The Muppets are a group of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque and selfreferential style of variety-sketch comedy.

Having been created in 1955 by Jim Henson, they

are the namesake for the Disneymedia franchise that encompasses films, television series,
music recordings, print publications, and other media associated with The Muppet
Show characters.
Henson once stated that the term "Muppet" had been created as a portmanteau of the words
"marionette" and "puppet", but also claimed that it was actually a word he had coined.[1] The
Muppets debuted on the television program Sam and Friends, which aired locally on WRCTV in Washington, D.C. from 1955 to 1961. After appearing on skits in several late night talk
shows and advertising commercials during the 1960s, Henson's Muppets began appearing
on Sesame Street when that show debuted in 1969. The Muppets then became the stars of
multiple television series and films, including; The Muppet Show (19761981), The Muppet
Movie (1979), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), and The
Jim Henson Hour (1989). After Henson's death in 1990, The Muppets continued their presence
in television and cinema with Muppets Tonight(199698), a series continuation of The Muppet
Show, and three films, The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), Muppet Treasure
Island (1996), Muppets from Space (1999); the former two were co-produced with Disney, who
sought to acquire the characters since the late 1980s. In 2004, The Walt Disney Company
purchased the rights to The Muppets (except for the Sesame Street characters, which were
sold separately to Sesame Workshop, as well as Fraggle Rock and other characters retained
by The Jim Henson Company),[2][3][4] and later formed The Muppets Studio; a division created
specifically for managing The Muppets franchise.
Disney re-branded the franchise beginning in 2008, in anticipation of the seventh film, The
Muppets.[5][6] The film, written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller and directed by James
Bobin, was released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 23, 2011, and met with critical
acclaim and commercial success.[7] An eighth film, Muppets Most Wanted, was released on
March 21, 2014.[8]
Contents
[hide]

1 Physicality
o 1.1 Appearance and design
o 1.2 Operation
2 History
o 2.1 Jim Henson era
o 2.2 Disney era
o 2.3 Revival
3 Characters
4 Filmography

o 4.1 Theatrical films

o 4.2 Television films
o 4.3 Television series
o 4.4 Direct-to-video releases
o 4.5 Web series
o 4.6 Television specials
o 4.7 Other appearances
5 Discography
6 Other media
o 6.1 Print publications
o 6.2 Theme parks
o 6.3 Video games
7 In popular culture
8 See also
9 Footnotes
10 References
11 External links

Physicality[edit]
Appearance and design[edit]
A common design for a Muppet is a character with a very large mouth and big protruding eyes.
The puppets are often molded or carved out of various types of foam, and then covered with
fleece, fur, or other felt-like material. Muppets may represent
humans, anthropomorphic animals, realistic animals, robots, anthropomorphic objects,
extraterrestrial creatures, mythical beings or other unidentified, newly imagined creatures,
monsters, or abstract characters.
Muppets are distinguished from ventriloquist "dummies"/"puppets", which are typically
animated only in the head and face, in that their arms or other features are also mobile and
expressive. Muppets are typically made of softer materials. They are also presented as being
independent of the puppeteer, who is usually not visiblehidden behind a set or outside of the
camera frame. Using the camera frame as the "stage" was an innovation of the Muppets.
Previously on television, there would typically be a stage hiding the performers, as if in a live
presentation. Sometimes they are seen full-bodied. This is done by using invisible strings to
move the characters' bodies and mouths, and then adding the voices later.[9]
Muppets tend to develop, as writer Michael Davis put it, "organically", meaning that the
puppeteers take time, often up to a year, slowly developing their characters and voices.
Muppets are also, as Davis said, "test-driven, passed around from one Henson troupe member
to another in the hope of finding the perfect human-Muppet match".[10]
When interacting with Muppets, children tended to act as though the Muppets were living
creatures, even when they could see the puppeteers.[11]

Operation[edit]
The puppeteer, often dubbed as the "Muppet performer", holds the Muppet above his head or
in front of his body, with one hand operating the head and mouth and the other manipulating
the hands and arms, either with two separate control rods or by "wearing" the hands like
gloves. One consequence of this design is that most Muppets are left-handed as the puppeteer
uses his right hand to operate the head while operating the arm rod with his left hand. There
are many other common designs and means of operation. In advanced Muppets, several
puppeteers may control a single character; the performer who controls the mouth usually
provides the voice for the character. As technology has evolved, the Jim Henson team and
other puppeteers have developed an enormous variety of means to operate Muppets for film
and television, including the use of suspended rigs, internal motors, remote radio control, and
computer enhanced and superimposed images. Creative use of a mix of technologies has
allowed for scenes in which Muppets appear to be riding a bicycle, rowing a boat, and even
dancing on-stage with no puppeteer in sight.

