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| The second half of the show was either an episode of '']'' or a half-hour special. The second half was more serious at times (''Lighthouse Island'') but sometimes it was funny (''Miss Piggy's Hollywood''). Several episodes were one-hour specials like "Dog City" or "Monster Maker." | The second half of the show was either an episode of '']'' or a half-hour special. The second half was more serious at times (''Lighthouse Island'') but sometimes it was funny (''Miss Piggy's Hollywood''). Several episodes were one-hour specials like "Dog City" or "Monster Maker." | ||
Revision as of 21:10, 11 January 2006
The Jim Henson Hour was a television show that aired on NBC in 1989.
The show began its run in early April, but the first show Sesame Street… 20 Years & Still Counting aired solo. The show premiered the following week.
At the beginning of each show, Jim Henson would come out with the white lion from The Storyteller to introduce the show. Most of the episodes were split into two half-hour parts; a few were one-hour specials.
In the two-part shows, the first half was MuppeTelevison, a variation on The Muppet Show in which the Muppets are running a cable television network instead of performing a vaudeville show in a theater.
The main MuppeTelevision cast included:
Fozzie Bear appeared in a couple of the episodes -- visiting the set of The Today Show in one episode, and in a horror film sketch in another. Miss Piggy appeared once on MuppeTelevision talking to Kermit on the phone, setting up the episode's second half -- a half-hour special called Miss Piggy's Hollywood, in which Piggy and Gonzo tried to interview unwilling celebrities.
The house band for MuppeTelevision was called Solid Foam, taking the place of the Muppet Show's Electric Mayhem. The band included:
- Digit, keyboard
- Flash, saxophone and vocals (later replaced by Zoot)
- Clifford, bass guitar and vocals
- Beard, guitar and vocals
- The Female Drummer of the Solid Foam, drums (later replaced by Animal)
The show acknowledged its own low ratings in many episodes, parodying what people would "rather" watch -- violent movies, stupid stunts, etcetera.
Continuing in the Muppet Show tradition, every episode had a guest star. The guest stars on the show included:
- Louie Anderson
- Ted Danson
- The Nylons, Willard Scott and Jane Pauley
- Bobby McFerrin and Marc Weiner
- Smokey Robinson
- Buster Poindexter
- K.d. Lang
The second half of the show was either an episode of The Storyteller or a half-hour special. The second half was more serious at times (Lighthouse Island) but sometimes it was funny (Miss Piggy's Hollywood). Several episodes were one-hour specials like "Dog City" or "Monster Maker."
The show had 13 episodes, 1 of which aired solo, 9 episodes aired and 3 remained unaired. There were four hour-long shows: Monster Maker, Living With Dinosaurs, Secrets of the Muppets and Dog City. After the thirteen episodes, the show was cancelled.
In 1992, children's cable network Nickelodeon aired Secrets of the Muppets, one of the lost episodes. They followed with another unaired episode, Living with Dinosaurs, in 1993.
The final episode -- MuppeTelevision's "Food" episode, and the Storyteller episode "The Three Ravens" -- aired in the UK in 1990. It is the only episode of The Jim Henson Hour that was never aired in the US.
After the Jim Henson Hour, the Muppets would not have another prime-time TV show until Muppets Tonight, 7 years later.