Jim Henson (Johnsonverse)

James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – August 16, 2018) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, composer, and screenwriter, who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets characters and Fraggle Rock (1983–1987); and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982), Labyrinth (1986) and Godzilla vs. the World (1995). He was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and raised in Leland, Mississippi, and University Park, Maryland.
Henson began developing puppets in high school. He created Sam and Friends (1955–1961), a short-form comedy television program, while he was a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park in collaboration with Jane Nebel who was a senior. A few years later the two married. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in home economics, after which he and Jane produced coffee advertisements and developed experimental films. In 1958, he co-founded Muppets, Inc. with Jane, which became The Jim Henson Company.
In 1969, Henson joined the children's educational television program Sesame Street (1969–present) where he helped to develop Muppet characters for the series. He and his creative team also appeared on the first season of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (1975–present). He produced The Muppet Show (1976–1981) during this period. He won fame for his characters, particularly Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog and Ernie. During the later years of his life, he founded the Jim Henson Foundation and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. He won the Emmy Award twice for his involvement in The StoryTeller (1987–1988) and The Jim Henson Hour (1989–1993). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was named a Disney Legend in 2011.
In 2004, Henson retired from full-time puppeteering to concentrate on his directorial career and running The Jim Henson Company, although he continued making return performances on Sesame Street until 2015. He would later produce another primetime Muppet series (2015–2022). On August 16, 2018, Henson died in New York City at the age of 81 from natural causes. 
WORK-IN-PROGRESS
==Biography==
===Early life: 1936-1960===
Henson was born James Maury Henson on September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two children of Paul Ransom Henson (1904–1994), an agronomist for the United States Department of Agriculture, and his wife Betty Marcella (née Brown, 1904–1972). Henson's older brother, Paul Ransom Henson, Jr. (1932–1956), died in a car crash on April 15, 1956. He was raised as a Christian Scientist and spent his early childhood in Leland, Mississippi, before moving with his family to University Park, Maryland, near Washington, DC, in the late 1940s. He remembered the arrival of the family's first television as "the biggest event of his adolescence", being heavily influenced by radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the early television puppets of Burr Tillstrom on Kukla, Fran and Ollie and Bil and Cora Baird. He remained a Christian Scientist at least into his twenties when he taught Sunday school, but he wrote to a Christian Science church in 1975 to inform them that he was no longer a practicing member.
At age 18, Henson began working for WTOP-TV (now WUSA-TV) in 1954 while attending Northwestern High School, creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's show called The Junior Morning Show. He enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park as a studio arts major upon graduation, thinking that he might become a commercial artist. A puppetry class offered in the applied arts department introduced him to the craft and textiles courses in the college of home economics. He graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics. As a freshman, he created Sam and Friends, a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV. The characters on Sam and Friends were forerunners of the Muppets, and the show included a prototype of Henson's most famous character Kermit the Frog. He remained at WRC from 1954 to 1961.
In the show, Henson began experimenting with techniques that changed the way in which puppetry was used on television, including using the frame defined by the camera shot to allow the puppet performer to work from off-camera. He believed that television puppets needed to have "life and sensitivity" and began making characters from flexible, fabric-covered foam rubber, allowing them to express a wider array of emotions at a time when many puppets were made of carved wood. A marionette's arms are manipulated by strings, but Henson used rods to move his Muppets' arms, allowing greater control of expression. Additionally, he wanted the Muppet characters to "speak" more creatively than was possible for previous puppets, which had random mouth movements, so he used precise mouth movements to match the dialogue.
When Henson began work on Sam and Friends, he asked fellow University of Maryland senior Jane Nebel to assist him. The show was a financial success, but he began to have doubts about going into a career performing with puppets once he graduated. He spent several months in Europe, where he was inspired by European puppet performers who looked on their work as an art form. He began dating Jane after his return to the United States.
===Television and Muppets: 1961–1969===
Henson spent much of the next two decades working in commercials, talk shows, and children's projects before realizing his dream of the Muppets as "entertainment for everybody". The popularity of his work on Sam and Friends in the late 1950s led to a series of guest appearances on network talk and variety shows. He appeared as a guest on many shows, including The Steve Allen Show, The Jack Paar Program, and The Ed Sullivan Show. (Sullivan introduced him as "Jim Newsom and his Puppets" on September 11, 1966.) These television broadcasts greatly increased his exposure, leading to hundreds of commercial appearances by Henson characters throughout the '60s.
