I heard about Jim and Jane Henson for most of the 32 years I worked at WRC TV in Washington. The couple got their start at Channel 4 when they created a puppet show that aired between the late news and The Tonight Show. Their program Sam and Friends featured a sock puppet who looked and sounded a lot like the character we came to love as Kermit. Ron Howard's documentary goes behind the scenes not just of Henson's creative process, but also of his marriage and family life. Is college sweetheart Jane Henson longed for a normal homelife, while Jim's brain spun one idea after another. Traveling to London to produce The Muppet Show, Henson reveled in the last laugh after all three major networks turned down his idea for a Muppet variety show. Watch one of the episodes Disney offers on Disney Plus and you see entertainment seldom surpassed today. Later works on film landed with a thud at first but appreciation later. Henson was too busy dreaming up his next big thing to pay attention to the signs that led to pneumonia and his early death at age 53. Footage from his memorial service, and a clip of Big Bird singing Green stay with you long after the credits roll.
