The Jim Henson Hour

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Premiere	April 14,1989
Finale	July 30, 1989
Network	NBC
Episodes	12

The Jim Henson Hour was an hour-long prime-time anthology series produced byJim Henson as a showcase for a variety ofJim Henson Productions' television work. The short-lived series aired over the course of four months in1989. During this time, a total of nine episodes (out of twelve produced in total) aired onNBC, before the low-rated series was cancelled.

Format[]

The Jim Henson Hour was modeled after the oldWalt Disney Presents anthology series (later under different titles, includingDisneyland andWonderful 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 (alongsidethe Thought Lion fromThe 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 ofThe Muppet Show, titledMuppeTelevision. 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 ofThe StoryTeller andLighthouse Island. Occasionally, a light-hearted story or more Muppet antics (such asMiss 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 forThe 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.^[1]

Henson filmed apitch reel on September 25, 1987 on a set designed to resembled an idealized version of theMuppet 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 ofThe StoryTeller. The second week would featureLead-Free TV, Henson's concept for "The Muppet Show from the future." The third week would feature apicture-book special in the vein ofEmmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas,The Christmas Toy andThe 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).^[2] 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 ofThe 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 andLiving With Dinosaurs, as well asSesame Street: 20 and Still Counting and arguablySecrets of the Muppets andDog City. No hour-longStoryTeller episodes were ever produced.

Henson's idea forLead-Free TV evolved into "MuppeTelevision"—a segment featuring existing and new Muppets characters led by Kermit the Frog ina futuristic television control room.

Muppet Show directorPeter Harris was selected as director for the series; other notable directors considered includedSam Raimi andBrad Bird.^[3]

According to Henson biographerBrian Jay Jones, Henson was skeptical about appearing on camera and originally wantedKermit 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 fromThe 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."^[4] 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."^[5]

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 specialSesame Street: 20 and Still Counting 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 ofThe Jim Henson Hour."^[6]

Critics were not kind to the show, calling it "flawed"^[7] and "dull."^[8] 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 theirUS television debut as specials onNickelodeon 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."^[9]

In a late 1989 interview withAmerican Film magazine, Henson was asked if he would "try again" withThe 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."^[10]

Frank Oz spoke of the series saying, "Whatever Jim did, even some of the things that failed, there was always amazing stuff in it, butThe Jim Henson Hour just didn't have the usual Jim focus. It was more like a grab bag of the brilliant things he's done."^[11]

TheMuppeTelevision segments have been rerun, by themselves, in Canada (part of the package that also includesThe Muppet Show andMuppets Tonight) on CTS, where it aired in mid-2006.^[12] Since the show is now only half an hour long, Henson's introductions are entirely different, with new exclusive footage of Henson only talking about the MuppeTelevision half of the program. The title, meanwhile, is changed toThe 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."

Episodes[]

Outer SpaceFriday, April 14, 1989 on NBCMuppeTelevision:Louie Anderson
The StoryTeller:The Heartless Giant

OceansFriday, April 21, 1989 on NBCMuppeTelevision:Ted Danson
Special:Lighthouse Island

PowerFriday, April 28, 1989 on NBCMuppeTelevision:The Nylons,Today
The StoryTeller:The Soldier and Death

Dog CityFriday, May 5, 1989 on NBCMuppeTelevision: Trailer Parodies
Special:Dog City

First ShowSunday, May 14, 1989 on NBCMuppeTelevision:Bobby McFerrin
Special:Miss Piggy's Hollywood

Monster MakerSunday, July 9, 1989 on NBCSpecial:Monster Maker

FitnessSunday, July 16, 1989 on NBCMuppeTelevision:Smokey Robinson
Special:Song of the Cloud Forest

VideotapeSunday, July 23, 1989 on NBCMuppeTelevision:Buster Poindexter
The StoryTeller:The True Bride

GarbageSunday, July 30, 1989 on NBCMuppeTelevision:k.d. lang
The StoryTeller:Sapsorrow

Secrets of the Muppets1992 on NickelodeonSpecial:Secrets of the Muppets

Living with Dinosaurs1993 on NickelodeonSpecial:Living with Dinosaurs

Foodnever aired in the U.S.MuppeTelevision:
The StoryTeller:The Three Ravens

Unused Ideas[]

In addition to the abandoned hour-longStoryTeller 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, aFraggle Rock origin story;Inside John, a variation on Henson'sLimbo concept, in which the various parts of a seventeen-year-old boy's brain try to wrest control of him throughout a typical day; andASTRO G.N.E.W.T.S., a special that would have blended puppets with animation, computer graphics, and video effects.^[13]

Other stories were proposed involving enchanted bowling balls, extraterrestrial mailmen, outer-space adventures, and a detective story with Kermit and the Muppet gang.^[14] Additionally, Henson considered adapting Madeleine L'Engle’sA Wrinkle in Time and the works ofA. A. Milne.^[13] Also proposed was "an hour-long musical special featuringThe Electric Mayhem in Mexico".^[15]

An unnamed pink reporter bird appears in a promotional photo of Henson with the show's main cast. The character appears on the monitors withLindbergh in several episodes, but given their prominence in the photo, may have been been intended for use in more than just background shots.

A promotional booklet for what was then called "The Jim Henson Show" showsa photograph of a man digging a grave, which appears in no known episode.

Video releases[]

Many of the specials featured on the series, such as all ofThe StoryTeller episodes, "Dog City," "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 (entitledA Fantástica Miss Piggy) and "Dog City" and "Monster Maker" were released in Japan on laserdisc byKSS Films.

None of the MuppetTelevision episodes have received home video release, though two songs from the episodes appeared on the home videoIt's Not Easy Being Green.

Notes[]

• Footage from earlier Muppet productions is shown on the television monitors at the Muppet Central control room throughout the series, as well as footage shot specifically for the series. Footage fromThe Muppet Show andSam & Friends can be spotted, as well as footage ofKai-Lee andPJ from thePlay-Along video series. 

• An outtake was staged featuring the Thought Lion nearly attacking Henson. This was shot at the same time as the alternate half-hour intro toFitness.

See also[]

• The Jim Henson Hour promotion
• Jim Henson Hour Merchandise

Sources[]

External links[]

• IMDb
• Tough Pigs Anthology: The Jim Henson Hour