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A promotional booklet for what was then called The Jim Henson Show shows a photograph of a man digging a grave, which appears in no known episode. An NBC TV advertisement for the first episode shows two shots from [[Living With Dinosaurs]], which is not from the episode (which featured [[The Storyteller]]: [[The Heartless Giant]]). [[Living With Dinosaurs]] never aired on NBC due to the show's cancellation. Ads for the rest of the episodes were presumably edited along with the show itself, since they use effects seen in the series - a page peel (Power) and box-shaped monitors spinning in space ([[Secrets of the Muppets]] ). |
A promotional booklet for what was then called The Jim Henson Show shows a photograph of a man digging a grave, which appears in no known episode. An NBC TV advertisement for the first episode shows two shots from [[Living With Dinosaurs]], which is not from the episode (which featured [[The Storyteller]]: [[The Heartless Giant]]). [[Living With Dinosaurs]] never aired on NBC due to the show's cancellation. Ads for the rest of the episodes were presumably edited along with the show itself, since they use effects seen in the series - a page peel (Power) and box-shaped monitors spinning in space ([[Secrets of the Muppets]] ). |
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| + | There were many ideas for unmade episodes. An origin story for the Fraggles would have been titled The Saga of Fraggle Rock. Inside John would have been a variation on Jim’s Limbo concept, where the parts of a seventeen-year-old boy’s brain try to wrest control of him throughout a typical day. Stories were suggested involving enchanted bowling balls and extraterrestrial mailmen. They considered adapting Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and the works of A. A. Milne. A possible series titled ASTRO G.N.E.W.T.S. would have blended puppets with animation, computer graphics, and video effects. |
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==Gallery== |
==Gallery== |
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Revision as of 06:02, 31 October 2013
| Premiere | April 14, 1989 |
| Finale | July 30, 1989 |
| Network | NBC |
| Episodes | 12 |
Kermit the Frog and Jim Henson, and inside the TV (from top to bottom); Ubu, Digit, Lindbergh, Zondra, and Leon.
Jim Henson with the Thought Lion hosts an hour of television.
Clockwise from left: Unnamed bird character, Jim Henson, Lindbergh, Kermit, Zondra, and Digit.
Clockwise from left: Bean Bunny, Jim Henson, Gonzo, Beard, Lindbergh, Leon, Vicki, and Kermit
The Jim Henson Hour was an hour-long prime-time anthology series produced by Jim Henson as a showcase for a variety of Jim Henson Productions' television work. The short-lived series aired over the course of three and a half months in 1989. During this time, a total of nine episodes (out of twelve produced in total) aired on NBC, before the low-rated series was cancelled. Two episodes made their US television premiere as specials on Nickelodeon in 1992 and 1993, and the last episode never aired in the United States. In-development titles for the show include "Jim Henson Presents" and "The Jim Henson Family Hour".[1]
Before the show premiered, Jim Henson created a pitch tape which would be used to sell the concept to a network, as well as a short pilot called Inner Tube. In the same time slot a week before the series debuted, the special Sesame 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 of The Jim Henson Hour."[2]
The anthology format of The Jim Henson Hour recalled Walt Disney's popular Sunday-night series known under various titles, including Disneyland, Walt Disney Presents and The Wonderful World of Disney. In April 1989, NBC aired The Jim Henson Hour on Friday nights and The Magical World of Disney on Sunday nights.
One of the show's regular segments was "MuppeTelevision," a half-hour comedy-variety show updating the classic Muppet Show. The show also featured regular visits with the StoryTeller, half-hour Muppet specials, and hour-long Creature Shop specials.
In a late 1989 interview with American Film magazine, Henson was asked if he would "try again" with The 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."[3]
Episodes
- Episode 101 — Friday, April 14, 1989 on NBC
- MuppeTelevision: "Outer Space"
- Guest star: Louie Anderson
- The Storyteller: The Heartless Giant
- Episode 102 — Friday, April 21, 1989 on NBC
- MuppeTelevision: "Oceans"
- Guest star: Ted Danson
- Special: Lighthouse Island
- Episode 103 — Friday, April 28, 1989 on NBC
- MuppeTelevision: "Power"
- Guest star: The Nylons, The Today Show
- The Storyteller: The Soldier and Death
- Episode 104 — Friday, May 5, 1989 on NBC
- MuppeTelevision: Movie Trailer Parodies
- Special: Dog City
- Episode 105 — Sunday, May 14, 1989 on NBC
- MuppeTelevision: "First Show"
- Guest star: Bobby McFerrin
- Special: Miss Piggy's Hollywood
- Episode 106 — Sunday, July 9, 1989 on NBC
- Special: Monster Maker
- Episode 107 — Sunday, July 16, 1989 on NBC
- MuppeTelevision: "Fitness"
- Guest star: Smokey Robinson
- Special: Song of the Cloud Forest
- Episode 108 — Sunday, July 23, 1989 on NBC
- MuppeTelevision: "Videotape"
- Guest star: Buster Poindexter
- The Storyteller: The True Bride
- Episode 109 — Sunday, July 30, 1989 on NBC
- Episode 110 — 1992 on Nickelodeon
- Special: Secrets of the Muppets
- Episode 111 — 1993 on Nickelodeon
- Special: Living with Dinosaurs
- Episode 112 — aired in the UK in 1990; never aired in the U.S.
- MuppeTelevision: "Food"
- The Storyteller: The Three Ravens
Video releases
The episodes "Dog City " and "Monster Maker " have been released in Japan on laserdisc by KSS Films. Most of the films featured on the series, such as the Storyteller episodes, Lighthouse Island, Miss Piggy's Hollywood and Song of the Cloud Forest , have received DVD, VOD or other releases. None of the MuppetTelevision episodes have received any home video release.
Notes
Footage from earlier Muppet productions is shown on the television monitors at Central Control throughout, as well as footage shot specifically for the series. Footage from The Muppet Show and Sam & Friends can be spotted, as well as footage of Kai-Lee and PJ from the Play-A-Long video series. A promotional photo of Jim Henson with the show's main cast shows an unknown pink reporter bird character, who appears on the monitors with Lindbergh in several episodes and was probably intended for a larger role in the series.
A promotional booklet for what was then called The Jim Henson Show shows a photograph of a man digging a grave, which appears in no known episode. An NBC TV advertisement for the first episode shows two shots from Living With Dinosaurs, which is not from the episode (which featured The Storyteller: The Heartless Giant). Living With Dinosaurs never aired on NBC due to the show's cancellation. Ads for the rest of the episodes were presumably edited along with the show itself, since they use effects seen in the series - a page peel (Power) and box-shaped monitors spinning in space (Secrets of the Muppets ).
There were many ideas for unmade episodes. An origin story for the Fraggles would have been titled The Saga of Fraggle Rock. Inside John would have been a variation on Jim’s Limbo concept, where the parts of a seventeen-year-old boy’s brain try to wrest control of him throughout a typical day. Stories were suggested involving enchanted bowling balls and extraterrestrial mailmen. They considered adapting Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and the works of A. A. Milne. A possible series titled ASTRO G.N.E.W.T.S. would have blended puppets with animation, computer graphics, and video effects.
Gallery
Sources
- ↑ 8/22/1987 - Meet with Brandon Tartikoff/ Propose The Jim Henson Hour. All summer - filming "The Bear" Jean Jacques Amiel in Alps Creature Shop project
- ↑ The New York Times. April 7, 1989
- ↑ "Jim Henson: Miss Piggy went to market and $150 million came home", American Film. November, 1989.