Among the most popular of Henson's commercials was a series for the local Wilkins Coffee company in Washington, D.C.. Most of the Wilkins advertisements followed a similar formula. Two Muppets, in this case named Wilkins and Wontkins, would appear. Wilkins would extol the product, while Wontkins would respond to Wilkins in a gruff manner and do something that would cause Wilkins to retaliate physically; examples included Wontkins being shot with a cannon, struck in the head with a hammer or baseball bat, and having a pie thrown in his face. The Jim Henson Company has posted a short selection of them. Henson later explained, "Till then, advertising agencies believed that the hard sell was the only way to get their message over on television. We took a very different approach. We tried to sell things by making people laugh."
The first seven-second commercial for Wilkins was an immediate hit and was syndicated and reshot by Henson for local coffee companies throughout the United States, such as Community Coffee, Red Diamond Coffee, La Touraine Coffee, Nash's Coffee, and Jomar Instant coffee, and he ultimately produced more than 300 coffee ads. The characters were so successful in selling coffee that soon other companies began seeking them to promote their products, such as bakeries like Merita Breads, service station chains such as Standard Oil of Ohio and the downstream assets of Marathon Oil, and beverage bottlers such as Faygo.
Henson sold the rights to Wilkins and Wontkins to the Wilkins Company, who allowed marketing executive John T. Brady to sell the rights to some toymakers and film studios. However, in July 1992 Brady was sued by Jim Henson Productions for unfair competition in addition to copyright and trademark infringement. The Henson company claimed that Brady was incorrectly using Henson's name and likeness in their attempts to license the characters.
In 1963, Henson and his wife moved to New York City where the newly formed Muppets, Inc. resided for some time, and Henson lived there until his death. Jane quit performing to raise their children, and Henson hired writer Jerry Juhl in 1961 and puppet performer Frank Oz in 1963 to replace her. Henson credited them both with developing much of the humor and character of his Muppets. He and Oz developed a close friendship and a performing partnership that lasted until Henson's death; their teamwork is particularly evident in their portrayals of Bert and Ernie, Kermit and Miss Piggy, and Kermit and Fozzie Bear. In New York City, Henson formed a partnership with Bernie Brillstein, who managed Henson's career until Brillstein's death.
Henson's talk show appearances culminated when he devised Rowlf, a piano-playing anthropomorphic dog that became the first Muppet to make regular appearances on The Jimmy Dean Show. Henson was so grateful for this break that he offered Jimmy Dean a 40-percent interest in his production company, but Dean declined, stating that Henson deserved all the rewards for his own work, a decision of conscience that Dean never regretted. From 1963 to 1966, Henson began exploring filmmaking and produced a series of experimental films. His nine-minute experimental film Time Piece was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1966. He produced The Cube in 1969. Around this time, he wrote the first drafts of a live-action movie script with Jerry Juhl which became Tale of Sand. The script remained in the Henson Company archives until it was adapted in the 2012 graphic novel Jim Henson's Tale of Sand.
During this time, Henson continued to work with various companies who sought out his Muppets for advertising purposes. Among his clients were Wilson Meats, Royal Crown Cola, Claussen's Bread, La Choy, and Frito-Lay, which featured an early version of his character Cookie Monster to promote their Munchos line of potato snacks. Like the Wilkins Coffee ads of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the formula stayed fairly similar. For instance, one of the Claussen's commercials featured Kermit the Frog dangling from a window while a character named Mack asks him if he brought a loaf of the company's bread; when Kermit says he did not, Mack closes the window on Kermit's fingers and causes him to fall, suggesting he "drop down" to the grocery store to buy a loaf.
===Sesame Street: 1969===
In 1969, television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and her staff at the Children's Television Workshop were impressed by the quality and creativity of the Henson-led team, so they asked Henson and staff to work full-time on Sesame Street, a children's program for public television that premiered on National Educational Television on November 10, 1969. Part of the show was set aside for a series of funny, colorful puppet characters living on Sesame Street, including Grover, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and Big Bird. Henson performed the characters of Ernie, game-show host Guy Smiley, and Kermit, who appeared as a roving television news reporter.
