The Jim Henson Hour The Jim Henson Hour was an hour - long prime - time anthology series produced by Jim Henson as a showcase for a variety of Jim Henson Productions ' television work . The short - lived series aired over the course of four months in 1989 . During this time , a total of nine episodes ( out of twelve produced in total ) aired on NBC , before the low - rated series was cancelled . Format . " The Jim Henson Hour " was modeled after the old " Walt Disney Presents " anthology series ( later under different titles , including " Disneyland " and " Wonderful World of Color " ) , in which every week Walt Disney would show off the latest innovations and creations of his production company . At the beginning of each episode , Jim Henson would enter a computer - generated set ( alongside the Thought Lion from " The StoryTeller " ) and introduce the evening ' s show . In most shows , the hour was divided into two parts . The first half hour would feature a modernized variation of " The Muppet Show " , titled " MuppeTelevision " . Hosted by a mix of old and new Muppet characters , the shows featured celebrity guests , musical numbers and comedy sketches . The second half - hour featured more serious and sometimes darker content , such as installments of " The StoryTeller " and " Lighthouse Island " . Occasionally , a light - hearted story or more Muppet antics ( such as " Miss Piggy ' s Hollywood " ) would close out the hour . Several episodes featured extended full - episode mini - movies , such as the comedic film noir " Dog City " ; the more dramatic " Monster Maker " and " Living with Dinosaurs " ; and a behind the scenes special , entitled " Secrets of the Muppets " . Development . The idea for " The Jim Henson Hour " was first made by Henson to NBC head Brandon Tartikoff on August 22 , 1987 . Tartikoff liked the idea enough that he asked Henson to prepare a formal proposal and pitch reel — which NBC paid for — that Tartikoff could share with other network executives . Henson filmed a pitch reel on September 25 , 1987 on a set designed to resembled an idealized version of the Muppet Workshop . In the pitch reel , and an accompanying written proposal , Henson outlined his original vision for the series . The original plan was for the show to have a rotating schedule of four different kinds of episodes , one for each week of the month . The first week would feature an hour - long episode of " The StoryTeller " . The second week would feature " Lead - Free TV " , Henson ' s concept for " " The Muppet Show " from the future . " The third week would feature a picture - book special in the vein of " Emmet Otter ' s Jug - Band Christmas " , " The Christmas Toy " and " The Tale of the Bunny Picnic " . In the fourth week " anything could happen " — a detective story with Kermit and the gang , a story about an enchanted bowling ball , an outer space adventure or a look behind the scenes . In December 1987 , NBC picked up the series for a half season order ( 13 episodes ) and originally planned to begin airing the series in January 1989 ( it was later delayed until April ) . However , NBC insisted on some format changes to Henson ' s original proposal ; the executives did not like Henson ' s proposal of a weekly rotation of episode types . Instead of comprehensive themed hours , the network suggested that the first half hour be made up of various Muppet and comedy segments , while the second half hour could be a long piece , such as an installment of " The StoryTeller " or another original feature . Henson was allowed to produce one hour - long special per month , but seems to have bent the rules slightly to produce more than that . These included " Monster Maker " and " Living With Dinosaurs " , as well as " " , and arguably " Secrets of the Muppets " and " Dog City " . No hour - long " StoryTeller " episodes were ever produced . Henson ' s idea for " Lead - Free TV " evolved into " MuppeTelevision " — a segment featuring existing and new Muppets characters lead by Kermit the Frog in a futuristic television control room . " Muppet Show " director Peter Harris was selected as director for the series ; other notable directors considered included and . According to Henson biographer , Henson was skeptical about appearing on camera and originally wanted Kermit the Frog to host the series ; however NBC wanted Henson to host . In July 1988 , Henson was put in the hands of a coach and stylist to help him get comfortable in front of the camera . To help Henson look less stiff on camera , Peter Harris suggested they give Henson someone , or something , to interact with . So Henson hosted the show alongside a mostly silent sidekick : the Thought Lion , originally from " The StoryTeller " . Jerry Juhl said the lion was selected for no reason at all " except that it