The Muppets

The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference to the original characters created by Henson.

Henson had said the word "Muppet" predating the show Sam and Friends. He would sometimes tell people the term had been created by combining the words "marionette" and "puppet", but he also said that it was really just a made-up word.

After earlier unsuccessful attempts, the Walt Disney Company bought the Muppets in 2004. Exceptions include characters appearing on Sesame Street (as they were previously sold to Sesame Workshop, although they have always had creative rights, only reimbursing The Jim Henson Company to create and provide their Muppet characters for their use) and the Fraggles of Fraggle Rock (which are still owned by the Jim Henson Company). The legal trademark on the term "Muppet" is currently held by The Muppets Studio, a wholly owned division of the Walt Disney Company, although Sesame Workshop and the Jim Henson Company continue to occasionally use the term on their characters with certain permissions from Disney.

The Muppets' latest television special, A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, premiered on NBC on December 17, 2008. It was released on DVD on September 29, 2009. A Halloween TV special featuring the Muppets was expected to air on ABC in October 2010, but was shelved due to the 2011 film.

The latest film, The Muppets, written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller and directed by James Bobin, was released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 23, 2011, to much critical acclaim and commercial success.