What Does the Jim Henson Company Do Now?

[MrBloogarFoobly]

I really hate to ask the question, but I was looking at their website for internship stuff, and it seems that the Henson Company is trapped in the glorious past.

They've sold The Muppets. They've sold the Sesame Street characters (sure, they make the characters, but don't own them). They don't really hire new puppeteers anymore. They don't accept new ideas because they're "developing a lot of projects."

All of their signature characters no longer belong to them. They're left with weird characters that no one knows for projects no one cares about (Late Night Liars, Tinsel Town, etc.)

So how does the company stay afloat? What do they DO, apart from talk about all the things they did during Jim Henson's time?

 

[D'Snowth]

Basically, they have a couple of CGI kiddie shows on PBS right now (Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train), and they have all these puppet improv tours going... that's about it.

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

How do they manage to stay in business? They don't own Muppet merchandising, and the Creature Shop doesn't seem to be all that active anymore. :/ It's sad.

I was watching Puppet Up! yesterday, and a lot of the humor is pretty lame, trying very hard to be edgy and relevant. Some of it was great, and the performers are very talented, but overall... I don't know. Swing and a miss. Just like their Gay Pig show pilot, or whatever that thing was.

 

[Drtooth]

How do they manage to stay in business? They don't own Muppet merchandising, and the Creature Shop doesn't seem to be all that active anymore. :/ It's sad.

How do they manage to stay in business with so many mismanaged, unfocused projects is more like it.

Plain and simple, Henson needs to do focus on ONE major project at a time and see that project through. Not to make pilot episodes of 5 different things that never get finished, come up with 10 movie ideas that never get past the pre-production phase. Just pick a simple, reasonably budgeted project, find a willing partner and just do that.

Still, Henson is doing well at licensing out what characters and movies they have for comics. I really wish they'd bring back Fraggle Rock for a third volume. I need something to fill the void left by no regular Darkwing Duck comics every month (the new TMNT is pretty good)... Really, just looking forward to Mega Man, Snarked and TMNT every month seems a little weak. The comics are even finishing unfinished concepts like Tales of Sand.

Sigh, if only their own employees were as visionary as the companies they license the comic book rights to.

 

[mostlikemokey]

It's also sad that the pbs shows lack the visionary quality of Fraggle Rock and other "kids" shows made before Henson's death. If he was still alive, things would be different

 

[Puckrox]

I really hate to ask the question, but I was looking at their website for internship stuff, and it seems that the Henson Company is trapped in the glorious past.

I was thinking about applying for the internship too, but I've been kind of wary since I visited their website about a month ago. I have a friend who interned with Sesame Street last year, so I think I'm just going to use her as my in and apply for that instead. I'm not really interested in working for the projects the Henson Company is coming out with, and I'd much rather say I spent a school term getting Joey Mazzarino coffee.

 

[Mupp]

The Henson Company REALLY needs to get focused, find a good business partner, and do something with the Fraggle Rock characters!

Viral videos would be a good start.

I'm glad that Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train have been successful for them, but they really need to do new things with the Fraggles.

At least Disney has the muscle to get things done with the Muppets.
They've now got a new movie heading for DVD, more books, toys, and other merchandise on the way, and an interactive game for Disney's newest cruise ship.

Right now, it seems that all Henson is doing is coasting on the success of Sid and Dinosaur train.

 

[Mupp]

How do they manage to stay in business? They don't own Muppet merchandising, and the Creature Shop doesn't seem to be all that active anymore. :/ It's sad.

I was watching Puppet Up! yesterday, and a lot of the humor is pretty lame, trying very hard to be edgy and relevant. Some of it was great, and the performers are very talented, but overall... I don't know. Swing and a miss. Just like their Gay Pig show pilot, or whatever that thing was.

Yeah, I believe that pilot was called Tinsletown. (I saw something about it on the Muppet wiki)

I agree about the hit or miss remark about Puppet Up. I too, saw the show recently. It was fun and lively, and I generally liked it, but some of the humor was just too easy.