Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 18, 2017

Sesame Street international co-productions are educational children's television series based on the American Sesame Street but tailored to the countries in which they are produced. Shortly after the debut of Sesame Street in the US in 1969, television producers, teachers, and officials of several countries approached the show's producers and the executives of Children's Television Workshop (CTW) about the possibility of airing international versions of the show. Creator Joan Ganz Cooney hired former CBS executive Mike Dann to field offers to produce versions of the show in other countries, with original sets, characters, and curriculum goals. CTW's new shows included both dubbed versions of the American show and versions created, developed, and produced to reflect each country's needs, educational priorities, and culture. For example, the first HIV-positive Muppet, Kami, from the South African co-production Takalani Sesame, was created in 2003 to address the epidemic of AIDS. In 2001, there were more than 120 million viewers of all international versions of Sesame Street, and by the US show's 40th anniversary in 2009, they were being seen in more than 140 countries.