Franchise / The Muppets

They're the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational group you'll ever meet.^note T-to-B, L-to-R: Bunsen Honeydew, Uncle Deadly, Statler and Waldorf, Link Hogthrob, Dr. Teeth, Beaker, Lew Zealand, Animal, Floyd, Rowlf, Robin, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Camilla, The Great Gonzo, Kermit the Frog, and Scooter

"I think with The Muppets, there's some sort of innocence in them you know. And I think that's something that appeals to the child in everybody."

— Jim Henson

The long-running puppet show franchise created by Jim Henson, starring his cast of characters. For the type of puppets themselves and others inspired by them, see the Muppet trope.

The exact definition of the franchise is fuzzy, as it can refer to either the whole thing—including The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock—or just the former series and other works in its universe. Note that legally speaking, "The Muppets" now only refers to the Muppet Show characters owned by Disney, although Sesame Workshop also has permission to use the term to refer to its Sesame Street characters. The Fraggle Rock characters (still owned by the Henson company) were designated as Muppets to start with, but are no longer referred to as such. For further details, see the Muppet Wiki (which very much includes Henson works that are not part of the franchise such as The Dark Crystal).

Shows:

• The Muppet Show (1976-1981)
• Muppet Babies (animated, 1984–1990)
• The Little Muppet Monsters (animated, live action Muppets with animated shorts, 1985)
• The Jim Henson Hour (MuppeTelevision section, 1989)
• Muppets Tonight (1996–1998)
• Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony (2005–2006)
• Muppet Viral Videos (2008–ongoing)
• Disney Drive-On with The Muppets (2014)
• The Muppets (2015–2016)
• Muppet Babies (2018) (CGI animated) (2018–2022)
• Muppets Now (2020)
• The Muppets Mayhem (2023-present)

Other series:These do not feature the characters from The Muppet Show and following (save for Kermit in the first two), but were made by The Jim Henson Company and with the characters originally referred to as Muppets:

• Sam and Friends (1955–1961)
• Sesame Street (1969–ongoing)^note Until 2000, the Jim Henson Company owned the rights to the Sesame Street characters, which they created. Sesame Workshop maintains a license to refer to the characters as "Muppets of Sesame Street" in the credits and on the show's website.
• Saturday Night Live (1975-1976)^note The show's first season contained sketches featuring new characters in "The Land of Gorch". Many of the writers and cast hated the sketches and most of the later ones were about the sketches being cancelled or about getting back on the show. They disappeared after the September 18, 1976 episode.
• Fraggle Rock (1983–1987)^note The original title card for the series read "featuring Jim Henson's Muppets", but that was removed from subsequent reruns and home video releases.
• The Ghost of Faffner Hall (1989)^note This brief-lived HBO series holds the distinction of being one where the main characters were built by the Creature Shop instead of the Muppet Workshop, giving them a look rather shockingly different from the paradigm seen on most other Muppet productions.
• Dog City (1992–1995)
• The Animal Show with Stinky & Jake (1994–1997)
• Big Bag (1996–1998)
• The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (1996–1998)
• Bear in the Big Blue House (1997–2006)^note This series was co-produced by Disney and the Jim Henson Company, but Disney bought out Henson's share as part of the Muppets purchase
• Mopatop's Shop (1999–2004)
• Oobi (shorts in 2000; 2003–2005)^note Produced for Sesame Workshop's joint venture with Nickelodeon, Noggin, while the Jim Henson Company owned a minority stake in the network. The characters were billed as "furless Muppets" in promo materials and referred to as such by Tom Ascheim, the former EVP of Sesame Workshop. The original shorts stopped airing on Noggin when it ended its relationship with Sesame Workshop in 2007.
• The Hoobs (2001–2006)
• Panwapa (2007)
• Fraggle Rock: Rock On (2020)
• The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo (2020–ongoing)
• Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (2022-ongoing)

Feature-length films:

• The Muppet Movie (1979)
• The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
• The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
• Muppet Classic Theater (1994, DTV)invoked
• Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
• Muppets from Space (1999)
• Kermit's Swamp Years (2002, DTV)
• It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002, TV)
• The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005, TV)
• The Muppets (2011)
• Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

Sesame Street films:

• Follow That Bird (1985)
• The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)

TV specials:

