Oy, this thread just derailed and became a train wreck.
When I worked for one of those super-huge discount warehouse places; I did a survey (for my college lit class) where I asked random customers in my check-out line if they knew who Jim Henson was; if they did, I'd ask if they knew who Frank Oz was, if they replied that they did to that one, I'd ask if they knew Dave, Richard and Jerry.
Happily, over 98% knew who Jim was; if memory serves me correctly, over 80% knew who Frank Oz was (this was the mid to late 90's when Frank was already well established as a director). Less then 5% knew of Dave, Richard and Jerry. The interesting thing (IMHO) was that it was adults between 30 and 50 years old who knew the most, and kids 12 to 18 who were mostly unaware. You'd be surprised how many kids 11 and under knew who Jim was. The most common response when I asked "Do you know who Jim Henson was?" was: "He's the Muppet guy!" Kermit never actually came up in any responses or any of my comments or questions, but even though that was less then ten years ago, I'm of the opinion that if I were to do that survey again, the responses may be more in touch with Krazed Muppet's experiances. So I do agree, it is sad. That's a magic and legacy that should never be under question.
BTW - Do you know what the most common response was when I assured them they were correct?
"I really miss that man."