Vic Romano said:
How much did Jim contribute to projects like Muppet Babies and Little Muppet Monsters then? And did he play a role in casting Frank?
Jim didn't really have that active a role in the development of either show, other than his company having official producing credits, which doesn't necessarily require their active involvement in production of the show. It's more often than not essentially an honorary title, just to show ownership and authority. I'm sure he checked in to assure quality control from time to time, but the main (and essentially only) Muppet guy to have an actively creative hand in The Muppet Babies was Michael Frith, who provided countless character designs (see Jim Henson: The Works, pg. 207 for an example). Other than that, Jim pretty much trusted the animators and writers to do a good job. And with a few Emmys under their belt for their efforts, Jim obviously made the right choice.
Jim didn't even have that much to do with Little Muppet Monsters. Granted, actual Muppets were used for half of the show, but like Fraggle Rock, Jim allowed the program to be controlled by creative hands other than his own. His own people oversaw the production of the puppet segments, but not Jim. He just showed up occassionally to tape a segment with Kermit, just as the other performers made brief appearances with their own characters. But Jim was far too busy at the time with everything from labyrinth to The Jim Henson Hour to put very much of himself into Muppet Babies or Little Muppet Monsters.
I would imagine, however, that Jim and his crew did sit in on the casting of the voice actors of the adult animated characters. There could be no better judge of how well a voice artist were replicating a character's voice than the original performer. So to that degree, I imagine Jim had some say as to who ended up voicing which character, though I figure Frank Welker was a shoe in to voice the adult Kermit, since he'd already proved his mettle in voicing baby Kermit.