The Jimmy Dean Show The Jimmy Dean Show was an hour - long variety show hosted by country singer Jimmy Dean which aired on ABC from September 19 , 1963 until April 1 , 1966 . Rowlf the Dog was a regular on the show , billed as Jimmy ' s " ol ' buddy . " Between 7 - 10 minutes of every show were devoted to a spot with Rowlf and Dean . Many of the comedy sketches ended with Rowlf and Jimmy singing a duet together . Rowlf ' s tenure on " The Jimmy Dean Show " allowed Jim Henson , for the first time , to develop an original character over a period of time . In addition to providing national exposure for the Muppets , it also brought a steady source of income that allowed Henson to develop and finance other projects . Henson also animated an opening sequence for the show which was never used . Footage was uncovered in the Henson Archives during a 2016 project in which a number of original materials had been transferred to high definition . The segment was screened as part of " Henson in High Definition : The Early Years " at Museum of the Moving Image on May 22 , 2016 . Rowlf on " The Jimmy Dean Show " . According to Dean ' s autobiography , producer Bob Banner suggested that the show needed some sort of comedic character that Jimmy could interact with . Dean mentioned some coffee commercials that he enjoyed seeing while in Washington , D . C . The commercials turned out to be the work of Jim Henson , who was contacted and recruited for the program . Dean stated that the segments with Rowlf were one of the most popular parts of the show , and stated that Rowlf drew two thousand fan letters a week . Rowlf ' s first appearance was meant to be a one - time guest appearance , which also featured a segment called " Cool Jazz " , featuring two pairs of hands performed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz . Rowlf would become the first Muppet elevated to national stardom due to his role on " The Jimmy Dean Show " . The show was also Henson ' s first major gig having to perform and interact in character with a live partner , rather than using pre - recorded tracks or short and tightly storyboarded commercials . Henson was trained by some " expert teachers " and veteran writers on " The Jimmy Dean Show " . Henson recalled the experience stating : Aside from being exposed to a more disciplined comedy style , a deeper characterization , and live performing ( all of which Henson would take into his later works ) , Henson also had the task of singing . Although Henson was musical , he did not think of himself as possessing silver vocal cords . " The Jimmy Dean Show " was the first showcase Henson had , singing in character , as almost all of the sketches with Rowlf and Jimmy ended in a song . Aside from using his voice to bring music to the show , on some occasions Rowlf would play the ukulele . In typical Muppet fashion , Rowlf had a way of upstaging the star with ad - libbed quips and his exaggerated reactions and expressions to jokes and actions . Even early on , Henson would steal the scene and force Dean along for the ride . These kinds of moments would usually cause Dean to lose his composure , break character and laugh as Rowlf hammed it up . " " asserts that many of these moments were pre - planned and rehearsed by Jim Henson prior to the live performance ; however , Dean was not always aware of them , or of how far Henson would go , prior to the act . In his autobiography , Dean recalled in detail his feelings towards Rowlf and Henson : Performing Rowlf . Although not a full Muppet production , Jim Henson and his co - workers at Muppets , Inc . were very involved with bringing Rowlf to life each week on the " The Jimmy Dean Show " . The show required Rowlf to interact with a live star ; special sets were built to conceal Henson and his assistant while allowing the performers to operate the puppet comfortably and competently . Don Sahlin built many of the sets and props for the sketches taking into account the puppetry needs and differences in Rowlf ' s and Dean ' s size . While Sahlin maintained the puppet and other physical needs of the sketches , Jerry Juhl assisted in writing the Rowlf sketches with the help of the show ' s staff writers , and on occasion Henson and Dean themselves . Jim Henson puppeteered ( and voiced ) Rowlf with the assistance of Frank Oz ( then Oznowicz ) as the right hand . Jerry Nelson took the assisting role over in the later portion of the show ' s run . The scenes were rehearsed and polished throughout the week leading up to the show , usually with Dean and Henson running through the scripts several times to get the comedic delivery and timings down . Craig Shemin explained at a 2003 Jim Henson Legacy event that all the segments were shot live , meaning the puppeteers had to perform non - stop with their arms in the air for well over seven minutes . Audience member Joey Mazzarino pointed out that seven minutes was an excruciatingly long time to perform a puppet . Outside the Show . During the summer of 1964 , after the