This past Saturday would have been Jim Henson’s 75th birthday.
Since I may well be stepping back from the blog come October, with the exception of publishing or re-publishing some backlogged material as time allows, I thought I’d set up a series of short weekly posts counting down to the much-anticipated opening of the new Muppet movie as a way of ensuring at least a bit of fresh content. It’s just a coincidence that so many of my stockpiled links are perfect for such an endeavor.
Our first installment is a clip from a pitch that Henson & Co. made trying to sell a little something called The Muppet Show to CBS [2:41]. Like many of my links it comes courtesy of Mark Evanier, who places it in some context.
Do you remember the Jim Henson show that had the big animatronic (sp?) lion at the beginning? And they had cool tales for kids? I remember one about a man trying to escape Death. Anybody?
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ReplyDeleteYou're probably thinking about The Jim Henson Show, an anthology that aired in the US on NBC in 1989. I recall catching at least part of one episode at the time, but I was in college and barely watching any television — especially on Friday nights. Henson opened each show himself, often with The Thought Lion, who first appeared in an episode of his HBO series The Storyteller. You can find out more at the above link to the awesome Muppet Wiki site, which also has a photo that might jog your memory. I don't know if the date, channel, or format of the show(s) would've been different in Canada.