New Collectibles •11/01 - The Muppet Christmas Carol Pop! Figures: Bob Cratchit with Tiny Tim, Mrs. Cratchit, Charles Dickens with Rizzo, Fozziwig, The Marley Brothers, Scrooge •10/24 - The Muppets Take Manhattan 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with Frank Oz Commentary •10/1 - Supersize Count von Count •10/01 - Sesame Street Action Figures Wave 1: Ernie with Rubber Duckie, Bert with Bernice, Count von Count, Yip Yip Martians •9/1 - Fraggle Rock Action Figures Wave 1: Gobo, Red, Traveling Matt, Architect and Cotterpin, Flange
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The Henson Timeline: The 2000's

2000 Charlie Chaplin Studios is purchased by Jim Henson's family and leased to JHC with a 10-year agreement

2000 On February 21, EM.TV & Merchandising AG based in Germany purchases The Jim Henson Company for $680 million

2000 The soundtrack to "The Adventures of Elmo In Grouchland" wins a Grammy for best "Musical Album for Children"

2000 EM.TV plans to tape 26 new Muppet Show episodes in hopes of bringing back the most popular Muppet series of all-time

2000 Jim Henson's early work with Raymond Scott from the 1960's is released on "Manhattan Research Inc."

2000 Muppet Bad Andy becomes the new spokesman of Domino's Pizza

2000 Children's Television Workshop changes its name to Sesame Workshop

2000 "Bear In The Big Blue House" is renewed for a fourth season

2000 EM.TV sells Henson's stakes in Odyssey and The Kermit Channel for an 8.2% stake in Crown Media Holdings

2000 Long-term Muppet head writer Jerry Juhl officially retires from the company

2000 "Muppet RaceMania" and "Muppet Monster Adventure" games released for the Sony Playstation

2000 "The Fearing Mind" debuts on Fox Family

2000 Time-Life Video releases unedited episodes of The Muppet Show for the first time ever

2000 EM.TV faces an uncertain future as the stock drops 95% since the Henson buyout in February

2000 EM.TV sells the rights to the Sesame Street characters for $180 million to the Sesame Workshop marking the first time a Muppet has been owned by a company outside of JHC

2001 New UK series The Hoobs premieres with plans of a 250 episode run

2001 Muppet Vision 3-D in Anaheim, California opens at Disney's California Adventure park

2001 The long-awaited book "Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles" debuts

2001 EM.TV hires investment bank Allen & Co. to help sell The Jim Henson Company to potential suitors Charles Rivkin, Disney, Viacom, AOL Time Warner and HIT Entertainment

2001 The Kermit Channel goes off the air in Asia and Latin America

2001 The Muppet Movie and The Muppets Take Manhattan are released on DVD in June with The Great Muppet Caper DVD released in July

2001 Jim Henson's Telling Stories with Tomie dePoala debuts on the Hallmark Channel

2001 Brian Henson makes his TV miniseries directing debut with Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story' for CBS

2001 The first-ever Muppet fan convention, MuppetFest is held in Santa Monica, California on December 8-9 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of "The Muppet Show". At the convention for the first time ever, The Muppet Show is performed live to the thrill of fans.

2002 Bear in the Big Blue House tapes episode 100 for its fourth season

2002 Jim Henson Television, Team Todd, and Fox Broadcasting Co. announce plans to develop new prime-time Muppet series

2002 The first Sesame Street spin-off series, Play with Me Sesame premieres April 1st on Noggin

2002 Palisades releases a comprehensive 25th anniversary line of Muppet Show collectible figures and playsets

2002 Muppet Battle Pinball premieres for the Game Boy Advance

2002 Brian Henson steps down as chairmain of the Jim Henson Company

2002 In a recreation of the Muppet Show theater, the Muppets team with rock group Weezer for their video "Keep Fishin"

2002 The direct-to-video film Kermit's Swamp Years debuts on DVD and VHS

2002 Sci Fi backs out of renewing Farscape's contract for the hugely popular series

2002 Sesame Workshop announces plans for Kami, the first HIV+ Muppet, to educate children in South Africa

2002 Sideshow-Weta Collectibles release the first of a series of 20 collectible polystone Muppet Show character busts

2002 Kermit returns to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a new balloon after his 12-year hiatus

2002 New made-for-tv movie "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" airs on NBC

2002 EM.TV agrees in principal to sell 49.9% of the Jim Henson Company to an investment group led by Dean Valentine

2003 New Henson series "Animal Jam" debuts on TLC and Discovery Kids

2003 EM.TV and Dean Valentine agree to end negotiations for a 49.9% Henson buyout

2003 "Sesame Street" begins season 34 and "Play With Me Sesame" begins season 2

2003 The Henson family (Cheryl, Brian, Lisa, John and Heather) buy The Jim Henson Company from EM.TV for $84 million

2003 Muppets Party Cruise debuts for the PlayStation2 and Spy Muppets arrives for the Game Boy Advance

2004 On February 17 the Walt Disney Company and Jim Henson Company sign an agreement for Disney to buy the Muppet and Bear characters and programming library

2004 The Jim Henson Company and Europe's HIT Entertainment form a five-year distribution agreement under which HIT will own all TV distribution and merchandise rights for Fraggle Rock, Hoobs, Mopatop's Shop, Construction Site and Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas

If you would like to make an addition to our timeline, e-mail Muppet Central. Please include your full name, the year, the information you would like to add, and a source documenting your submission.