The Jim Henson Hour

[BlueFrackle]

Cory,

Digit, Leon and the Jim Henson Hour gang all have a special place in my heart ! But i really think with the new 'edgy' style that the Mupptes want to portray, Digit and Leon, Leon especially could help it work !

Up until Leon i dont think there was any Muppet that kept on pushing for the ladies in bikinis and naked Chickens ! So i would also love to see atleast Digit and Leon return, Uboo was actually a good looking Muppet too, Its a shame he didnt have a bigger role.

If there is a 50th Anniversary special, like A Celebration of 30 Years then i shuld think that all the 'groups' from different shows would turn up.

Man, just thinking about that makes me feel so happy !

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I loved the Jim Henson Hour. It was probably the most interesting thing done on TV in the late 80s. I don' think there has ever been anything before or since with quite the same level of quality, variety and creative energy.

Sure, it had it's problems. The structure of the show was uneven, the format was erratic week to week. You never knew what you were going to watch when you tuned in (a bad thing if you want a regular audience - they like to know what to expect). There didn't seem to be a clear vision of what it was supposed to be, except a personal creative playground for Jim Henson - and I think that was the point.

The story behind this show is kind of glossed over in the official Henson histories but you kind of get the feeling NBC was never 100% behind it. I think the show failed because A) NBC scheduled it in the summer, B) they never really promoted it properly and C) it was waaay to expensive.

One thing that seems to hurt Henson projects on network TV is cost. The shows are top quality and top quality doesn't come cheap on Network TV. The Muppets have never had a truly successful network show. All the best projects from "The Muppet Show" to "Bear in the Big Blue House" were successful on cable, in syndication or on Public TV. I think JHH would have thrived on cable (it at least would have gotten a full run!).

It was successful on CBC here in Canada - they even repeated it a couple of summers in a row I think.

Makes me start to think a Fox show is a bad idea...

 

[CL1FFXD]

JHH is honestly one of my favorite muppet shows ever!! I rlly liked the new characters (digit is literally one my favorite muppets of all time) and the storyteller segments were really interesting. I didn’t think I’d like them at first cuz drama and action js ain’t my thing but I rlly enjoyed them. Ik most people complain that jhh is js all over the place and tbh that’s what I like about it. It was just Jim Hensons personal little creative playground!!! I feel like the 70s-80s were the golden age of the muppets (yes ik the show came out in 1989 but it is still technically the 80s soooooo.) Another thing I’d like to say about the characters is that I like how there was some characters from already existing Henson projects (ex: bean bunny, (I think one of the otter from eojc was in the intro), ofc kermit the frog, etc) but it also adds new characters into the mix (ex: digit, leon, clifford, xandra, the extremes, etc.) also, last thing I wanna say, is that if disney can bring back chip, BRING BACK DIGITT!!!!!! also, the muppet franchise has A LOT of characters but most of them r js forgotten and we honestly don’t see any new fleshed out muppets in projects (besides like Walter or something) (I mean like, after muppets now, what happened to that turkey girl that hosted that cooking show???) so like, they FER SURREEE should like, bring back solid foam (AND THEY COULD MAKE IT LIKE, A RIVAL BAND TO ELECTRIC MAYHEM IDK) and the WORLD BUILDING WOULD BE INNSAANNEEE!!!!!! Disney LITERALLY HAS THE MOST PEAK FICTION FLESHED OUT TOP TIER BEEEAAAUUTYYY ON THEIR HANDS AND WHAT DO THEY DO WITH IT????? MAKE 287363738838263 DOCUMENTARIES AND BIOPICS ON ITS CREATOR?!??? JS GIVE US SEASON 2 OF MUPPETS MAYHEMMMMMMM

 

[groverandgrapes]

I never understood the hate on digit

 

[Muppet Master]

The Jim Henson Hour was an interesting series, but it was too ambitious to succeed. I think one of the big issues that viewers had is that they went in expecting The Muppet Show and got something entirely different. There was also a lack of Frank Oz and Richard Hunt characters, but I can't be too harsh on it. It was still Muppets, and we got to see Jim Henson on-screen, something that didn't happen that often. It never got a chance to develop sadly. According to the data we have, viewership declined every week from episodes 1-8, with only a small uptick for the 9th and final episode that NBC aired.

Just sad what happened to the show and how it affected Jim.