male character that lives in a rainbarrel. He has Gustav, a pet caterpillar (1989-present)
 * Buh, a male owl (1989-present)
 * Feli Filu, a blue female monster reporter (2000-present)
 * Pferd, a male horse (2000-present)
 * Wolle, a male lamb (2000-present)
 * Lena, a pink monster baby (2005-present)
 * Moni, a female photographer (2005-present)


 * Uli Von Bödefeld, a male hedgehog-like creature (1978-early 1986)
 * Leonie Löwenherz, a lioness (1989-early 1990s)

Humans in Sesamstrasse 1978-1986

 * Henning (Henning Venske, a West German actor - 1978-1979)
 * Lilo (Lieselotte Pulver, a Swiss actress - 1978-1986)
 * Uwe (Uwe Friedrichsen, a West German actor - 1979-1982)
 * Horst (Horst Janson, a West German actor - 1979-1986)
 * Ute (Ute Willing, a German actor - 1979-1986)
 * Ilse (Ilse Biberti, a German actress - 1979-1982)
 * Elisabeth (Elisabeth Vitouch, a German actress - 1979-1982)
 * Manfred (Manfred Krug, an East German actor - 1982-1986)

Humans in Sesamstrasse 1986-present

 * Georg (Gernot Endemann, a German actor - 1986-1999)
 * Bettina (Hildegard Krekel, a German actress - 1986-1989)
 * Bettina 2 (Kirsten Spick, a German actress - 1989-1999)
 * Opa Brass (Ferdinand Dux, a German actor - 1992-2000)
 * Pensionswirtin Helmi (Senta Bonneval, a German actress - 1995-1999)
 * Musiker Alex (Alexander Geringas, a German-Greek actor - 1995-2000)
 * Jiviana (Vijak Bajani, a German-Turkish actress - 1995-2001)


 * Nils (Nils Julius, a German actor - 2000-present)
 * Caro (Caroline Kiesewetter, a German actress - 2000-2002)
 * Caro 2 (Miriam Krause, a German actress - 2002-present)
 * Zauberer PePe (Dirk Bach, a German comedian - 2000-present)
 * Anke (Anke Engelke, a German comedienne - 2003-present)
 * Mehmet (Mehmet Yilmaz, a German-Turkish actor - 2003-present)
 * Ella (Franziska Troegner, a German actress - 2003-present)