Welcome to The Muppets Appreciation Thread!



The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise, now owned by The Walt Disney Company, that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters.

The Muppets originated in the short-form television series Sam and Friends, which aired from 1955 to 1961. Following appearances on late night talk shows and in advertising during the 1960s, the Muppets began appearing on Sesame Street (1969–present), and attained celebrity status and international recognition through The Muppet Show (1976–1981), which received four Primetime Emmy Award wins and twenty-one nominations during its five-year run.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Muppets diversified into theatrical films, including The Muppet Movie (1979); The Great Muppet Caper (1981); and The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984). Disney began involvement with them in the late 1980s, during which Henson entered negotiations to sell The Jim Henson Company. The Muppets continued their media presence on television with Muppet Babies (1984–91), as well as The Jim Henson Hour (1989) and Muppets Tonight (1996–98), both of which were similar in format to The Muppet Show; and three theatrical films: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), Muppet Treasure Island (1996) and Muppets from Space (1999).

Disney acquired the Muppets from the Henson family in February 2004, allowing the characters to gain broader public exposure than in previous years.[1][2][3] Under Disney, subsequent projects included two theatrical films: The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014); a short-lived primetime series (2015–2016);[4][5][6][7][8] a reboot of Muppet Babies (2018–2022); the short-lived streaming television series Muppets Now (2020); and the Halloween special Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021).

In their six-decade career, the Muppets have been regarded as a staple of the entertainment industry and popular culture in the United States and English-speaking area generally, being recognized by various cultural institutions and organizations, including the American Film Institute, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Library of Congress, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. x




Muppets Filmography
movies

The Muppet Movie (1979)
Kermit and his newfound friends trek across America to find success in Hollywood, but a frog legs merchant is after Kermit.

cast info


The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
Kermit the Frog, The Great Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear are reporters who travel to Britain to interview a rich victim of jewel thieves and help her along with her secretary, Miss Piggy

cast info


The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
Kermit and his friends go to New York City to get their musical on Broadway only to find it's a more difficult task than they anticipated.

cast info


The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
The Muppet characters tell their version of the classic tale of an old and bitter miser's redemption on Christmas Eve.

cast info


Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
The Muppets' twist on the classic tale.

cast info


Muppets from Space (1999)
Gonzo is contacted by his alien family through his breakfast cereal. But when the men in black kidnap him, it's up to Kermit and the gang to rescue Gonzo and help him reunite with his long-lost family.

cast info

The Muppets (2011)
A Muppet fanatic with some help from his 2 human compatriots must regroup the Muppet gang to stop an avaricious oil mogul from taking down one of their precious life-longing treasures.

cast info

Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
While on a grand world tour, The Muppets find themselves wrapped into an European jewel-heist caper headed by a Kermit the Frog look-alike and his dastardly sidekick.

cast info

Direct-to-video releases

Muppet Sing Alongs: Billy Bunny's Animal Songs (1993)
Billy Bunny's Animal Songs (also known as Muppet Sing Alongs: Billy Bunny's Animal Songs) is a direct-to-video musical film featuring The Muppets. It is the first direct-to-video feature film in The Muppets franchise. It was the first of the titles in the Muppet Sing-Alongs series filmed in 1990 before production on The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson and released on May 21, 1993. This film was credited as one of Carmen Osbahr's first projects with the Muppets and also served as one of Richard Hunt's final works before his death

more info here

Muppet Sing Alongs: It's Not Easy Being Green (1994)

Muppet Classic Theater (1994)
Muppet Classic Theater (also known as Muppet Family Theater in the Republic of Ireland and Muppet Fairy Tales in the United Kingdom) is a direct-to-video musical comedy film featuring The Muppets. It is the first direct-to-video feature film in The Muppets franchise. The film was released on September 27, 1994.

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Muppet Sing Alongs: Things That Fly (1996)

Kermit's Swamp Years (2002)
Kermit's Swamp Years is a 2002 American direct-to-video comedy film directed by David Gumpel. It is the second direct-to-video feature film in The Muppets franchise. The film follows a young Kermit the Frog and his best friends, Goggles and Croaker, who travel outside their homes in the swamps of the Deep South to go on an adventure.