Henson's Muppets initially appeared separately from the realistic segments on the Street, but the show was revamped to integrate the two segments, placing much greater emphasis on Henson's work. Cooney frequently praised Henson's work, and PBS called him "the spark that ignited our fledgling broadcast service." The success of Sesame Street also allowed him to stop producing commercials, and he said that "it was a pleasure to get out of that world".
Henson was also involved in producing various shows and animation inserts during the first two seasons. He produced a series of counting films for the numbers 1 through 10 which always ended with a baker (voiced by Henson) falling down the stairs while carrying the featured number of desserts. He also worked on a variety of inserts for the numbers 2 through 12, including the films "Dollhouse"; "Number Three Ball Film"; the stop-motions "King of Eight" and "Queen of Six"; the cut-out animation "Eleven Cheer"; and the computer animation "Nobody Counts To 10." He also directed the original "C Is For Cookie" and Tales from Muppetland, a short series of TV movie specials that were comic retellings of classic fairy tales aimed at a young audience and hosted by Kermit the Frog. The series included Hey, Cinderella!, The Frog Prince, and The Muppet Musicians of Bremen.
===Expansion of audience: 1970–1978===
Henson, Oz, and his team were concerned that the company was becoming typecast solely as purveyors of children's entertainment, so they targeted an adult audience with a series of sketches on the first season of the late-night live television variety show Saturday Night Live. Eleven Land of Gorch sketches were aired between October 1975 and January 1976 on NBC, with four additional appearances in March, April, May, and September 1976. Henson liked Lorne Michaels' work and wanted to be a part of it, but he ultimately concluded that "what we were trying to do and what his writers could write for it never gelled". The SNL writers were not comfortable writing for the characters, and they frequently disparaged Henson's creations; Michael O'Donoghue quipped, "I won't write for felt."
Henson began developing a Broadway show and a weekly television series both featuring the Muppets. The American networks rejected the series in 1976, believing that Muppets would appeal only to a child audience. Then, Henson pitched the show to British impresario Lew Grade to finance the show. The show would be shot in the United Kingdom and syndicated worldwide. That same year, he scrapped plans for his Broadway show and moved his creative team to England, where The Muppet Show began taping. The show featured Kermit as host and a variety of other characters, notably Miss Piggy, Gonzo the Great, and Fozzie Bear, along with other characters such as Animal. Henson's teammates sometimes compared his role to that of Kermit: a shy, gentle boss with "a whim of steel" who ran things like "an explosion in a mattress factory." Caroll Spinney was the puppet performer of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, and he remembered that Henson would never say he did not like something. "He would just go 'Hmm.'... And if he liked it, he would say, 'Lovely!'" Henson recognized Kermit as an alter ego, though he thought that Kermit was bolder than he; he once said of the character, "He can say things I hold back."
===Transition to the big screen: 1979–1986===
The Muppets appeared in their first theatrical feature film The Muppet Movie in 1979. It was both a critical and financial success; it made $65.2 million domestically and was the 61st highest-grossing film at the time. Henson's idol Edgar Bergen died at age 75 during production of the film, and Henson dedicated it to his memory. Henson as Kermit sang "The Rainbow Connection", and it hit number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The Henson-directed The Great Muppet Caper (1981) followed, and Henson decided to end the Muppet Show to concentrate on making films, though the Muppet characters continued to appear in TV movies and specials.
Henson also aided others in their work. The producers of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) asked him to aid make-up artist Stuart Freeborn in the creation and articulation of Yoda. He suggested that George Lucas use Frank Oz as the puppeteer and voice of Yoda, and Oz did so in it and the five subsequent Star Wars films. Lucas lobbied unsuccessfully to have Oz nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The producers of Star Pirates (1990) also asked Henson for a similar arrangement for the creation of Molc, with director Timothy Hill casting Richard Hunt as the puppeteer and voice of Molc; Hunt would do so in it, its four sequels, the television series, and various video games.
In 1982, Henson founded the Jim Henson Foundation to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States. Around that time, he began creating darker and more realistic fantasy films that did not feature the Muppets and displayed "a growing, brooding interest in mortality." He co-directed The Dark Crystal (1982) with Frank Oz, "trying to go toward a sense of realism—toward a reality of creatures that are actually alive". To provide a visual style distinct from the Muppets, the puppets in The Dark Crystal were based on conceptual artwork by Brian Froud, and it was a financial and critical success.