History[edit]
Jim Henson era[edit]
The Muppets were created in the 1950s, beginning with Kermit the Frog, who would
become Jim Henson's signature character. Jim Henson said the word "Muppet" predated Sam
and Friends, the first television program featuring the Muppets. Oftentimes, Henson would tell
people the term had been created by combining the words "marionette" and "puppet", but also
claimed that it was actually a word he had coined.[1] During the 1960s, the characters (notably
Kermit and Rowlf the Dog) appeared on skits in several late night talk shows and advertising
commercials. Rowlf became the first Muppet with a regular spot on network television when he
began appearing as Jimmy Dean's sidekick on The Jimmy Dean Show. After the debut
of Sesame Street in 1969 (for which Henson designed and performed several characters),
Henson decided to pursue the creation of a television program that would be aimed towards
adults and children. By 1976, The Muppet Show, a sketch comedy variety series debuted,
introducing new characters such as Miss Piggy,Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo and Animal, as
well as showcasing regulars Kermit and Rowlf. The Muppet Show became increasingly popular
due to its unique brand of humor and prolific roster of guest stars. The show's success
allowed Henson Associates to produce three theatrical features based on the group: The
Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan, which followed in
1979, 1981 and 1984, respectively.

Disney era[edit]
By the late 1980s, Jim Henson entered discussions with The Walt Disney Company, in which
the latter would acquire Jim Henson Productions and in turn, own The

Muppets franchise.[2] However, negotiations broke off after Jim Henson's 1990 death. Still
interested in the franchise, Disney co-produced the fourth and fifth Muppet films; The Muppet
Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, with Jim Henson Productions in 1992 and 1996,
respectively. Following that, the characters starred in Muppets Tonight which ran from 1996 to
1998 and a sixth film, Muppets from Space, released by Columbia Pictures in 1999. Eventually
on February 17, 2004, The Walt Disney Company purchased The Muppets intellectual
properties, consisting of rights and trademarks to The Muppet Show andBear in the Big Blue
House characters.[2][3][4] Exceptions included the Sesame Street characters (as they were
previously sold to Sesame Workshop), the Fraggle Rock characters which were retained by the
Jim Henson Company, and the distribution rights to The Muppets Take
Manhattan and Muppets from Space, which remained with Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Although the term "Muppet" is often genericized to refer to any puppet that resembles the
distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is a legal trademarkowned by Disney and The
Muppets Studio division, a wholly owned subsidiary responsible for managing the Muppet
characters. However, Sesame Workshop continues to apply the term for their characters (and
archival footage of Kermit the Frog) under license from Disney.
The Jim Henson Company retains the rights to a number of productions featuring the Disneyowned Muppet characters, including Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, The Christmas
Toy, Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting, Henson's Place, Billy Bunny's Animal Songs, the
original Dog City special, and Donna's Day. While some of these specials have since been
released uncut, current releases of Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas and The Christmas
Toy have removed the appearances by Kermit the Frog.

Revival[edit]
Disney began gradually reintroducing the franchise to the mainstream in 2008.[5][6] As a method
of regaining a wider audience, Disney began to produce and air their own comedy shorts
on YouTube.[12] After the "Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody" was posted on the Muppet Studios'
YouTube Channel, it ultimately gained 25 million views and took home two Webby Awards.
Videos are being posted on the site regularly.[13] Recently, the Muppets starred in an online web
series with Cat Cora called "The Muppets Kitchen With Cat Cora", where they show people
how to cook several items.
A television special, A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, premiered on NBC on December
17, 2008. It was released on DVD on September 29, 2009.[14][15] A Halloween special featuring
the Muppets was expected to air on ABC in October 2010,[16][17][18] but was shelved.[19]
On March 31, 2008, First Showing revealed details about a seventh Muppet film.[20] It was
announced at Disney's D23 Expo that the title would be The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever
Made.[21] The title was later referred to as The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time.[22]In January

