The world's best known Swedish Chef.
Sweden is a European country and is the largest of the Nordic countries. Sweden is the first country most people think of when Scandinavia is mentioned. Sweden borders Norway in the west, and Finland in the northeast. The Swedish language is of the Northern branch of the Germanic languages of the Indo-European family.
In 1976, Sveriges Television showed a dubbed version of Sesame Street called Sesam. In 1981, Sweden got its own, short lived, co-production of Sesame Street, called Svenska Sesam. One thing about the show that differed from other Sesame Street co-productions was that all the local-produced segments did not contain any puppets.
In 1980, several inserts by animator Owe Gustafson for the Swedish children's TV series Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter began airing on the American Sesame Street.
The 2012 Swedish documentary series Programmen som förändrade TV included an episode on children's and youth targeted series. There was a heavy emphasis on the making of Sesame Street, interviewing Joan Ganz Cooney and others.
References[]
- The Swedish Chef celebrates the fact that Victor Borge is the guest on The Muppet Show Episode 405 but stops when Kermit tells him that Victor Borge is Danish and not Swedish (though the two languages are very similar).
- Ingmar Bergman was Sweden's foremost filmmaker, who became an international influence. As a result, the Swedish Chef has been associated with Bergman movies more than once, acting in Silent Strawberries in The Muppets Go to the Movies (with the entire cast speaking the Chef's mock Swedish) and proposing a version of Bergman's The Seventh Seal in Muppets Most Wanted.
- The gypsy curse in The Muppet Show Episode 416 culminates in all of the English-speaking Muppets (save the Newsman) "turning Swedish" (speaking in mock Swedish).
- An indirect reference was made in The Muppet Show Episode 524 where Kermit introduced the Viking number In the Navy, calling the Vikings "cruel, heartless Scandinavian marauders" and "worst human beings in history" (and is physically chastised by the Swedish Chef as a result).
- Miss Adelaide is the Swedish housekeeper in Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree and teaches Baxter about the Swedish Lucia tradition.
- In a Disney Xtreme Digital video, Thor appears as "the big Finnish" to end the video (but the Big Swedish insists on performing a "Big Swedish" instead).
Dubs[]
Only productions aimed at young children are dubbed in Sweden. The Muppet Show, Dinosaurs, and other Henson productions aimed more specifically at adult viewers have never been dubbed, but instead have been shown with Swedish subtitles.
Dubs of Muppet/Henson productions include the following:
- Abbys flygande skola för feer (Abby's Flying Fairy School)
- Bästa Vänner (Best Friends)
- Bert och Ernie på äventyr (Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures)
- Dog City (Sweden) (Dog City)
- Elmo på äventyr i Grouchland (Elmo in Grouchland)
- Fem Barn Och Ett Sandtroll (Five Children and It)
- Fragglarna (Fraggle Rock)
- Furchester Hotell (The Furchester Hotel)
- Lek med mig i Sesam (Play with Me Sesame)
- Leksakernas Hemliga Liv (The Secret Life of Toys)
- Leksakernas julafton (The Christmas Toy)
- Mini-Mupparna (Muppet Babies)
- Mupparna I Rymden (Muppets from Space)
- Mupparnas Julsaga (The Muppet Christmas Carol)
- Mupparnas Haunted Mansion: Spökhuset (Muppets Haunted Mansion)
- Nalle har ett Stort Blått Hus (Bear in the Big Blue House)
- Räkna med Greven (Count TV)
- Super Grover 2.0 (Sweden) (Super Grover 2.0)
TV Stations[]
- SVT
- Disney Channel
- TV 3 (aired Mupparnas Julsaga multiple times)
- Kanal 5 (aired Dog City)