A green frog made from his mother's old coat and half a ping-pong ball, first seen on Washington television in 1955 (1955)
Kermit, on the five-minute programme Sam and Friends; he was not yet identified as a frog
General knowledge · Film, TV & games
The Muppets
From 1955
Puppetry and television — the creations of Jim Henson
The puppet characters created by Jim Henson, who began in 1955 with a five-minute local programme, Sam and Friends, on WRC-TV in Washington. Henson's innovation was to build for the camera rather than the stage: soft foam and fleece faces, rod-controlled arms and performers working below the frame while watching themselves on a monitor. The characters became famous through Sesame Street from 1969 and through a variety series made in England for Lew Grade between 1976 and 1981, after American networks declined it. Henson died suddenly in 1990, and the Walt Disney Company bought the characters in 2004.
How to spot them
- ▸Foam-and-fleece faces built for the camera, with performers below the frame watching a monitor
- ▸Jim Henson and Frank Oz as the two principal performers; Statler and Waldorf heckling from a box
- ▸A word Henson said was a blend of marionette and puppet
- ▸Split ownership: Sesame Street characters with Sesame Workshop, the rest with Disney since 2004
Key facts
A variety series made at Elstree for Lew Grade's ATV because the American networks would not commission it (1976)
It ran for five series to 1981 and was sold to more than a hundred countries
Two old men heckling the acts from a box beside the stage
Statler and Waldorf, named after New York hotels
Frank Oz performing a glamorous pig, a nervous bear, a wild drummer and a disapproving eagle
Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal and Sam the Eagle; Oz also played Bert, Grover and Cookie Monster on Sesame Street
'Rainbow Connection', sung on a banjo in a swamp, nominated for an Academy Award in 1980 (1979)
Written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher for the 1979 feature film
Jim Henson's sudden death in May 1990, aged 53, from a streptococcal infection (1990)
Steve Whitmire took over Kermit; Henson's memorial service was famously a celebration, with no black worn
Bought by the Walt Disney Company in 2004 — but without the Sesame Street characters (2004)
Those stayed with Sesame Workshop; the Jim Henson Company remained with the family
A one-off variety special on ABC and Disney+ in February 2026, with Sabrina Carpenter and Seth Rogen (2026)
It drew 7.58 million viewers in eight days and was widely treated as a pilot for a full revival
Quick-fire facts
- •Jim Henson began with Sam and Friends on WRC-TV in Washington in 1955, while still a student
- •Kermit was built from one of Henson's mother's coats with a ping-pong ball cut in half for eyes
- •Henson said the word was a blend of 'marionette' and 'puppet', though he later admitted he liked the sound of it
- •Sesame Street began in 1969, produced by the Children's Television Workshop, now Sesame Workshop
- •The Muppet Show was made in England at ATV Elstree from 1976 to 1981, after the US networks passed on it
- •Frank Oz performed Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal and Sam the Eagle, and Bert, Grover and Cookie Monster
- •'Rainbow Connection' from the 1979 film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song
- •Jim Henson died on 16 May 1990, aged 53, of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome
- •Disney acquired the Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House in 2004; the Sesame Street characters were not part of the deal
- •A new variety special aired on Disney+ and ABC on 4 February 2026
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Sources
- Variety — 'Muppet Show' revival special draws 7.58 million viewers Consulted for the February 2026 special; cited without URL
- Brian Jay Jones — Jim Henson: The Biography