1, rue Sésame
1, rue Sésame is a French children's television series based on the popular American children's program Sesame Street. The show first aired on 4 January 1978, at 6:00 a.m. on TF1. Its musical director was Roger Elcourt, composer Jean Morlier.
The series was executive produced by Michel Berthier from TF1 and Lutrelle Horne from CTW. The show ran for a total of 82 episodes and ceased production in June 1982.
Season 1 (1978–1979)
The 1st season featured Toccata and Mordicus, as well as a cast of four adults and two children, Fabienne and Rodrigue. Each of the characters had their own signature song, along with two duets and an occasional closing "street anthem" sung by the entire cast. These songs would be randomly performed in various episodes.Season 2 (1979–1980)
By the second season Clémence, Maxime, Fabienne and Rodrigue were dropped from the show for the 2nd season, and were replaced with Dominé, Catherine, and Marie-Lise. Vendredi, Marie-Lise's boyfriend also made occasional appearances during 1979, as both characters only appeared for this season. Additionally, a new Muppet character, Trepido the snail joins the cast. It's also at this point where Roger, Dominé, and Maxime form a singing group, "The Sésame Trio". Additionally, the episode plots became weekly stories although this practice would also last for this season only.Season 3 (1980–1981)
Starting with the 3rd season in fall 1980, the show underwent a number of changes, following in a new format. The show's opening and closing title sequence with Toccata, Mordicus, and the children was replaced with a set of generic, decorative stills for the opening credits. The end credits were accompanied with children's drawings, with two sets being used interchangeably between the final two seasons. The segments were now shown grouped together in an orderly fashion, under their own title: usually, a street scene would be shown first, followed by the Muppet segments and the cartoons. Afterwards, a new set of segments, known as "Des yeux pour voir", would either feature Toccata or Mordicus or both characters venturing outside of their normal terrain and engaging in various activities. These segments would be filmed on-location instead of taped, and the duo were rarely accompanied by the other street characters, usually Roger and Trepido. Sometimes, an additional filmed segment would appear as a short "Gag", while "Des yeux pour voir" and the street scenes would be switched occasionally.Since these segments were now named, they would usually be preceded by a short introductory animated title sequence, except for "Au théâtre Sésame", which would open with a short live-action sequence featuring a pop-card of Bert and Ernie.