Also in 1982, Henson co-founded Henson International Television with Peter Orton and Sophie Turner Laing as his partners. The company was a distribution company for children's, teens' and family television.
Oz directed The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) which grossed $25.5 million domestically and ranked one of the top 40 films of 1984. Labyrinth (1986) was a fantasy that Henson directed by himself, but—despite some positive reviews; The New York Times called it "a fabulous film"—it was a commercial disappointment. This demoralized Henson; his son Brian Henson described it as "the closest I've seen him to turning in on himself and getting quite depressed." The film later became a cult classic.
===Aborted Disney deal and other works: 1987–1992===
Henson continued creating children's television, such as Fraggle Rock and the animated Muppet Babies. He also continued to address darker, more mature themes with the folk tale and mythology oriented show The StoryTeller (1988), which won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program. The next year, he returned to television with The Jim Henson Hour which mixed lighthearted Muppet fare with more risqué material. It was critically well-received and won him another Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Variety or Music Program, but it was canceled after 13 episodes due to low ratings. Henson blamed its failure on NBC's constant rescheduling. It was then picked up by the WBC television network, where it ran until 1993.
In late 1989, Henson entered into negotiations to sell his company to Johnson Industries for almost $150 million, hoping that he would "be able to spend a lot more of my time on the creative side of things" with Johnson handling business matters. By 1990, he had completed production on the television special The Muppets at Johnson World and the Johnson World attraction Muppet*Vision 3D and he was developing film ideas and a television series entitled Muppet High. The deal was closed on May 25, 1990. Muppet High ran from 1991 to 1994 on WBC to great success. Henson also produced The Muppets' Christmas Carol (1992) and Muppets Treasure Island (1996), both directed by his son Brian.
===Semi-retirement from puppetry: 1993–2003===
Due to Henson's increasing commitments to directing and managing Jim Henson Productions, he started using understudies to perform his characters; Steve Whitmire (who has performed with the Muppets since 1978) and Bill Barretta were hand-picked by Henson, who usually dubbed over their performances himself in post-production for movies and TV shows. He continued directing and producing movies throughout the 1990s, including Godzilla vs. the World (1995) and Muppets in Space (2000). Another Muppet television series, Muppets Tonight, debuted on ABC with Clifford (who had debuted on The Jim Henson Hour) as host and Kermit as the station manager. Due to low ratings, it moved to WBC in 1997, where it continued for another four seasons before ending in 2001; it was retooled so that Kermit served as the host instead with Clifford as a member of the Electric Mayhem.
===Later years: 2004–2018===
In 2004, Henson announced his retirement from full-time puppeteering to focus on his other commitments, with Whitmire and Barretta taking over his characters full-time. Henson's last regular performance as his Muppet Show characters was in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005), although he would make occasional return appearances on Sesame Street as Ernie, Guy Smiley and other characters as late as 2015. Henson continued producing television series such as Sid the Science Kid (2008-2013), Pajaminals (2008-2013), and Dinosaur Train (2009-2020), while also being involved in production of The Muppets (2011) and Muppets: Most Wanted (2014).
In 2015, he returned to a more active role in the Muppets, executive producing a Muppet primetime series (2015-present), and a reboot of Muppet Babies (2018-present), as well as The Good, the Bad and the Muppets (2019).
==Personal life==
Henson married Jane Nebel in 1959 and their children are Lisa (b. 1960), Cheryl (b. 1961), Brian (b. 1963), John (b. 1965), and Heather (b. 1970). Henson and his wife separated in 1986, although they remained close for the rest of his life. Jane said that Jim was so involved with his work that he had very little time to spend with her or their children. All five of his children began working with Muppets at an early age, partly because "one of the best ways of being around him was to work with him", according to Cheryl. Henson was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement.
