People Profile: Jim Henson on YouTube

[minor muppetz]

The 1999 documentary on Jim Henson that aired as part of CNN's "People Profile" series has been uploaded in four parts on YouTube.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXVDYuaARa4

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jSMXfJkbXw&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkBe--mDduc&feature=related

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75XK9Yw06xU&feature=related


I hadn't seen this documentary since it first aired, and it was great to see again. The World of Jim Henson is a better documentary, but this one gets points because unlike other Henson documentarie I've seen, it includes interviews with other Muppet performers besides Frank Oz (I'm not counting Jane Henson, Brian Henson, or Jerry Juhl... Jane and Jerry had long retired from performing, and I feel Brian and Jane's invovlement were more because they were family then Muppet performers). This includes interviews with Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, and Caroll Spinney. I think this is also the only Henson documentary to include interviews with Sesame Street human cast members (Bob McGrath and Loretta Long).

Additionally, there are some interviews with Muppet characters: Kermit, Gonzo, Big Bird, and Grover. It's almost as if they asked each itnerviewed performer to also be interviewed as one character (none of Brian Henson's characters were interviewed, but I don't know what shape the Hoggle or Dog puppets were in at that point, and it would seem odd for a post-Henson character to talk about Jim Henson). Part of me wonders if they should have had interviews with a few other Muppets... Maybe Miss Piggy, Fozzie, and Oscar.

One thing I noticed is that several of the Muppet Show clips (especially ones with guest stars) were film quality as opposed to the video quality they were shot on. Anybody have any any why TMS clips looked like they were on film, while other clips were the video quality they were known for? Were those clips perhaps taken from Of Muppets and Men (the behind-the-scenes fetaurette on TMS Season 3 shows a clip from the Jim Nabors episode which looks like it was on film instead of video).

This was the first I've watched it since 1999, and there are a number of clips that I thought were in the documentary, but didn't see when watching it online. I don't know if maybe that recording missed some clips (perhaps by not recording commercials and restarting taping a little late) or if some were deliberately left off before it was uploaded to YouTube. The special seems to start when it did start (well, a few seconds after starting).

• The scene with Big Bird in Jim's office from Henson's Place (I wouldn't be surprised if this was deliberately cut to avoid problems with Lionsgate).
• The late-1970s version of Bein' Green from Sesame Street.
• Fuzzy and Blue.
• Lily Tomlin and Scred singing "I've Got You Babe" (all these years I've been thinking that was the only SNL clip in the special)

I can't remember if Fraggle Rock got coverage in the special. I wouldn't be surprised if the uploader cut it out to avoid problems with Lionsgate, but if it originally was left out, it'd be odd, as that was one of Henson's important shows. I can see Muppet Babies being left out, I can see Little Muppet Monsters and Ghost of Faffner Hall left out, I could even see The Jim Henson Hour and The StoryTeller left out of a Henson documentary... But why leave out Fraggle Rock? I know he was less involved and they would have only covered the series for a few minutes (most retrospectives and biographies only give Fraggle Rock a tiny amount of coverage, especially when compared to TMS and SST). Sure, Henson was less invovled, but the special did show several clips from SST and TMS that Henson didn't perform in.

Unlike other Henson documentaries and the Muppets 30th anniversary special, this one actually seems to have given Sesame Street more coverage than The Muppet Show. It is interesting how they acknowledge the 30th anniversary of Sesame Street. Also of interest: With the exception of Sesame Street News: Rupunzel, all Kermit clips from the show were in The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street. I wonder if they used that video to pull the clips (I'm not surprised that a clip from Kermit and Joey's alphabet segment was included, but it's not often you see the weather salesman sketch in a retrospective). Also, does anybody else feel it's odd that a Henson documentary included Sesame Street clips from after Henson's death (the 1991 version of I Love Trash and Monsterpeice Theater: ABCD Blue)?

Also, this documentary does feel rushed. Granted, this one had commercial interruptions, and I believe Henson's Place and The World of Jim Henson didn't (and The World of Jim Henson was 90 minutes long). We hear people talking over most of the clips. This one seems to have a bit more focus than other docuemntaries do on Henson's life before he began working in television (I remember when I first saw it I was bothered by the fact it showed a clip from The Wizard of Oz, because Henson didn't work on it). I guess time would be a reason for not including Fraggle Rock. I am surprised that it didn't include coverage on Time Piece, and the coverage of the movies seemed most rushed, with only the bicycle scenes from the first two movies being shown, and no clips from The Muppets Take Manhattan being included (they could have shown the rats cooking scene or the wedding sequence). Though it looks like a behind-the-scenes photo from the park sequence was shown.

Still, this special was fairly good, and I am glad it was uploaded. I like the black background used for all the interviews.