2010, James Bobin signed on to direct The Muppets, the newly renamed film which already
had Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Chris Cooper cast as the film's main characters, and Flight
of the Conchords member Bret McKenzie serving as music supervisor.
Filming wrapped up in February of the following year and The Muppets was released on
November 23, 2011. The film was met with a positive reception, commercial success and
an Academy Award win for Best Original Song ("Man or Muppet"). In December
2011,Google released a video of the Muppets as a way to promote their social networking
site; Google+.[23]
On March 20, 2012, the Muppets received a collective star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The ceremony featured such notables as then Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross, The
Jim Henson Company's Lisa and Brian Henson, and incumbent Muppet performers; Steve
Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Peter
Linz.[24] That same year, the Muppets hosted a Just for Laughs comedy gala in Montreal.[25]
After the film's successful performance, Disney greenlit a new film in March 2012, with Bobin
and Nicholas Stoller returning to direct and write, respectively.[26] The film, a musical
comedy caper titled Muppets Most Wanted, was released on March 21, 2014 with Ricky
Gervais, Tina Fey and Ty Burrell in supporting roles.[8][27]

Characters[edit]
See also: List of Muppets
Famous Muppets from The Muppet Show and related spin-offs include Kermit the Frog, Miss
Piggy, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo, Rowlf the Dog, Scooter, Rizzo the Rat, Pep the King
Prawn, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, Johnny Fiama, Clifford, Bobo the Bear, Statler and
Waldorf, the Swedish Chef, Sal Minella, Sam Eagle, Sweetums, Robin the Frog, Walter, Annie
Sue, Pops, Lew Zealand, Beauregard, and the band Dr. Teeth and The Electric
Mayhem featuring Dr. Teeth on keyboard, Animal on the drums, Sgt. Floyd Pepper on bass,
and Janice on lead guitar, Zoot on saxophone, and Lips on trumpet. Other well-known Muppets
include Sesame Street characters such as Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and
Ernie, Grover, Cookie Monster, and the main characters of Fraggle Rock.
Television shows featuring Muppets have included The Jimmy Dean Show, Sesame
Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Bear in the Big Blue House, The Jim Henson
Hour, The Ghost of Faffner Hall, Dog City, Secret Life of Toys, Muppets Tonight, The
Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss and Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony. A recurring adultoriented cast of Muppets (in a setting known as The Land of Gorch) were featured throughout
the first season of Saturday Night Live.

Guest stars on some of these programs have occasionally had Muppet versions of themselves.
It was a regular practice for the first few episodes of The Muppet Show, and ZZ Top, among
others, have appeared as Muppet versions of themselves on Sesame Street. Muppet versions
of real people have also appeared in other shows, such as in 30 Rock, when one of the
characters, Kenneth Parcell, views his co-workers as Muppet versions in the episode "Apollo,
Apollo" on March 26, 2009.
The puppet characters of Farscape, The Storyteller, Mother Goose Stories, The
Hoobs, Construction Site and Dinosaurs, as well as from the films Labyrinth, Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles, Buddy, The Country Bears and The Dark Crystal, are not considered
Muppets,[28] as they were made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, rather than by Henson's
Muppet Workshop. The puppet casts of Puppet Up! and Tinseltown are also not considered
Muppets as they were made by The Jim Henson Company after the sale of The Muppets in
2004. The Star Wars character, Yoda, was voiced by Frank Oz, one of Henson's regular
performers, and is often referred to as a Muppet in media and reference works; he is not,
however, a Muppet and Henson's organization was not involved in the character's
conception.[29][30]
The Muppets' popularity has been so expansive that the Muppet characters have been treated
as celebrities in their own right. The Muppets have presented at the Academy
Awards and Emmy Awards;[31] made cameo appearances in such feature films as Rocky
III,[32] An American Werewolf in London[33] and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium;[34] and have
been interviewed on the news magazine 60 Minutes. Kermit the Frog was interviewed early on
in Jon Stewart's run on The Daily Show,[35] guest hosted The Tonight Show,Jimmy Kimmel
Live!, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, America's Funniest Home Videos and an April Fools'
Day edition of Larry King Live;[36] and has served as Grand Marshal of the Tournament of
Roses Parade.[37] The characters also appeared in-character on such sit-coms and dramas
as The Cosby Show, The West Wing and The Torkelsons.[citation needed] The music video for
the Weezer song "Keep Fishin'" is premised on the band performing on The Muppet Show and
features appearances by several characters. On September 28, 2005, the United States Postal
Service released a Jim Henson and the Muppets postage stamp series.[38] The Muppets also
appeared on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve for the 2008 countdown on December 31,
2007. Kermit, Rizzo and others welcomed in the new year with a series of messages to
welcome viewers back from the advertising breaks. After one such segment, with Kermit
in Times Square, co-host Ryan Seacrest thanked his pal "Kerms" for the help bringing in
'08.[39] Miss Piggy has appeared as a guest on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and
Kermit the Frog appeared on Hollywood Squares and as one of the celebrity commentators
on VH1's I Love documentary series. In September 2010, the Muppets launched a new online
cooking show called "The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora".[40]