was kind of wonderful and gave Henson something to talk to without folding his arms . " While Henson hosted his pitch reel from a Muppet Workshop , Henson wanted something more dynamic and high - tech for the series and a magical computer - generated set was designed for Henson and the lion to host from . Working titles for the show include " Jim Henson Presents , " " The Jim Henson Family Hour " and " The Jim Henson Show . " Airing . In April 1989 , NBC began airing " The Jim Henson Hour " on Friday nights . In the same time slot a week before the series debuted , the special " " aired with the same closing credits font and closing logo as the series proper , and was referred to by critic John J . O ' Connor as " really sort of the first installment of " The Jim Henson Hour " . " Critics were not kind to the show , calling it " flawed " and " dull . " The show on average brought in a mere 5 . 3 rating and ranked 100th out of 105 programs to air that season . In May , with the series ' fifth episode , NBC moved the show to Sunday night . The episode brought in the show ' s lowest ratings . NBC cancelled the series after the episode , burning off remaining episodes by airing them over the summer and leaving three episodes unaired . During its time on NBC , only a total of nine episodes aired . Two remaining episodes later made their US television debut as specials on Nickelodeon in 1992 and 1993 , and the final episode never aired in the United States . In the company ' s 1989 summer quarterly report , Henson lamented the cancellation , writing : " I don ' t particularly like the way NBC handled us , but what the hey , that ' s network TV . [ The series ] was really coming together nicely and I ' m sure that we would have made it even better in subsequent seasons . " In a late 1989 interview with " American Film " magazine , Henson was asked if he would " try again " with " The Jim Henson Hour " . " I don ' t think so , " Henson responded . " That was with NBC , and they cancelled us after the fifth show was on the air , so that was a bit of a frustration . Though we had six Emmy nominations from it , the ratings were quite bad . They put us in a time slot that they had been consistently not doing very well in , and we also did not do very well . " Frank Oz spoke of the series saying , " Whatever Jim did , even some of the things that failed , there was always amazing stuff in it , but " The Jim Henson Hour " just didn ' t have the usual Jim focus . It was more like a grab bag of the brilliant thing he ' d done . " " The " MuppeTelevision " segments have been rerun , by themselves , on CTS in Canada ( part of the package that also includes " The Muppet Show " and " Muppets Tonight " ) . Since the show is now only half an hour long , Henson ' s introductions are entirely different , with Henson only talking about the MuppeTelevision half of the program . The title , meanwhile , is changed to " The Jim Henson Show " . As a result , the first half of the opening theme is flipped left - to - right so that the Griffin ' s crystal ball lines up with the letter O in " show " rather than " hour . " The Jim Henson Show was broadcast in Poland on TVP1 for a short period of time ( March and April of 2002 ) . Unused Ideas . In addition to the abandoned hour - long " StoryTeller " episodes , " Lead - Free TV " and picture - book specials , Henson had many ideas for potential episodes or features that were never produced . These ideas included : " The Saga of Fraggle Rock " , a " Fraggle Rock " origin story ; " Inside John " , a variation on Henson ' s Limbo concept , in which the various parts of a seventeen - year - old boy ' s brain try to wrest control of him throughout a typical day ; and " ASTRO G . N . E . W . T . S . " , a special that would have blended puppets with animation , computer graphics , and video effects . Other stories were proposed involving enchanted bowling balls , extraterrestrial mailmen , outer - space adventures , and even a detective story with Kermit and the Muppet gang . Henson also considered adapting Madeleine L ' Engle ’ s " A Wrinkle in Time " and the works of A . A . Milne . Also proposed was " an hour - long musical special featuring The Electric Mayhem in Mexico " . Video releases . Many of the specials featured on the series , such as all of " The StoryTeller " episodes , " , " " Song of the Cloud Forest , " " Monster Maker , " and " Lighthouse Island " have received home video release on DVD , digital download , video - on - demand , or other formats . Internationally , " Miss Piggy ' s Hollywood " was released on a Portuguese DVD ( entitled " A Fantástica Miss Piggy " ) and " Dog City " and " Monster Maker " were released in Japan on laserdisc by KSS Films . None of the MuppetTelevision episodes have received home video release .