==Death==
On August 16, 2018, it was announced that Henson passed away from natural causes in New York City at the age of 81. News of Henson's death spread quickly and admirers of his work responded from around the world with tributes and condolences. Many of Henson's co-stars and directors from Sesame Street, the Muppets, and other works also shared their thoughts on his death. On August 21, 2018, Henson's public memorial service was conducted in Manhattan at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Another was conducted on October 2, 2018, at St Paul's Cathedral in London. In accordance with Henson's wishes, no one in attendance wore black, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band finished the service by performing "When the Saints Go Marching In". Harry Belafonte sang "Turn the World Around", a song that he had debuted on The Muppet Show, as each member of the congregation waved a brightly colored foam butterfly attached to a puppet performer's rod. Later, Big Bird (performed by Matt Vogel with Caroll Spinney doing the voice nearby) walked onto the stage and sang Kermit's signature song "Bein' Green" while fighting back tears. Dave Goelz as Gonzo, Frank Oz, Kevin Clash, Steve Whitmire, Bill Barretta, Jerry Nelson, and Richard Hunt sang a medley of Henson's favorite songs in their characters' voices, ending with a performance of "Just One Person" while performing their Muppets. The funeral was described by Life as "an epic and almost unbearably moving event". Henson was cremated and in 2019, his ashes were scattered near Taos in New Mexico.
==Legacy==
The Jim Henson Company and the Jim Henson Foundation have continued after his death, producing new series and specials. Jim Henson's Creature Shop also continues to create characters and special effects for both Henson-related and outside projects. The moving-image collection of Jim Henson is held at the Academy Film Archive. The collection contains the film work of Jim Henson and the Jim Henson Company.
A biopic film based on Henson's life, known as Muppet Man, was announced in April 2021, developed by Johnson Studios and Jim Henson Pictures. In April 2021, it was reported that Michael Mitnick was hired to write the screenplay. Lisa Henson will serve as producer.
==Filmography==
=== Film ===
Year	Film 	Director	Producer	Screenwriter	Actor	Role 	Notes
1965	Time Piece 	 	 	 	 	Man 	Short film
1979	The Muppet Movie 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefAdditional Muppets 	
1981	The Great Muppet Caper 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefThe NewsmanAdditional Muppets 	
1982	The Dark Crystal 	 	 	 	 	JenskekZok/The Ritual MasterskekSo/The Emperor 	Puppeteering onlyCo-directed with Frank Oz
1984	The Muppets Take Manhattan 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefThe NewsmanErnieAdditional Muppets	Executive Producer
1985	Into the Night 	 	 	 	 	Man on the phone 	Cameo
1985	Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird	 	 	 	 	ErnieKermit the Frog 	
1986	Labyrinth 	 	 	 	 	 	
1990	The Witches 	 	 	 	 	 	
1991	Muppet*Vision 3D 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogWaldorfThe Swedish Chef 	3D film attraction at Johnson World
1992	The Muppets' Christmas Carol 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefAdditional Muppets 	
1994	Muppet Classic Theater 	No 	Yes 	No 	Yes 	Kermit the Frog 	Direct-to-Video Movie
1995	Godzilla vs. the World 	 	 	 	 	 	
1996	Muppets Treasure Island 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefAdditional Muppets 	
2000	Muppets in Space 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefAdditional Muppets 	Executive producer
1999	The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland 	 	 	 	 	Ernie 	
2002	Kermit's Swamp Years 	 	 	 	 	Kermit 	
2002	It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefAdditional Muppets 	Executive producer
2005	The Muppets' Wizard of Oz 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefAdditional Muppets 	Executive producer
2008	A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer
2010	Fraggle Rock 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer
2011	The Muppets 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer
2014	Muppets Most Wanted 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer
2019	The Good, the Bad and the Muppets 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer; posthumous release
===Television===
Year 	Film 	Director	Producer	Screenwriter	Actor	Role 	Notes
1954 	The Junior Morning Show 	 	 	 	 	Pierre the French RatAdditional Muppets 	aired on WTOP-TV
1954 	Saturday 	 	 	 	 	Additional Muppets 	aired on WTOP-TV
1955–1956	Afternoon with Inga 	 	 	 	 	Additional Muppets 	aired on WRC-TV
