1st Logo
(2000-2011)
Nicknames: "House of Boredom", "The Sesame Workshop House"
Logo: On a white background, we see an abstract green house with a purple roof and the text:
sesame workshop
outlined below. The window of the house is filled with yellow glitter. The house bounces and the roof explodes open to the right, sending the glitter sprinkling all over. Some of the glitter remains to form a lightning bolt crowned with a star, some sprinkles to the left to fill the "sesame" text with purple, and some sprinkles to the right to fill the "workshop" text with green, rendering it like this:
sesameworkshop
Variants: Here are the four variants of this logo:
- Green house and purple roof (most common variant; it replaces the CTW logo shown on 1999-2000 episodes of Dragon Tales) (2000-2005).
- Red house and purple roof (seen only on the CTW/Noggin co-production The Upside Down Show).
- Purple house and green roof (seen on CTW/Noggin co-productions)
- Purple house and red roof (second common variant; it usually plasters old CTW logos). This one is the first to contain the byline as described below. This variant also is used to plaster over the Noggin Originals logo.
- Blue house and green roof (seen on Plaza Sésamo and perhaps other foreign-language co-productions of Sesame Street, also spotted on Spanish episodes of Pinky Dinky Doo).
- The text "The nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street and so much more" (in the same color as the house) is shown below on occasion.
- Green house and green roof (seen on Shara'a Simsim).
- On some occasions. the www.sesameworkshop.org URL can be seen underneath the sesameworkshop text.
- There was a still version of this logo with the green roof and blue house. It can be seen on Let's Make Music, Elmo's World: Singing Drawing and more, Elmo's World: Flowers Bananas and more, and earlier prints of Elmo's Musical Adventure: The Story of Peter and the Wolf (later printings used the red roof and purple house)
- Another variant has been discovered using the purple house and red roof, and features a byline reading "A nonprofit educational organization" in 2003 and "A nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street" in 2004-2006 underneath the sesameworkshop text, and the sesameworkshop.org URL can be seen underneath. The 2003 byline was also used on the 2004 DVD of Elmo's World, Elmo Has Two. with the 2000 logo's music
In-Credit Variants:
- On 2000-2002 episodes of Sesame Street, the 1998-2000 in-credit variant of the CTW logo was now modified to read "Sesame Workshop" (without the house). The music was also modified again in 2001, while everything else remained the same and in 2001, the text was modified.
- On Dragon Tales, the Sesame Street in-credit variant of the CTW logo from 1999 was displayed during the end of the ending credit sequence and now modified to read "Sesame Workshop".
- On 2003-2006 Sesame Street episodes, the in-credit variant from 2001 was displayed during the end of the 1992-2006 ending credit sequence. In 2004, the text was modified.
- On 2007 Sesame Street episodes, another in-credit variant of the logo, without a house of boredom and used which consisted of the "a production of sesameworkshop" and the "The non-profit organization..." byline as well, all in green text on a black background. This was eventually replaced with the second logo in the next season. This also appears on the new series of The Electric Company (without the byline).
- A 2000 superimposed variant can be found at the end of Sesame English.
- On episodes of Plaza Sésamo from 2000, a picture of the logo flies around with the 1973-2000 version of the 1973-present Televisa logo.
FX/SFX: The sparkles and house forming. The logo was designed by Carbone Smolan and the animation was by The Ink Tank.
Cheesy Factor: The animation is a bit tacky.
Music/Sounds:A tuba plays at the start, then we hear a pop sound with a roof of a giggling child, and then a short tuba and accordion piece. In some cases, it uses the end theme of a show.
Music/Sounds/Variants
- The still variant with the blue house and green roof uses 6 ascending synthesized piano notes, followed by descending tuba notes
- The Around the World promo has Whoopi Goldberg talking about Sesame Workshop in different countries, and a lively electric bass tune with drums and an oboe. This variant was used starting in 2004, with What's the Name of that Song?.
- On 2000-2001 episodes of Sesame Street, the 2000 CTW "in-credit" logo was heard. On 2001-2002 episodes of Sesame Street, the Sesame Street theme played by a mute trumpet assemble.
