The Muppet Show is a comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring The Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975, respectively. While neither episode was moved forward as a series and other networks in the United States rejected Henson's proposals, British producer Lew Grade expressed interest in the project and agreed to co-produce The Muppet Show for ATV. Five seasons, totalling 120 episodes, were broadcast on ATV and other ITV franchises in the United Kingdom and in first-run syndication in the US from 1976 to 1981. The programme was filmed at Elstree Studios, England.
Fozzie Bear is a Muppet character known for his ineffective stand-up comedy skills. Fozzie is an orange bear who often wears a brown pork pie hat and a pink and white polka dot necktie. The character debuted on The Muppet Show, as the show's stand-up comic, a role where he constantly employed his catchphrase, "Wocka Wocka!" Shortly after telling the joke, he was usually the target of ridicule, particularly from balcony hecklers Statler and Waldorf. Fozzie was performed by Frank Oz until 2001; Eric Jacobson has since become the character's principal performer.
Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, also known as the Tin Man or—mistakenly—the "Tin Woodsman," is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappeared in many other subsequent Oz books in the series. In late 19th-century America, men made out of various tin pieces were used in advertising and political cartoons. Baum, who was editing a magazine on decorating shop windows when he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was reportedly inspired to invent the Tin Woodman by a figure he had built out of metal parts for a shop display.
Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem are a fictional Muppet musical group that debuted on The Muppet Show in 1975. They are the house band for The Muppet Show, with personalities and appearances inspired by prominent real-life rock music and jazz performers. Following The Muppet Show, they appeared in various Muppet films and television specials and have also recorded album tracks and covered numerous songs.
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.
The Muppets Take Manhattan is a 1984 American musical comedy drama film directed by Frank Oz. It is the third of a series of live-action musical feature films starring Jim Henson's Muppets with special appearances by Art Carney, James Coco, Dabney Coleman, Gregory Hines, Linda Lavin, Liza Minnelli and Joan Rivers. The film was produced by Henson Associates and TriStar Pictures, and was filmed on location in New York City during the summer of 1983 and released theatrically the following summer. It was the first film to be directed solely by Oz, who previously co-directed The Dark Crystal with Henson.
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is a 2002 American television film for NBC, directed by Kirk Thatcher and written by Tom Martin and Jim Lewis and stars Whoopi Goldberg, David Arquette, Joan Cusack, the cast of Scrubs and The Muppets. 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.
Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival is a video game released for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS in 1989 by Hi Tech Expressions. It was ported to Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. The game features Muppets created by Jim Henson in a series of carnival-inspired mini games searching for enough keys to rescue Miss Piggy from Dr. Grump. These mini games include Bumper Cars, Funhouse, Tunnel of Love, Duck Hunt and Space Ride. The game was initially released for the Apple IIc with a bug which caused it to be unwinnable. Upon achieving the win condition versus Dr. Grump, the game would enter an endless cycle of taking the player back to a previous level, instead of having Dr. Grump be defeated.
Muppet*Vision 3D is a 3D film attraction located at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Directed by Jim Henson, the attraction consists of a pre-show which then leads into Kermit the Frog guiding park guests on a tour through Muppet Studios, while the Muppets prepare their sketch acts to demonstrate their new breakthrough in 3D film technology. The show, however, completely unravels when Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's experimental 3D sprite, Waldo, causes mayhem during the next portion of the show.
David Charles Goelz is an American puppeteer and puppet builder, known for his work with the Muppets. As part of the Muppets' performing cast, Goelz performs The Great Gonzo, as well as Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf, Zoot and Beauregard, originating on The Muppet Show. Goelz's puppeteering roles also included in Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth. Outside of puppeteering work, he was also the voice of Figment in the Journey into Imagination with Figment attraction at Epcot.