On July 25, 2007, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta announced the opening of a new Jim
Henson Wing, which will house anywhere from 500 to 700 retired Muppets. The new wing will
also include films, sketches, and other materials from the Jim Henson Company archives. The
wing was originally slated to open in 2012, but has been delayed by a lack of funding and
rescheduled for a possible 2014 or 2015 debut.[41][42]

Filmography[edit]
Theatrical films[edit]
Film

Release date

Director

The Muppet Movie

June 22, 1979

James Frawley

The Great Muppet Caper

June 26, 1981

Jim Henson

The Muppets Take Manhattan

July 13, 1984

Frank Oz

The Muppet Christmas Carol

December 11, 1992

Bria
Brian Henson

Muppet Treasure Island

Muppets from Space

The Muppets

February 16, 1996

July 14, 1999

Tim Hill

November 23, 2011

James Bobin

Muppets Most Wanted

March 21, 2014

Reception
Film

The Muppet Movie

The Great Muppet Caper

The Muppets Take Manhattan

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Muppet Treasure Island

Muppets from Space

The Muppets

Muppets Most Wanted

Average Rating / Total gross

Television films[edit]
Film

Release date

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

Director

November 29, 2002

Kirk Thatche
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

May 20, 2005

Television series[edit]
Title

Premiere date

End date

Network

Title

Premiere date

Sam and Friends

The Muppet Show

May 9, 1955

September 13,
1976

End date

Network

December 15,
1961

March 15, 1981

WRC-TV

CBS

September 15,

December 29,

1984

1990

September 14,

September 28,

1985

1985

The Jim Henson Hour

April 14, 1989

July 30, 1989

NBC

Muppets Tonight

March 8, 1996

February 8, 1998

ABC

Muppet Babies

Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters

CBS

CBS

Direct-to-video releases[edit]
Film

Release date

Muppet Classic Theater

September 27, 1994

Kermit's Swamp Years

September 3, 2002

Web series[edit]
Title

Premiere date

End date

Title

Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony

The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora

Muppisodes[59]

Disney Drive-On with The Muppets[60]

Premiere date

End date

June 26, 2005 September 20, 2006

September 13, 2010

2010

December 6, 2013

2014

August 1, 2014

August 15, 2014

Television specials[edit]
Title

The Muppets on Puppets

Hey, Cinderella!

The Great Santa Claus Switch

Release date

January 5, 1970

April 10, 1970

December 20, 1970

The Frog Prince

May 12, 1971

The Muppet Musicians of Bremen

April 26, 1972

The Muppets Valentine Show

The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence

January 30, 1974

March 19, 1975

Title

Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

The Muppets Go Hollywood

John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together

The Muppets Go to the Movies

Of Muppets and Men

The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show

Rocky Mountain Holiday with John Denver and the Muppets

The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years

The Tale of the Bunny Picnic

Release date

December 17, 1978

May 16, 1979

December 5, 1979

May 20, 1981

1981

September 17, 1982

May 12, 1983

January 21, 1986

March 26, 1986

The Christmas Toy

December 6, 1986

A Muppet Family Christmas

December 16, 1987

The Song of the Cloud Forest

July 16, 1989

The Muppets at Walt Disney World

May 6, 1990

Title

Release date

Disneyland's 35th Anniversary

1990

The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson

September 11, 1990

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

December 6, 1995

Studio DC hosted by Dylan and Cole Sprouse

August 3, 2008

Studio DC hosted by Selena Gomez

October 5, 2008

A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa

December 17, 2008

Lady Gaga and the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular[61]

November 28, 2013

Other appearances[edit]

The Mike Douglas

Show
The Ed Sullivan
Show
Saturday Night Live
60 Minutes
The Tonight Show
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition
Dancing With The
Stars

