Open Sesame is a children's television series composed solely of the skits and segments of the long-running American television series Sesame Street. While some countries air the American program in whole, and some create their own versions of the show, many more air this title of loosely associated skits, as Open Sesame. The name is a pun based on the magic words "Open sesame" which are used in the legend of Ali Baba. The first Open Sesame packages debuted in 1975 and 1976, in Spain, Sweden, France, and Montreal, Canada. By 1979, Portugal and Italy had followed suit. Some of these countries, based on the success of the dubbed series, later expanded into co-productions, with varying levels of success. Australia The Australian version of Open Sesame is a half-hour compilation series of Sesame Street sketches, seen on Nick Jr. in Australia. The series follows the same format as other Open Sesame packages, only retaining the original soundtrack. On March 1, 2004, separate from the package, the Australian Muppet Ollie (who is the cousin of Elmo) appears in Play Along with Ollie interstitials scattered throughout the programming schedule. Philippines The Filipino version of Open Sesame (entitled "(Tagalized)") aired on ABS-CBN 1990-1991; GMA Network 2000-2001 (Weekends only) Earliest known use The earliest seasons of Sesamstrasse, while not officially part of the format, used a variation, but incorporated a greater amount of local film and cartoon inserts. Sesamo Apriti Sesamo Apriti (Open Sesame) is the Italian version of Sesame Street, first broadcast in 1971. Approximately 50 episodes of the American show were cut to a half hour, and translated into Italian. A Sesamo Apriti board game and record album were released in 1978. "Performers" The voices on the series were dubbed into Italian. Ernesto (Ernie): Dario Mazzoli Berto (Bert): Loris Gizzi Bob: Pierluigi Zollo Maria: Pina Cei Luis: Guido Celano Linda: Emy Eco Susan: Rita Baldini Kermit: Leonardo Severini, Willy Moser Pasticcino (Cookie Monster): Franco Latini Ghiottoncello (?): Edoardo Nevola Rocco Scirocco (Grover): Fernando Cerulli Mamma (?): Magda Mercatali Bingo Rock (?): Edoardo Nevola References External links Sesame Street international co-productions Australian preschool education television series Australian television shows featuring puppetry Treehouse TV original programming