The Jim Henson Hour

It does my heart good to see that other people remember this series. I remember watching it on NBC and thinking it was the dawn of a new era of Muppet creativity on broadcast television. Then it was canceled. Then Jim Henson died, and a substantial part of my childhood went with him. Actually, I think the show was probably a summer replacement. But still, I was disappointed to see it go. "The Storyteller" segments came back, and are now available on DVD. I'd like to see the segments with Kermit again, and the new characters that didn't last.

I was 9 when this show came out, and I have very fond memories of it. The first half was "MuppeTelevision", and the second was "The Story Teller"

One skit I remember vividly was the Tokens doing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" with a fabulous Muppet Lion. There was also this great ecology skit, staring Ted Danson. The special affects were fantastic for it's era, the gags were hysterical, and some great informative skits.

The Storyteller portion of the show is what I remember being excited over the most, however. There I learned about fairy tales that were quite different than I knew of. Fairtales such as the The Heartless Giant, or The True Bride. This portion is now available on DVD, but I wish the whole show series was available. I miss MuppeTelevision.

Maybe if we beg Disney and Jim Henson Productions hard enough, this wonderful show will be put on DVD in it's entirety.

It's an anthology series from Jim Henson, the legendary creator of The Muppets and so much more. It's an hour long show. Twelve episodes were produced and the show was cancelled before all of them aired. A few of the episodes are hour long stories. The best episode is undoubtedly Dog City. It's the best concept and actually got real laughs. I love when the dog say some dog commands by accident. It's a great episode and I wish the rest have the same level of conception. The other compelling episode is the behind-the-scenes show. It's fun to see. The rest are episodes divided into two sections.

The first sections are basically The Muppet Show crossed with SCTV. This is actually somewhat fun if Muppets are your thing. Kermit is operating from a TV control room with the creepy looking Digit. It's song and dance and all one expects from the Muppets. Quite frankly, it needs to embrace the SCTV side by creating TV shows with all The Muppets that we're familiar with. Chef would definitely be doing a cooking show. Sam Eagle would be doing politics. Gonzo could do the X-Files with Beaker. Miss Piggy would be the Kardashian. Jim really needs to hire brilliant writers more than puppetry artists. The second half is where I have all the issues. The show reruns The Storyteller, a British live action show from two years earlier by Henson. John Hurt is the storyteller who tells medieval tales. It's not The Muppets. The stories are stodgy and British. It's hard to sit through. Mostly, it's not fun. This show needs more Dog City and less Storyteller. One thing I will never forget. I didn't realize that Henson sounds like Kermit. I'm that dumb.

The Jim Henson Hour was broadcast in 1989. It was a mix of The Muppet Show and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Jim Henson always introduced and closed the show in a room with a white lion. The first half hour for most shows was MuppeTelevision, which was similar to the Muppet Show but also different. It had many characters from The Muppet Show, but some were main characters (Kermit, Gonzo, and to a lesser extent Link Hogthrob), some made a few appearances (Fozzie Bear, Rowlf), and some only made special appearances (Miss Piggy, Bunsen, Beaker, The Swedish Chef). This was partly due to the facts that Frank Oz (Fozzie bear, Miss Piggy) and Richard Hunt (Scooter, Janice, Beaker) had limited availability on the show.

However, the new characters on this show were great. They included Bean Bunny, who was only hired to be cute, Leon, a purple lizard-like character, Digit, an android technician who also played in a band called Solid Foam, Waldo C. Graphic, a computer-animated bird who later appeared in Muppet*Vision 3D, and Clifford, the bass player for Solid Foam who would later host Muppets Tonight. MuppeTelevision also took place in a room full of monitors and usually featured a guest star (Bobby McFerrin, K.D. Lang) and even a theme (Science Fiction, Garbage).

The second half hour for five of the shows was The Storyteller, starring John Hurt. There were also half-hour specials, including Miss Piggy's Hollywood, Songs of The Cloudforrest, and Lighthouse Island. Some shows had specials for the entire hour, including Dog City (although that did have a 20-minute pre-show with the Muppets), Monster Maker, and The Secrets of The Muppets. After the show was canceled, all of the second half-hours have been shown on their own, and the hour-long specials have been shown without The Jim Henson Hour openings.

In 2004, The Walt Disney Company bought the rights to The Muppets, and unfortunately this is the only production where ownership is split up between companies. Disney owns MuppeTelevision, Miss Piggy's Hollywood, most of The Secrets of The Muppets, and the pre-show to Dog City, while The Jim Henson Company owns the rest. I hope that Disney releases the MuppeTelevision portions on television or DVD soon, as I have't seen those since the shows original run. I also hope that more of the shows original characters (especially Digit) come back someday.

Jim Henson was right up there with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. It's a real shame that this innovative show had to end so quickly, because I think that it could have gone on for a really long time. I only remember five or so episodes, but they were all great. This is one of those great shows whose segments could be culled for DVDs and such, as there were many Making-Of type segments. I wish I could watch it now that I could appreciate it.