Muppet Treasure Island is a 1996 American musical adventure comedy film directed by Brian Henson, produced by Jim Henson Productions, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fifth feature film to star the Muppets and is based on the 1883 novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Muppets from Space is a 1999 American science fiction comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Jim Henson Pictures. The sixth feature film to star the Muppets, it is the first film since the death of Muppets creator Jim Henson to have an original Muppet-focused plot, and is a deviation of other Muppet films as it is the only non-musical film to date. The film was directed by Tim Hill from a screenplay by Jerry Juhl, Joey Mazzarino, and Ken Kaufman, and stars Jeffrey Tambor, Pat Hingle, Rob Schneider, and Andie MacDowell, alongside Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Bill Barretta, and Frank Oz. In the film, Gonzo attempts to discover his origins after having nightmares. After he and Rizzo the Rat are captured by government officials during his search, Kermit the Frog and the rest of the Muppet gang must save them.
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz is a 2005 musical fantasy television film directed by Kirk Thatcher and starring Ashanti and The Muppets with supporting roles by Jeffrey Tambor, David Alan Grier and Queen Latifah. The film was produced by Bill Barretta and written by Debra Frank, Steve L. Hayes, Tom Martin and Adam F. Goldberg based on a story by Frank and Hayes.
Beaker is a Muppet character from The Muppet Show. He is the shy, long-suffering assistant of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and is likewise named after a piece of laboratory equipment.
Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a one-hour Sesame Street special that aired on PBS on November 16, 1983. The title comes from a song in the special, "Don't Eat the Pictures," sung by Cookie Monster. It was available as a video tape by Random House in 1987, and it was re-released on VHS by Sony Wonder in 1996 and on DVD in 2011. The special has everybody reprising their roles from the children's television series, Sesame Street. The story takes on getting locked in an American Metropolitan Museum of Art overnight as they embark on an adventure to find their friend Big Bird, who has gotten lost finding Snuffy. They must stay there until the morning while avoiding a security guard. The special features the regular human cast of Sesame Street along with several of The Muppets, including Cookie Monster, Telly, Bert & Ernie, The Count, Grover, and Oscar the Grouch. Snuffy also appears, even though his names are revealed to be Mr. Snuffleupagus and Aloysius Snuffleupagus; however, at this point in the show's history, he is still the imaginary friend of Big Bird, never seen by the other characters on Sesame Street.
Bruce Lanoil is an American puppeteer, actor and voice actor, who works for The Jim Henson Company and for The Walt Disney Company, he frequently works with puppeteer David Alan Barclay.
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is a Muppet character from The Muppet Show, performed by Dave Goelz. He is a bald, yellow-skinned, bespectacled, lab-coated scientist who would do periodic science segments from "Muppet Labs, where the future is being made today." The character has no eyes, only completely transparent, lensless glasses, giving the appearance of a stereotypical absent-minded intellectual. His first name is derived from Robert Bunsen, after whom the Bunsen Burner was named. His last name is a reference to the honeydew melon, which his head is virtually shaped like. It is also a reference to Honeywell Labs, a technology company which aired TV commercials well-known at the time of the original Muppet Show.
The Muppet Show is comic book based on the variety television series The Muppet Show and featuring The Muppets. The series was written and drawn by Roger Langridge and published by Boom Kids!, an imprint of Boom! Studios. In 2011, the Boom! license with Disney Publishing Worldwide expired. Disney's own comic book publishing subsidiary, Marvel Comics, renamed the series Muppets and published four issues in 2012.
The Muppets Movie Adventures is a 2014 platform game developed by Virtual Toys and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, exclusively for the PlayStation Vita handheld system. The title is based on the films The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. The game centres around the production of a movie, with characters from The Muppets era serving as the characters in the respective film. The Muppets Movie Adventures was released in Europe on November 5, 2014, with physical copies arriving a short time later. The North American version arrived a year later. Upon launch, the title received mixed to negative reviews.
Muppet Babies is an American computer-animated television series featuring toddler versions of the Muppets characters that began airing on Disney Junior and Disney Channel on March 23, 2018 and is aimed at a target audience of children from ages 3 to 8. It is a reboot of the original 1984–1991 animated series of the same name.
