The Jim Henson Company

**The Jim Henson Company** is an American entertainment company.  It started with **Muppets, Inc.** in 1958 by puppeteer Jim Henson.  Henson is the creator of The Muppets. The Muppets helped the company become popular worldwide.  They were well known in family entertainment for more than forty years.

In 1969, the company started making characters and more than 20 short movies for the popular children's show *Sesame Street*.

One of the company's first characters regularly on national television was Rowlf the Dog.  He was first made for Purina Dog Chow commercials.  He became famous when he became a regular character on *The Jimmy Dean Show* from 1963–66.

In 1976, British media  Lew Grade asked Jim Henson to make a weekly show based in England, which became *The Muppet Show*. The success of *The Muppet Show* led to many movies, specials, videos, and more.

In the early 1980s, Jim Henson also formed Jim Henson's Creature Shop.  It made characters for shows such as *The Storyteller*, *Farscape*, and *Dinosaurs*; and movies such as *The Dark Crystal* and *Labyrinth*.  It was also in the 1980s that Jim Henson produced new television series such as *Fraggle Rock* and *The Jim Henson Hour*.
 
In 1990, Jim Henson was talking to The Walt Disney Company about selling his company. Henson died during the week that he was going to sign the contract.  His family decided to have the company keep the rights to the characters. However, on December 18, 1991, The Walt Disney Company bought the distribution rights to the entire Jim Henson Company library up to that time.

In 2000, Jim Henson’s children sold the company to the German media company, EM.TV. In January 1, 2001 they sold the *Sesame Street* Muppets to Sesame Workshop.  In 2003 Henson's children bought back the company. In 2004, they sold the rights to *The Muppets* and *Bear in the Big Blue House* characters to The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Company now owns all Muppet-related trademarks, including the word “Muppet”.

## Filmography
### Films
### Television
From 1969 to 2000, Henson was contracted to design and create Muppet characters for *Sesame Street*. With the exception of occasional appearances in the Muppets franchise, the characters were used exclusively for *Sesame Street*, but Henson legally owned these characters prior to their acquisition by Sesame Workshop. The only exception was Kermit the Frog, who was featured in other projects prior to *Sesame Street*. Sesame Workshop retains the rights to use any *Sesame Street* footage featuring the character.

The sale ended any direct affiliation between The Muppets and *Sesame Street*, although the series retains use of the term "Muppet" under license from Disney. Many of the puppeteers continue to perform with both The Muppets and *Sesame Street* franchises. While no longer owning the *Sesame Street* characters, Henson continues to design them. This list excludes pre-2001 *Sesame Street* co-productions outside the United States.

#### TV series
##### As a contributor
* *The Tonight Show* (1955–1961)
* *The Jimmy Dean Show* (1963-1966)
* *Sesame Street* (1969–present)
* *Saturday Night Live* (Season 1)
** "The Land of Gorch" segments (1975–1976)
* *The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange* (2012–2014)

#### TV specials
* *Hey, Cinderella!* (1969)
* *The Great Santa Claus Switch* (1970)
* *The Frog Prince* (1971)
* *The Muppet Musicians of Bremen* (1972)
* *Out to Lunch* (1974)
* *The Muppets Valentine Show* (1974)
* *The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence* (1975)
* ''Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas* (1977)
* *The Muppets Go Hollywood* (1979)
* *John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together* (1979)
* *The Muppets Go to the Movies* (1981)
* *Of Muppets and Men* (1981)
* *The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show* (1982)
* *Rocky Mountain Holiday* (1983)
* *The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years* (1986)
* *The Tale of the Bunny Picnic* (1986)
* *The Christmas Toy* (1986)
* *A Muppet Family Christmas* (1987)
* *Sesame Street... 20 Years & Still Counting* (1989)
* *The Muppets at Walt Disney World* (1990)
* *The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson* (1990)
* *Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree* (1995)

### Direct-to-video
* Jim Henson Play-Along Video (1988)
** *Hey, You're as Funny as Fozzie Bear: A Comedy Show Starring Fozzie Bear and You*
** *Mother Goose Stories: Miss Muffet, Songs of Sixpence, Little Boy Blue* (1987–1990)
** *Neat Stuff... To Know and Do*
** *Peek-A-Boo, A Big Surprise for Little People*
** *Sing-Along, Dance-Along, Do-Along: Rowlf teaches kids about music*
** *Wow, You're a Cartoonist!*
* Muppet Sing Alongs
** *Billy Bunny's Animal Songs* (1993)
** *It's Not Easy Being Green* (1994)
** *Muppet Treasure Island Sing Along* (1996)
** *Things That Fly* (1996)
* *Muppet Classic Theater'' (1994)
* Jim Henson's Preschool Collection (1995)
** *Mother Goose Stories: Humpty Dumpty*
** *Mother Goose Stories: Mary Had a Little Lamb*
** *Muppets on Wheels*
** *Yes, I Can Be a Friend*
** *Yes, I Can Learn*
** *Yes, I Can Help*
* ''Kermit's Swamp Years* (2002)

### Web content
* *The Skrumps* (2007)
* *The Sam Plenty Cavalcade of Action Show Plus Singing!* (2008)

### Henson Alternative
The following list contains projects of The Jim Henson Company under its Henson Alternative banner.

#### Movies
#### Television series
The first eight series are produced under its Henson Alternative banner exclusively in North America before premiering worldwide in 2015.
* *Tinseltown* (2007)
* *Alt/Reality* (2010–2011)
* *Simian Undercover Detective Squad* (2012)
* *Late Night Buffet with Augie and Del* (2006)
* *Del's Vegas Comedy Binge* (2007)
* *Late Night Liars* (2010)
* *Marvin E. Quasniki for President* (2011–12)
* *Neil's Puppet Dreams* (2012–13)
* *Ketchup with the Hot Dogs* (2013–14)
* *Good Morning Today* (2013–14)
* *No, You Shut Up!* (2013–2016)
* *The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell* (2018)
* *The Miskreants* (2019-2020)

#### Stage shows
* *Puppet Up! - Uncensored* (2005–present)
** *Stuffed and Unstrung* (2010–2013)

#### Other productions
* The Muppet segments of the Nintendo Digital Event, shown during E3 (2015).
* *Star Fox Zero'' commercial (2016).

## Notes
## References