ong (Andres). The first season was in 1976. Kermit hosted the show starring a large cast of both new and old Muppets. It soon became known for guest stars that included everyone from Steve Martin to Rudolf Nureyev. The show was an instant hit worldwide with children and adults. At its peak, over 235 million viewers watched it weekly. That was about the number of people in the United States at that time. It was the most watched comedy worldwide in the seventies. The show was still popular in 1981 when Jim decided to end production after 120 episodes. Over the six year run, the show won over one dozen awards including and Emmy in 1978 for outstanding comedy, variety, or music series. He ended the series so it would not lose popularity. He also wanted to concentrate on greater challenges (Collins).In the late seventies and early eighties, Jim’s company, now known as Henson Productions, focused mainly on movies. In 1979, he scored a hit with the first big screen Muppet movie, simply called The Muppet Movie. The show was a hit with both young and old fans. The Muppet Movie started an entire series of Muppet movies that consists of The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets Take Manhattan, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, and most recently Muppets in Space (“Biography”). Henson Productions did not focus only on Muppet movies. They made live action movies starring people. In 1982, The Dark Crystal opened to decent reviews from critics. Critics said that the movie had excellent special effects and groundbreaking puppetry techniques. The movie used many of Henson’s groundbreaking puppetry techniques. In 1986, Labyrinth opened to similar reviews. George Lucas was the producer and the movie starred singer David Bowie. Both of these movies did poorly at theatres because audiences thought they were too dark compared to the friendly Muppets. They did, however, create a cult following that stil...