first season of " The Jimmy Dean Show " , Rowlf appeared with Dean in his month - long Las Vegas night club act at The Flamingo Hotel . To promote the appearance , Dean and Rowlf also did a special bit in an earlier show in Texas . In October 1964 , towards the start of the second season , Rowlf appeared with Dean in a set of shows on the road - including an appearance at Purdue University in Lafayette , Indiana and at the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport , Louisiana . After the final episode of " The Jimmy Dean Show " taped in March 1966 , Dean took his show ( and Rowlf ) on the road for a series of live performances throughout the spring and summer of 1966 . Jim Henson noted several of these trips in his journal including The Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh , PA , Salt Lake City , UT , Anaheim , CA , Asbury Park , NJ , and Baltimore , MD . Dean recalled his experiences with Henson on the road : Jerry Nelson commented on the logistics of the live show in a 2000 interview , explaining that Jerry Juhl , Don Sahlin , and he had built the puppet sets used in the show . The Muppeteer team would carry the sets down the long aisles and get the stage and puppet set up in the dark , in order for Rowlf to be there when the lights came up . After Rowlf did his skit , the lights would go out and the team would pick up the set in the dark and find their way out . Rowlf and Jimmy Dean appeared together for the last time on " The Ed Sullivan Show " on October 8 , 1967 . Rowlf ' s stint on the series was referenced in the 1965 Wilson ' s Meats Meeting Film , as an example of the Muppets ' TV exposure . Rowlf himself stated , " I ' m the Muppets ' big lovable shaggy dog Rowlf , from ABC ' s " The Jimmy Dean Show " ! " However a decade later , in the 1975 pilot " " , Rowlf lamented to his dance partner that " I was with Jimmy Dean . . . Nobody remembers me anymore . " He later expressed similar regrets to Ernie in " " . Years later , a photo of Rowlf and Dean was used on the set of Rowlf ' s Tavern in " The Muppets " . An ad for " The Jimmy Dean Show " , with a photo of Rowlf and Jimmy Dean , is pinned on the bulletin board in PizzeRizzo in Walt Disney World . Ownership and Availability . During the run of " The Jimmy Dean Show " , Dean was offered ownership of nearly forty percent of Muppets Inc . , but turned it down , feeling he had no real right to what Henson was doing or had created . Dean stated in a 2004 interview that " I didn ’ t do anything to earn that . If I had done something to earn it I would have said , ' Alright , fine . ' But I didn ’ t . A lot of people have said , ' Well , I bet you ' re sorry now . ' No , I am not . Because I couldn ’ t have lived with me . I ’ ve got to do things that let me live with me and shave my face in the morning . " Dean continued to assert right up to his death that " they were an asset to " The Jimmy Dean Show " and they did good things for us , but I wouldn ' t want to take them . " In a discussion on " A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume " , Craig Shemin related a story from the late 1980s , where the Henson Company was contacted by somebody possessing kinescopes of ten full episodes of " Jimmy Dean " . Henson authorized the purchase of the shows and made an offer of $ 1 , 000 of his own , personal funds . The party informed the Henson Company that another entity had made a higher bid for the shows , but offered to splice out the Rowlf segments and sell them to the company , before re - inserting them into the shows and selling them to the other bidder . They later discovered that the other bidder was Jimmy Dean himself . Subsequent shows were discovered by a company , Research Video , and were bought out by Dean ' s wife . Research Video would then provide the Jim Henson Legacy with Rowlf footage as needed . In April 2007 , Time - Life released the first DVD of material from the series , entitled " The Best of the Jimmy Dean Show : Volume 1 " . The hour - long compilation includes two Rowlf sketches . " The Best of the Jimmy Dean Show : Volume 2 " was released in August 2007 , with two more Rowlf sketches . In 2017 , RFD - TV began airing the show again , and around the same time , a DVD of season 1 was released . Several Rowlf sketches , donated by the Jim Henson Legacy , are featured in the film collection at The Museum of Television and Radio . Episodes . Season 1 ( 1963 - 1964 ) . " Thursdays , 9 : 00pm on ABC ; taped at ABC Studio One in New York , NY . " Season 2 ( 1964 - 1965 ) . " Thursdays , 10 : 00pm on ABC ; taped at ABC Studio One in New York , NY ( unless otherwise noted ) . Jim Henson began his work on the second season of " The Jimmy Dean Show " on August 28 , 1964 . " Season 3 ( 1965 - 1966 ) . " Fridays , 9 : 00pm on ABC ; taped at ABC Studio One in New York , NY ( unless otherwise noted ) . Jim Henson began his work on the third season of " The Jimmy Dean Show " on September 3 , 1965 . " _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _