Sesame (Philippines)

Sesame! was the Filipino co-production of Sesame Street. It was broadcast in the Philippines, in the Tagalog langauge, for one season in 1983.

The local Muppets were Pong Pagong, a giant turtle, and Kiko Matsing, a Grouch-like monkey.

The show proved to be unpopular. Barely a year and a half after Sesame! went on the air, lack of finances on the part of the Philippine government which was shelling out half the budget on a 50/50 arrangement with Children's Television Workshop, caused its closure.

The Philippine Children's Television Foundation, Inc., formed by the same Filipino production team that worked on Sesame!, produced a more successful follow-up, Batibot, without the cooperation of the Children's Television Workshop. The program went on to win several awards, including the Prix Jeunesse in Germany. Batibot in Filipino means "small, but strong and robust".

As Sesame!, the program used both English and Filipino as the media of communication, but after evolving into Batibot, the show became a completely Filipino language children's educational show. Kiko and Pong crossed over to the new show, but were eventually written off due to licensing issues with former partner CTW. During this time, the Philippine production team launched a PR campaign for Ten Million Signatures for Pong to be allowed to stay in Batibot.