The film was released on VHS, DVD and on the Starz network on August 18, 2002.[1] Although the film’s distribution rights are still owned by Sony Pictures rather than The Walt Disney Company, Kermit's Swamp Years was filmed at the Disney-MGM Studios, which is now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios and Naples, Florida.

more info here

Television

Sam and Friends ( May 9, 1955 December 15, 1961)
Sam and Friends is an American live-action/puppet sketch comedy television series created by puppeteer Jim Henson and his eventual wife Jane Nebel. It was taped and aired twice daily as a local series in Washington, D.C., on WRC-TV in black and white, and later color, on weeknights from May 9, 1955, to December 15, 1961. Most of the original episodes were never recorded, and some that were have been lost. A few surviving episodes can be viewed at the Paley Center for Media but many can also be found on video websites like YouTube,[2][3] such as those digitally archived by The Jim Henson Company. Some have been documented by either the Henson Archives or newspaper articles published while the show was still on air.

more info here

The Muppet Show (September 13, 1976 - March 15, 1981)
The Muppet Show is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with plotlines taking place backstage and in other areas of the venue. Within its context, Kermit the Frog acts as showrunner and host, who tries to maintain control of the overwhelming antics of the other Muppet characters, as well as appease the rotating slate of guest stars.[3] The Muppet Show is also known for its uniquely designed characters, burlesque nature, physical slapstick, sometimes absurdist and surreal humour, and parodies.[4] As The Muppet Show became popular, many celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in subsequent films.

more info here

Muppet Babies (September 15, 1984 - December 29, 1990)
The Muppet Babies live in a large nursery watched over by Nanny, who is seen only from the shoulders down. The babies' imaginary games transition from the nursery into scenes that become "real" to the babies, such as finding themselves aboard a pirate ship or in the land of Oz. Often these fantasies are filled with stock footage scenes or live-action clips from popular movies such as Star Wars, Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones. Each episode contains a related musical number. When the pretend game becomes too perilous, or when an interruption occurs (often in the form of Nanny checking in or the imaginary game straying too far from its original premise), the scene dissolves and they find themselves in the nursery once more.

The central idea of each episode is the power of imagination. Sometimes, the babies use their imagination to solve a problem (when Nanny's newspaper is accidentally ruined, the babies write their own newspaper to replace it), but occasionally their imaginations run away with them (overhearing Nanny's phone call to the garbage collector to help her decide which armchair to donate to charity leads the babies to fear that one of them [which was thought to be Fozzie] is going to be thrown away). Other frequent themes involve the babies coming up with new ways to play with old toys, imagining what life will be like when they are adults, or facing common childhood firsts such as a visit to the dentist or a new addition to the family. Nanny is the voice of reason, congratulating them on their creativity or soothing their fears.

more info here


Little Muppet Monsters (September 14, 1985 - September 28, 1985)
Little Muppet Monsters is a Saturday morning television series featuring the Muppets that aired three episodes on CBS in 1985. The first season of Muppet Babies did so well in the ratings, that CBS decided to expand the series from a half-hour to an hour, pairing Muppet Babies with Little Muppet Monsters. They called the hour-long package Muppets, Babies and Monsters.

more info here

The Jim Henson Hour (April 14, 1989 - July 30, 1989)
The Jim Henson Hour is a television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the Muppet characters.

Nine of the twelve episodes produced aired on NBC before the program was canceled due to low ratings. Two episodes later aired on Nickelodeon in 1992 and 1993, and the final episode "Food" never aired. The show was never broadcast in the UK. After The Jim Henson Hour, the Muppets did not have another prime-time TV show until Muppets Tonight in 1996, six years after Jim Henson's death.

more info here

Jim Henson's Animal Show (October 3, 1994 - June 28, 1998)
Jim Henson's Animal Show is an American children's television series from the Jim Henson Company that aired from October 3, 1994, to June 28, 1998. The show premiered as part of The Fox Cubhouse for its first two seasons. The show later moved to Animal Planet with its third season released as early as February 18, 1998.

