Rruga Sesam/Ulica Sezam

Production

After the success of Rechov Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim, Sesame Workshop looked into a Kosovo-based version, given the area's ethnic Albanian and Serbian tensions. The United Nations Development Program and UNICEF backed the show.

Its first season of 26 half-hour episodes launched on December 5, 2004. A second, also 26 episodes, aired in late 2006 on Radio Television Kosovo and Serbian outlets TV Puls, TV Most, and TV Herc. That year, the co-production appeared in the documentary The World According to Sesame Street.

Content

The content of Rruga Sesam and Ulica Sezam was essentially identical except for the dubbing language. The production combined Open Sesame content with locally filmed live-action segments about children's lives, showcasing Albanian, Serbian, Bosniak, Croatian, Gorani, Roma, and Turkish children. No original muppets were introduced. The show had six educational objectives: human diversity, emotions, social groups and institutions, health and safety, numeracy, and literacy.

Did You Know?

• A 'visual dictionary' compromise was used because Albanian and Serbian speakers each refused to see the other's alphabet on screen.
• The 2008 Fluent Research study found a positive correlation between viewership and positive attitudes among 5 and 6-year-old Albanian and Serbian children.