Play with Me Sesame

History

Play with Me Sesame marked the first time Noggin produced an original long-form preschool series for its own channel. The show was built to feel like a playdate, turning TV time into an active experience by prompting kids to move and learn along with what they saw. Tom Ascheim, a producer and Noggin’s general manager, explained that the show channeled all the typical kid activities—running, coloring, playing computer games—into the viewing experience. The animated elements and backgrounds came from Nickelodeon Digital in New York, including the title sequence, the Sesame Computer game segments, and the set designs. Those backgrounds, which look like crayon drawings a child might make, were also used in Noggin’s Moose and Zee interstitials. Some of the designs, such as a lion, a dinosaur, and a bird, appeared in Noggin’s channel logo both for Play with Me Sesame promotions and general use. Sesame Workshop lists Nickelodeon Animation Studio and its former name, Games Productions, as a project partner. By the third season, the credits showed that Nickelodeon’s parent company, Viacom, owned the “Play with Me” trademark. Unlike Noggin’s earlier collections of Sesame Street segments, this was a custom co-production between Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop, not a syndication package.

Nickelodeon pushed hard to promote the show’s 2002 launch. Their marketing team made a 40-second promo for Noggin called the “Grover Song,” which featured Grover and showcased Play with Me Sesame as the centerpiece of Noggin’s lineup. The promo ran across all Nickelodeon networks during spring 2002 and won a Mark Award for brand image and awareness in July 2003. The series premiered on April 1, 2002, as part of a major Noggin rebrand. During its first season, it was Noggin’s only original half-hour preschool show; everything else on the channel was either short-form interstitials or reruns from Nickelodeon and Sesame’s archives. In 2003, the Los Angeles Times observed that Noggin’s schedule was filled with old Sesame Street episodes, several Nick Jr. shows, and just one new series: Play With Me Sesame.

Cast

Fran Brill performed Prairie Dawn in all three seasons and Zoe in season 2. Steve Whitmire performed Ernie in seasons 1 and 3, while John Tartaglia performed Ernie in season 2 and was also an additional puppeteer in season 1. Eric Jacobson performed Bert and Grover in all three seasons. David Rudman performed Cookie Monster, Chicago the Lion, and Ernestine in season 2. Martin P. Robinson performed Slimey the Worm in season 2. Additional puppeteers credited include Pam Arciero, Lisa Buckley, Tyler Bunch, Jim Martin, Carmen Osbahr, and Matt Vogel. Classic Muppet footage features performances by a wide variety of Muppet performers, but they are not listed in the credits.

VHS and DVD releases

Episodes of the series were released onto DVD at the end of 2007 by Genius Entertainment. In Australia and Oceanic territories, the show was released on VHS and DVD by Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Roadshow Entertainment. Titles released include Animals Everywhere (2005), Playtime with Grover (2005), Head, Shoulders, Fur and Toes (2005), Playtime with Ernie (2005), Playtime with Bert (2005), Sing with Me (2005), Furry, Fun and Healthy Too (2006), Playtime with Prairie Dawn (2006), Good Night Sesame (2006), Imagine with Me (2006), Let's Play Games (2006), and Happy, Sad, Proud and Mad (2006).