Your Muppets and Jim Henson Streaming Guide, from ‘Helpsters’ to ‘Sesame Street’

The characters that you think of when you think of the Muppets (Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, Lew Zealand), are the ones that are owned by Disney and they’re the ones that will be on Disney+. How were they separated from The Jim Henson Company?

After decades of casual talks and negotiations, sidelined by the death of Jim Henson in 1990, The Jim Henson Company eventually sold the Muppets characters and Bear in the Big Blue House (which I totally forgot about and won’t be on Disney+, at least initially) to Disney. That led to the eventual formation of the Disney-owned The Muppets Studio in 2004, which is responsible for the TV shows and feature films that have come out since 2005. With the deal, Disney also obtained the rights to the classic films featuring the characters (although possibly not all of them, judging by what’s missing from Disney+). Here’s a list of the Muppet content that we know will be available when Disney+ launches on November 12:

• The Muppet Movie (1979)
• The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
• Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
• The Muppets (2011)
• Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
• The Muppets (2015-2016, TV series)
• Muppet Babies (2018-present, TV series)
• Muppets Now (2020, Disney+ Original)

Missing from the offerings are two films: 1984’s The Muppets Take Manhattan and 1999’s Muppets from Space. It’s possible that’s because their distribution rights are still with TriStar and Sony, respectively; Disney handled distribution for Christmas Carol, Treasure Island, the 2011 relaunch, and Most Wanted.

Also missing are three TV series: the original ’70s Muppet Show, the original ’80s Muppet Babies, and the 1996 series Muppets Tonight. The first two have notoriously complicated rights due to the amount of guest stars on The Muppet Show and the movie clips used on Muppet Babies. I’m not sure why Muppets Tonight is missing. Also missing is 1987’s A Muppet Family Christmas, which features characters owned by Disney, The Jim Henson Company, and Sesame Workshop as well as expensive songs and is therefore another rights nightmare.

Confusing matters even more is the fact that one of the new Muppets project being produced for Disney+ is not coming from The Muppets Studio. Disney+ is getting a talk show called Earth to Ned from The Jim Henson Company and not The Muppets Studio. So the original Jim Henson Company content coming to Disney+ is:

• Earth to Ned (TBA, Disney+ Original)

Apple TV+’s puppet content comes from Sesame Workshop, which is not the same as The Muppets Studio or The Jim Henson Company. Sesame Workshop encompasses all the Sesame Street characters (Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Grover, etc.) as well as their original creations (like Helpsters). Disney has nothing to do with them, aside from their sporadic appearances in the old Muppet movies that they now own.

As an independent, nonprofit organization, Sesame Workshop has produced two series for Apple TV+:

• Helpsters (2019, Apple Original)
• Ghostwriter (2019, Apple Original)

Stream Helpsters on Apple TV+

Stream Ghostwriter on Apple TV+

Apple TV+ isn’t the only streaming service that Sesame Workshop is working with. Sesame Street has been partnered with HBO since 2016, with new episodes debuting on the pay cable network first and then going to PBS nine months later. Starting in 2020 with the launch of HBO Max, though, new episodes of Sesame Street will stream on the new service. HBO Max’s Sesame Workshop content will include:

• Sesame Street (1969-present)
• Esme & Roy (2018-present)

There’s also the matter of Fraggle Rock. The show, produced and presumably still owned by The Jim Henson Company, originally aired on HBO from 1983 to 1987. The show was also available to stream on HBO Go as recently as 2016, but it has since left the streaming service. Whether or not it will be available on HBO Max, or if The Jim Henson Company will (or is even able to) shop it to another service remains unknown.

Stream Sesame Street on HBO

Not to be outdone, the Jim Henson Company–the original Muppet company–is still producing content even though they sold all the rights to the Sesame Street characters to Sesame Workshop in 2000 and the rights to the Muppets to Disney in 2004. They’ve made a few live-action and animated films and TV series. Most recently, they produced a TV prequel to the 1982 film The Dark Crystal for Netflix. So, the Jim Henson Company content on Netflix includes:

• The Dark Crystal (1982)
• The Star (2017)
• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019, Netflix Original)

Stream The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Netflix

While The Jim Henson Company doesn’t make original content for Hulu, you can still stream some of their shows via a network called Jim Henson Family TV. Those offerings include:

• Sid the Science Kid (2008-2013)
• Doozers en Espanol (2014-2018)

Watch Jim Henson Family TV on Hulu