• The Muppets Go Hollywood (1979)
• John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together (1979)
• The Muppets Go to the Movies (1981)
• The Fantastic Miss Piggy Special (1982)
• Rocky Mountain Holiday (1983)
• The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years (1986)
• A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
• Miss Piggy's Hollywood (1989)
• The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990)
• The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson (1990)
• Studio DC: Almost Live (2008)
• A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)
• The Muppets All-Star Comedy Gala (2012)^note A recording of a live performance by the Muppet Show characters at the 2012 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival
• Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular (2013)
• Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021)

Sesame Street specials:

• Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978)
• A Special Sesame Street Christmas (1978)
• Sesame Street Stays Up Late! (1993)
• Elmo Saves Christmas (1996)
• Elmopalooza (1998)
• CinderElmo (1999)
• Elmo's Christmas Countdown (2007)
• Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas (2016)
• When You Wish Upon a Pickle (2018)

Specials not starring the standard Muppet cast: (although Kermit introduces, narrates or appears in several)

• Hey Cinderella! (1969)
• The Great Santa Claus Switch (1970)
• Tales from Muppetland: The Frog Prince (1971)
• The Muppet Musicians of Bremen (1972)
• Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1977)
• The Tale of the Bunny Picnic (1986)
• The Christmas Toy (1986)
• Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree (1995)

Theme park attractions:

• Muppet*Vision 3D (Disney Theme Parks attraction, 1991–present at Walt Disney World, 2001-2014 at Disneyland)

In other shows (Muppet Cameo):

Albums

• Muppet Beach Party (1993)
• Kermit Unpigged (1994)
• Sesame Street Platinum All Time Favorites (1995)

Comics

• The Muppet Show Comic Book
  • Muppet Classics

Advertising

• Wilkins Coffee (1957–1961)
• A Very Muppet Portal Campaign (2019)

Video games

• A downloadable Level Kit for LittleBigPlanet.
• Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival (1989)
• Muppet Race Mania (2000)
• Muppet Monster Adventure (2000)
• Disney Infinity series^note While no Muppet characters were ever playable in the series, the franchise was represented with plenty of other in-game content
• Disney Heroes: Battle Mode^note Playable Muppet units include Miss Piggy, Animal, Gonzo, Kermit, Dr. Honeydew & Beaker, Swedish Chef, Fozzie, and Statler & Waldorf
• Disney Mirrorverse^note Kermit is a playable character, reimagined as a fantasy bard.

People involved in the Muppets franchise

• Jim Henson
• Frank Oz
• Kirk Thatcher
• Muppet Performers

The main members of The Muppet Show cast include:

Kermit the Frog		Perpetual straight man / only sane amphibian and leader of the motley crew
Miss Piggy		Kermit's love interest with tsundere-like tendecies
Fozzie Bear		Resident jokester and Kermit's second-in-command
The Great Gonzo		Stuntman extraordinaire and eternal Butt-Monkey
Scooter		The Everyman and "gofer" of the group
Rizzo the Rat		Deadpan Snarker and Gonzo's best friend
Sam the Eagle		Uber-patriot and the "Stop Having Fun" Guy of the group
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew		Gadgeteer Ditzy Genius who runs Muppet Labs
Beaker		Honeydew's incomprehensible assistant and Chew Toy
Statler and Waldorf		Two elderly men who exist solely to heckle the other cast members
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem		The Muppets' '70s Rock & Roll band, featuring Animal on drums
Rowlf the Dog		Expert pianist and all-around nice guy
The Swedish Chef		A chef who speaks solely in Swedish-like gibberish

For more detailed descriptions, see the Character Sheet.

Minor Muppet characters include:

Camilla the Chicken		Gonzo's on-and-off girlfriend
Clifford		Resident cool guy
Pepe the King Prawn		Jerk with a Heart of Gold and suave charmer
Robin		Kermit's precocious nephew
Sweetums		The 9-foot-tall Gentle Giant
Crazy Harry		laughing mad bomber
The Penguins		An entire flock of plucky comic relief characters
Marvin Suggs		An egotistical French Jerk who uses a "Muppaphone".
Lew Zealand		Enigmatic cloudcuckoolander, whose act involves boomerang fish.
And a motley crew of pigs,		monsters, creatures, talking food and various human Muppets.

---