Availability: Very common, as it is pretty much on every show PBS and Sesame Workshop distribute together, with the exception of 2000-2007 episodes of Sesame Street. Also, when shown on 2000-2005 episodes Dragon Tales, this logo would appear before Columbia TriStar's Boxes (or Sony's Bars) of Boredom and it does/did in 2002-2005! Also, when shown on Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat, this logo would appear after the Cinegroupe logo. It was also shown on re runs of Season 1 episodes of Dragon Tales, along with Season 2 and Season 3 episodes of said show. It can also be found on most Dragon Tales DVDs and VHS tapes, except for Dragon Tales Adventures in Dragon Land (that DVD used the CTW semi-circle logo instead, however the front, back, and disc cover had this logo).
Scare Factor:
- Original Version: None, it's a clean (and boring) logo.
- All "In-credit" Sesame Street Variants: The early "purple static" variant has the same as CTW's later "purple static" in-credit variant. Low to medium for the later "purple static" variant, as the music is less-scary. All variants have the same fonts as the CTW "in-credit" variants. Again, those who are used to it will have less of a problem.
2nd Logo
(2008- )
Nicknames: "Sesame Workshop All-Stars," "The Elmo Logo," "Uh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!," "Elmo's LOL", "No House of Boredom"
Logo: On a yellow background, the green "sesame" text is seen, arranged like this:
sesame
Next to it, various stills of CTW/Sesame Workshop characters appear one-by-one next to the logo, including characters from CTW/Sesame Workshop co-productions outside of the USA. Characters include, from left to right: Cookie Monster, Chamki (from Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Indian co-production of SS), a clay-mation Bert (from "Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures"), Big Bird, a clay-mation Ernie (also from "Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures"), Abelardo Montoya (from Plaza Sésamo, the Mexican co-production of SS), Kami reading a book (from "Takalani Sesame", the South-African co-production of SS) and Pinky (from Pinky Dinky Doo). Then the "workshop" text pops in letter-by-letter from right to left, replacing the characters, and is now arranged like this:
sesameworkshop
A still of Elmo fades in reclining on the O, and we hear Elmo's distinctive laughter.
Variant: Sesame Tree, Northern Ireland's co-production of Sesame Street, uses a special still variant that shows the Sixteen South logo and SW logos at the top with "Produced in association with BBC Northern Ireland" below it, along with a copyright date.
FX/SFX: The characters appearing and changing into the text, Elmo fading in.
Music/Sounds: The standard audio is a tuba and bass clarinet tune that starts out similar to Cruella De Vil's song from 101 Dalmatians with accordions followed by Elmo's distinctive laugh when he fades in.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- On 2008-present Sesame Street episodes, the ending of the then-current Sesame Street closing theme is heard, with Elmo's laugh heard at the end.
- The Sesame Tree variant uses the end theme of the show.
Availability: Current; seen on episodes of Sesame Street starting with Season 39 (2008). It also can be seen on Plaza Sésamo. It was also seen on Galli Galli Sim Sim, before the 1987-present Turner logo.
Scare Factor: None, unless Elmo freaks you out.
3rd Logo
(2018-)
Nicknames: "Sesame Street's Cookie Jar", "Sesame Street Sign Of Boredom"
Logo: On a white background, we see the text "Sesame Workshop" in black, stacked up on each other, surrounded by a yellow line with a hump in the middle (paying homage to the Sesame Street sign) on the top of "Sesame", and a green line at the bottom of "workshop".
Variant: At the beginning of Esme & Roy, the logo is completely white, and is right next to the HBO logo, with a light orange "&" symbol in the middle. "Present" is seen below the logos in the same color. It is on a orange background.
FX/SFX: None.
Cheesy Factor: Like many logos from this decade, it's VERY generic. Also, the font, the way the words are stacked on each other, and the two lines on the top and bottom give it a suspicious resemblance to the Cookie Jar logo.
Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the TV show.
Availability: Brand new. Seen on Esme and Roy.
Scare Factor: None.