D is for democracy: Barrio Sésamo and adapting identity in the Spanish transition to democracy

ABSTRACT In 1977, Televisión Española (TVE) and the US non-profit organization Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) agreed to a coproduction of a Spanish version of Sesame Street, which would eventually be called Barrio Sésamo. I draw on memoranda issued by CTW and TVE during the production process to examine the negotiations between the coproducers over the program’s contents. These reveal differences of opinion between the American and Spanish partners over what was suitable for young viewers. They also reveal the problems produced by the US partner’s insistence that 50% of the material be CTW-generated, which hampered the Spanish partner’s wish to adapt the program to the Spanish context of the time. These ideological conflicts led to the show’s termination after one season. However, Barrio Sésamo would return later in the 1980s, the era now most associated with the show. The educational conception of the program held by both coproducers allows us to see their disagreements as a case of contested pedagogies in which differing national values were at stake. The article will consider whether the Spanish version of Sesame Street can be seen as an exercise in US soft power.