The Daily Show

America's Funniest
Home Videos
Larry King Live
Late Night with Jimmy
Fallon[62]
The Colbert Report
30 Rock
WWE Raw
The Voice

Discography[edit]
Main article: The Muppets discography

Ellen
Comic Relief
So Random!
Good Luck Charlie
Take Two With Phineas
and Ferb
George
Stroumboulopoulos
Tonight
Ant and Dec's Saturday
Night Takeaway
The View
America's Got Talent

On September 17, 2002, Rhino Records released The Muppet Show: Music, Mayhem, and
More, a compilation album of music from The Muppet Show and subsequent film outings.
Under Disney ownership, albums featuring or relating to "The Muppets" characters, have been
released by Walt Disney Records, including Best of the Muppets: The Muppets' Wizard of
Oz (2005), The Muppets: A Green and Red Christmas (2006), Muppets: The Green
Album (2011), The Muppets: Original Soundtrack (2011), and Muppets Most Wanted: Original
Soundtrack (2014). Legal rights to Muppet-related songs such as "Rainbow Connection" and
the "The Muppet Show Theme", are controlled by Fuzzy Muppet Songs and Mad Muppet
Melodies, divisions of Disney Music Publishing.
The Muppets also released John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, with John
Denver in 1979.

Other media[edit]
Print publications[edit]
Since the late 1970s, numerous Muppet-related comic books have been released over the
years. The first comic strips based on The Muppets appeared on September 21, 1981, in over
500 daily newspapers, just months after The Muppet Show ended its five-year run. The
Muppets Comic Strip was printed daily from 1981 to 1986. By the end of its initial run, the
comic strip was seen in over 660 newspapers worldwide. Special strips were also created in
color, exclusively for issues of Muppet Magazine.
The only film in the franchise to see a comic book adaptation was The Muppets Take
Manhattan. The comic book series was adapted by Marvel Comics in 1984, as the 68 page
story in Marvel Super Special No. 32, August. The adaptation was later re-printed into three
limited series issues, released under Marvel's Star Comics imprint (November 1984 January
1985).
In the wake of the success of the Muppet Babies television show, Star Comics began releasing
the Muppet Babies comic book title on a bi-monthly basis. These were original stories, not
adaptations of the show's episodes.
In the final Disney Adventures issue, with a cover date of November 2007, a one-page story
single strip focusing on Fozzie Bear, Smedley, Statler, and Waldorf (with a cameo by Scooter)
was released. Roger Langridge wrote and drew the comics intending it to be more long
running.
In 2009, Boom! Studios began publishing The Muppet Show, a mini-series based on the
eponymous television show and written and drawn by Roger Langridge. An ongoing series
titled The Muppet Show: The Comic Book followed and ran for eleven issues. Additionally,
Boom! Studios also published Muppet fairy-tale comic adaptations similar to The Muppet

Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. In 2012, Marvel Comics took over the publishing
duties for the series.[63]
A comic strip by Guy Gilchrist and Brad Gilchrist circulated in newspapers during the 1980s.
Many of the strips were compiled in various book collections.[64]
Muppet Magazine was published from 1983 to 1989. The magazine took on the format of being
"by" the Muppets more than about them, and had such features as celebrity interviews and
comic stories.[65]

Theme parks[edit]
Main article: Muppet*Vision 3D
The Muppet Show characters have been making worldwide appearances at Disney theme
parks and the Disney Cruise Line since 1990. Their first attraction, Here Comes the Muppets,
was a live stage show that opened shortly after Jim Henson's death and ran atDisney's
Hollywood Studios (known then as Disney-MGM Studios) for a year. Muppet*Vision 3D opened
on May 16, 1991, at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and is notable for being the final Muppets
project to be produced by Jim Henson, the attraction had a subsequent opening on February 8,
2001, at Disney California Adventure Park, part of the Disneyland Resort. Directed by Henson
and written by Bill Prady, the show is a 3D film featuring the Muppets in a plot similar to what
was seen on The Muppet Show.
Walt Disney Imagineering designed the Muppet Mobile Lab, a free-roving, audioanimatronic that was later tested at Disney California Adventure Park and at Epcot at Walt
Disney World. It is currently deployed at Hong Kong Disneyland.[66]

Video games[edit]
A number of video games featuring the Muppets have been produced since the 1990s.

Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival (1990)

Muppets Inside (1996)

Muppet RaceMania (2000)

Muppet Monster Adventure (2000)

Spy Muppets: License to Croak (2003)

Muppets Party Cruise (2003)

In popular culture[edit]
Muppet-like and Muppet-inspired puppets star in the 2004 Tony Award-winning Broadway
musical Avenue Q (which disavows any relationship with Sesame Workshop or the Jim
Henson Company, possibly to avoid lawsuits from the two companies). Peter Jackson's

film, Meet the Feebles is another parody of the Muppets. A vomit-spewing Kermit the Frog was
a recurring character on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and the Muppets were frequently
preempted at the beginning of episodes for the Canadian series You Can't Do That on
Television. Seth Green's short-lived show Greg the Bunny was about sentient hand-puppets
working in a Muppet-like children's show. Many other films and television shows such as The
Simpsons, Family Guy, The West Wing and Robot Chicken have referenced The Muppets.

See also[edit]
Muppets portal

Sesame Street (1969present)

Fraggle Rock (19831987)

Footnotes[edit]
1. ^ Theatrical and home media distribution rights were transferred to The Walt Disney
Studios in 2004, and such films were subsequently reissued as a Walt Disney
Pictures release in 2005.

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Jones, Brian Jay (2013). "Sam and Friends". Jim Henson: The Biography.
New York: Ballantine Books. pp. 4142.ISBN 978-0-345-52611-3. "It was really just a term
we made up. For a long time I would tell people it was a combination of marionettes and
puppets but, basically, it was really just a word that we coined. We have done very few
things connected with marionettes."
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c "The Walt Disney Company and The Jim Henson Company Sign
Agreement for Disney to buy The "Muppets" and "Bear in the Big Blue House"". Press
release. The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved 16 January 2013. "In the months before his
death in 1990, my father Jim Henson pursued extensive discussions with The Walt Disney
Company based on his strong belief that Disney would be a perfect home for the Muppets."
3. ^ Jump up to:a b "The Walt Disney Company and The Jim Henson Company Sign
Agreement for Disney to buy the "Muppets" and "Bear in the Big Blue House"". Press
release. The Jim Henson Company. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b "Disney buys Muppets as bid prospect fades". The Independent. February
18, 2004. Retrieved December 31, 2011.[dead link]
5. ^ Jump up to:a b Barnes, Brooks (18 September 2008). "Fuzzy Renaissance". The New
York Times. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b Jurgensen, John (19 August 2011). "A Muppet Makeover". The Wall Street
Journal. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
7. Jump up^ Fleming, Michael (March 12, 2008). "Segel and Stoller take on
Muppets". Variety. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
8. ^ Jump up to:a b Fritz, Ben (15 January 2013). "Disney cancels 'Little Mermaid 3-D,' dates
'Pirates 5' for 2015". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
9. Jump up^ Christopher Finch Jim Henson: The Works 1993, ISBN 0-679-41203-4.
10. Jump up^ Davis, Michael (2008). Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.
New York: Viking Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-670-01996-0.

11. Jump up^ Morrow, Robert W. (2006). Sesame Street and the Reform of Children's
Television. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 84. ISBN 0-80188230-3.
12. Jump up^ Muppet Studios' YouTube Channel
13. Jump up^ O'Neill, Megan (July 20, 2010). "How The Muppets Made A Comeback On
YouTube". Retrieved December 30, 2011.
14. Jump up^ DVDizzy.com and UltimateDisney.com: The Ultimate Guide to Disney DVD and
Beyond.
15. Jump up^ "Letters to Santa" DVD Details!". The Muppet Newsflash. June 6, 2009.
Retrieved December 31, 2011.
16. Jump up^ Muppets at D23: Movies, DVDs, and Merchandise News!
17. Jump up^ "The Muppets at D23". The Muppet Newsflash. September 17, 2009. Retrieved
December 31, 2011.
18. Jump up^ D23 Update: Special Muppets Presentation.
19. Jump up^ Hill, Jim (April 29, 2010). "With new merch & a new movie in the pipeline,
there's no stopping the Muppets now". Jim Hill Media. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
20. Jump up^ Billington, Alex. "Jason Segel Reveals New Muppets Movie Details". First
Showing. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
21. Jump up^ New Disney Pirates, Muppet, Beatles Movies Announced At D23 Expo |
Access Hollywood Celebrity News, Photos & Videos
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