海外「マペットが電車を運転してるのかと思いました」

Muppets were created in the 1950s by Jim Henson. The first issue was Kermit and is still a representative character of Muppets. In order to distinguish it from conventional puppet shows, it was named “Muppet,” a combination of marionettes and papets, and decided to create works for adults as well as children. In 1955, Muppet made his first appearance on the television show “Sam and Friends”, and most of the roles were played by Henson. Differences such as novel character settings and the fact that the proscenium arch, which had always been seen in previous puppet shows, became popular, and the program continued until 1961.

In response to this popularity, Henson joined the nonprofit Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) to begin producing Sesame Street, an educational program for children using muppets. The show has been loved for nearly half a century since it began airing in 1969.

The Muppet Show and Subsequent Success
The great success of Sesame Street was supposed to be a delight for Henson, but it was different from the original purpose of creating a puppet show for adults. Therefore, while putting Muppets as the main characters like Sesame Street, they pursue comedy purely rather than children’s educational programs and start producing TV programs targeting the wider age group. In 1974, a pilot version of Muppet’s new television series was broadcast on ABC, but major American television companies, including ABC, were not interested in it and were unable to raise enough money. However, it was able to be produced with the cooperation of ITC, a program production company of Sir Lou Grade in the UK, and the Muppet Show, which started, became very popular.