Easy Being Verde – ‘Sesame Street’ & ‘Battlestar Galactica’ Slated For Spanish-Language Editions

Univision will begin showing Season 1 of Sesame Amigos, a new 30-minute Spanish-language program from Sesame Workshop, on August 1 at 8:30 A.M. ET/PT in its Saturday children’s programming block “Planeta U.” The network has scheduled 26 episodes featuring Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie and other familiar denizens of Sesame Street.

Along with signature segments promoting learning, cooperation and being nice, each show will also feature the characters interacting with a Univision celebrity, among them Sal y Pimenta hosts Carlos Calderon and Lourdes Stephen, Primer Impacto correspondents Tony Dandrades and Jackie Guerrido, Despierta América’s Maity Interiano and William Valdez and Univision Deportes’ Pablo “La Torre de Jalisco” Ramirez. Non-Univision Hispanic celebrities will also appear, including Vahdir Derbez, Diego Luna and Leslie Grace.

“Sesame Amigos is a new and innovative show designed specifically for Spanish-speaking families in the U.S.,” said Alberto Ciurana, president of Programming & Content, Univision Communications Inc. “While versions of Sesame Street air in more than 150 countries, Sesame Amigos will provide Spanish-speaking preschoolers the tools they need to succeed in the United States.”

For alien species of a different sort, NBC Universo announced Tuesday the July 29 launch of Battlestar Galactica, the 2004-09 series from the Syfy channel. From Universal Cable Productions, Battlestar Galactica will air for the first time in Spanish on U.S. television.

“Battlestar Galactica defined a special era for me as an actor and I am very proud to have been part of such an iconic franchise,” said Edward James Olmos, who stars as Commander Adama, who leads a team of “Viper Fighters” and a fleet of human war survivors from a distant galaxy in search of the fabled thirteenth colony known as Earth. “It’s thrilling to know that this work carries on and will now be enjoyed by legions of new Spanish-speaking fans. The show also delved into issues of mixed races and gender equality which I think new fans will find to be quite relevant today.”

The series will air every week on Wednesdays from 9-10 p.m. The series also stars Grace Park as Battlestar Galactica pilot Number Eight, Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin and Jaime Bamber as Captain Lee “Apollo” Adama.

NBC Universo recently launched Law & Order: LA and Suits in Spanish on Tuesday nights.