more info here

Muppets Tonight (March 8, 1996 - February 8, 1998)
Muppets Tonight is an American live-action/puppet family-oriented television series created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring The Muppets. Much like the "MuppeTelevision" segment of The Jim Henson Hour, the show was a continuation of The Muppet Show, set in a television studio rather than a theater.[2]

Unlike the original Muppet Show, most episodes of Muppets Tonight featured multiple guest stars. There would usually be one principal guest, but other celebrities would make small walk-on appearances. For example, the Garth Brooks episode features a cameo from Leonard Nimoy.[3]

It first ran on ABC from March 8 to July 14, 1996, with reruns on Disney Channel from 1997 to 2000.

more info here

Muppets TV (October 29, 2006 - December 31, 2006)

Muppet Moments (April 3, 2015 - November 28, 2015)

The Muppets (September 22, 2015 -March 1, 2016)
The Muppets (stylized as the muppets.) is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2015 to March 1, 2016. Co-created by Bill Prady and Bob Kushell,[3] the series was produced by ABC Studios and The Muppets Studio, with Randall Einhorn and Muppet performer Bill Barretta serving as executive producers alongside Prady and Kushell.[4] On May 12, 2016, ABC cancelled the series after one season.

The series is set in Los Angeles and depicts the everyday personal and professional lives of The Muppets during production of Up Late with Miss Piggy, a fictional late-night talk show starring Miss Piggy.[5] The Muppets serves as a parody of other mockumentary-style series, such as The Office, Modern Family, and Parks and Recreation by employing the same single-camera setup filming style with the implication of a documentary crew filming everyone.[6] The series stars Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Peter Linz in multiple roles.[7] This was the last Muppet series to feature Whitmire before his dismissal in October 2016.


more info here

Muppet Babies (March 23, 2018 - November 28, 2021)
The show details Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Summer Penguin, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and The Great Gonzo and a cast of characters using their imaginations.

more info here

Muppets Now (July 31, 2020 - September 4, 2020)
Muppets Now is a series consisting of multiple different segments bridged together by a framing device featuring Scooter. The segments include a game show, a cooking show, and a talk show. The series was marketed as unscripted, but several writers are credited. The show sees the debut of two new characters, Joe the Legal Weasel and Beverly Plume.

more info here

The Muppets Mayhem (coming soon on disney+)
Junior A&R executive Nora must deal with the madness caused by The Electric Mayhem, who come face-to-face with the modern musical business as they try to record their first-ever platinum album

more info here

Television films

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (November 29, 2002)
The plot centers on Kermit the Frog who, after losing all hope for saving the Muppet Theatre, is assisted by an angel who shows him a world in which he was never born. The film is a homage to Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life, which has a similar plot.

more info here

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (May 20, 2005)
A contemporary adaptation of the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, the story follows young Dorothy Gale, who works in her Aunt Em's diner, but dreams of becoming a singer somewhere beyond her small Kansas town. Swept up by a tornado, in her trailer home with pet prawn Toto, she lands in Oz and embarks on a journey to meet the Wizard who can help make her dreams come true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Muppets%27_Wizard_of_Oz]more info here[/url]

Television specials

The Muppets on Puppets January 5, 1970
Hey, Cinderella! April 10, 1970
The Great Santa Claus Switch December 20, 1970
The Frog Prince May 12, 1971
The Muppet Musicians of Bremen April 26, 1972
The Muppets Valentine Show January 30, 1974
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas December 4, 1977
The Muppets Go Hollywood May 16, 1979
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together December 5, 1979
The Muppets Go to the Movies May 20, 1981
Of Muppets and Men 1981
The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show September 17, 1982
Rocky Mountain Holiday with John Denver and the Muppets May 12, 1983
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years January 21, 1986
The Tale of the Bunny Picnic 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
Disneyland's 35th Anniversary February 6, 1990
The Muppets at Walt Disney World May 6, 1990
The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson November 21, 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 November 28, 2013
Muppets Haunted Mansion October 8, 2021

Video games

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)
The Muppets Movie Adventures (2014)

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