Production

Play with Me Sesame was the first long-form preschool series created by and for Noggin. The show encourages its young viewers to join in on the movement and learning they see onscreen, making television an active experience rather than a passive one. The format was meant to mimic a child's playdate. Tom Ascheim, one of the show's producers and the general manager of Noggin, said "all the things kids do—running around, coloring, playing computer games—are funneled into the experience."^[4]

The show's backgrounds and animated elements were created at Nickelodeon Digital^[1] in New York. These include the title sequence, the Sesame Computer game segments, and the background designs. The background designs, many of which resemble a child's crayon drawings, are the same ones featured in Noggin's Moose and Zee interstitials. Some of the designs (such as a lion, a dinosaur, and a bird) were featured as part of Noggin's channel logo, both in promotions for Play with Me Sesame and in general use. Sesame Workshop lists Nickelodeon Animation Studio and its former name, Games Productions, as a "project partner" for the series.^[5]

The third season's credits list Nickelodeon's parent company, Viacom, as the owner of the "Play with Me" trademark.^[6] Play with Me Sesame is unique in that it was a specially made co-production of Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop,^[7] rather than a syndication package like Noggin's previous collections of Sesame Street segments.

Broadcast

Nickelodeon extensively promoted the launch of Play with Me Sesame in 2002. Their marketing team created a musical infomercial, performed by Grover and called the "Grover Song," as a sample of the Play with Me Sesame format. In the infomercial, Play with Me Sesame is highlighted as the main attraction of Noggin's lineup, and Grover sings about the different Nickelodeon characters seen on Noggin. The infomercial was aired across all of Nickelodeon's networks throughout spring 2002. In July 2003, the "Grover Song" infomercial won a Mark Award for brand image and awareness.^[8]

The show premiered on April 1, 2002. Its premiere was part of a major rebranding of Noggin.^[9] When the show's first season was airing, it was Noggin's only original half-hour show for preschoolers; all others were short-form interstitials or simply reruns from Nickelodeon and Sesame's archives. In 2003, the Los Angeles Times wrote that Noggin "filled its days with old episodes of Sesame Street, several Nick Jr. shows and one new series, Play With Me Sesame."

Live show

Grover, Bert and Ernie in the live adaptation.

On April 6, 2002, MTV Networks launched a live version of the Play with Me Sesame series.^[10] It featured walk-around characters of Bert, Ernie, and Grover performing interactive skits and songs from the show. Marketed as Noggin's Play with Me Sesame Mall Tour, the live show was presented at malls in nine cities.^[11] It became a finalist in the 2003 Beacon Awards^[12] and received national coverage on CBS's news program The Early Show.^[13]

Tom Ascheim said, "We are very excited to bring Play with Me Sesame to local markets across the US...Play with Me Sesame gives kids a whole new way to Sesame with their favorite characters—Bert, Ernie and Grover—and we are confident it will be a hit on Noggin and in the malls."^[14]