1955 	In Our Town 	 	 	 	 	SamKermitYorickAdditional Muppets 	aired on WRC-TV
1955–1961	Sam and Friends 	 	 	 	 	SamHarry the HipsterKermitProfessor MadcliffeOmarYorickPierre the French RatAdditional Muppets 	aired on WRC-TV
1956 	Footlight Theater 	 	 	 	 	SamAdditional Muppets 	aired on WRC-TV
1962 	Tales of the Tinkerdee 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogAdditional Muppets 	UnairedPilot available on YouTube
1963–1966	The Jimmy Dean Show 	 	 	 	 	Rowlf the Dog 	
1969 	The Cube 	 	 	 	 	 	
1969 	The Wizard of Id test pilot 	 	 	 	 	Additional Muppets 	Pilot available on YouTube
1969 	Hey, Cinderella! 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogAdditional Muppets 	
1969-2015	Sesame Street 	 	 	 	 	ErnieKermit the FrogGuy SmileyMahna MahnaDanHenryLanceCaptain VegetableMr. NoseThe KingStanHarold HappySammy the SnakeAdditional Muppets	
1970 	The Muppets on Puppets 	 	 	 	 	HimselfRowlf the DogKermitAdditional Muppets 	Executive ProducerFilmed in 1968
1971 	The Frog Prince 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogAdditional Muppets 	
1972 	The Muppet Musicians of Bremen 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogAdditional Muppets 	
1974 	The Muppets Valentine Show 	 	 	 	 	WallyKermit the FrogRowlf the DogErnieAdditional Muppets 	Executive Producer
1975 	The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence 	 	 	 	 	NigelGeorge WashingtonThe Swedish ChefDr. TeethWaldorfKermit the FrogAdditional Muppets 	
1976–1981	The Muppet Show 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfThe Swedish ChefLink HogthrobThe NewsmanAdditional Muppets 	
1977 	Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogHarvey BeaverHoward SnakeMayor Harrison Fox 	Television film
1978 	Christmas Eve on Sesame Street 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogErnie 	Television film
1983–1987	Fraggle Rock 	 	 	 	 	Cantus the MinstrelConvincing John 	Executive Producer
1983 	Big Bird in China 	 	 	 	 	Ernie 	Television film
1983 	Don't Eat the Pictures 	 	 	 	 	Ernie 	Television film
1985 	Little Muppet Monsters 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the Frog (live-action puppet only)Dr. Teeth 	
1986 	The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfThe Swedish ChefLink HogthrobErnieHarry the HipsterAdditional Muppets 	Television filmExecutive Producer
1986 	The Tale of the Bunny Picnic 	 	 	 	 	The Dog 	Television film
1986 	The Christmas Toy 	 	 	 	 	Jack-in-the-BoxKermit the Frog 	Television film
1987–1988	The StoryTeller 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive Producer
1987 	Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive Producer
1987 	A Muppet Family Christmas 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfSwedish ChefThe NewsmanErnieGuy SmileyBaby KermitBaby RowlfAdditional Muppets 	Television filmExecutive Producer
1988 	Sing-Along, Dance-Along, Do-Along 	 	 	 	 	Rowlf the DogPenguinsKermit the Frog 	Entry in the Play-Along Video seriesExecutive Producer
1984–1991	Muppet Babies 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive Producer
1989 	Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting 	 	 	 	 	ErnieKermit the FrogAdditional Muppets 	Television filmExecutive Producer
1989–1993	The Jim Henson Hour 	 	 	 	 	HimselfKermit the FrogRowlf the DogAdditional Muppets 	Executive Producer
1990 	The Earth Day Special 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the Frog 	segment: "Kermit the Frog"
1990 	The Muppets at Johnson World 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfLink HogthrobThe Swedish Chef 	Television specialExecutive Producer
1993 	Sesame Street Stays Up Late! 	 	 	 	 	Ernie 	
1996-2001	Muppets Tonight 	 	 	 	 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfLink HogthrobThe Swedish Chef 	
1998-2002	 	 	 	 	 	12 episodes 	
2008-2013	Sid the Science Kid 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer
2008-2013	Pajaminals 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer
2009-2018	Dinosaur Train 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer
2015 	The Muppets' 60th Anniversary Celebration	 	 	 	 	Himself 	Executive producer
2015-2018	The Muppets 	 	 	 	 	 	Executive producer
===Video games===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1988	Oscar's Letter Party 	Kermit the Frog 	
1988	Let's Learn to Play Together 	Ernie 	
1991	Sesame Street Numbers 	ErnieKermit the Frog 	Voice only
1991	Sesame Street Letters 	ErnieKermit the Frog 	Voice only
1996	The Muppet CD-ROM: Muppets Inside 	Kermit the FrogRowlf the DogDr. TeethWaldorfThe Swedish ChefLink HogthrobThe NewsmanAdditional Muppets	
2017	The Muppets: Quest for the Lost Treasure	None 	Executive producer
Category:Johnsonverse