(, Sesame Street in English) is a German children's television series that airs primarily in Germany and the surrounding German-speaking countries. It is a spin-off of the first preschool programme Sesame Street. The show has been running on Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) since 1973, premiering on 8 January in that year. is also shown on the children's channel, KiKa. It is made for children between the ages of three and seven.
History
The Dubbed Era: 1973-onwards
After a short test run of a few original, undubbed Sesame Street episodes, from August 1972 onward, the German version of the show premiered on 8 January 1973. The first three seasons, or 250 episodes of consisted of the original American episodes dubbed into German in Hamburg. Initially, only the opening and closing songs and sequences were changed, with new lyrics written by Volker Ludwig and tunes by Ingfried Hoffmann. The title of the German theme song is "Der, die, das (wer, wie, was – wieso, weshalb, warum – wer nicht fragt, bleibt dumm!)," almost literally translating to "this, this and that (who, how, what – why, why and why – those who don't ask stay dumb!)."
The show's 40th anniversary, on 1 October 2012, saw the introduction of new character Elmo: a resident of the street, who appeared in a treehouse setting as the new host of the show.