Disney and Sesame Street

[disneysource]

Not everyone knows it, but Disney tried to buy Sesame Street when they were buying the Muppets. It was back in the late 80's/early 90's when Jim Henson was at deaths door. For some reason he was willing to part with the Muppets, but wanted Sesame Street to be a separate entity. This is a big reason why they took his name off the attraction.

Streets of America was going to be Sesame Street, but they went with New York when they couldn't make a deal.

also I've been hearing that Bugs life will replace Honey I Shrunk and Pizza Planet is going where Studio Catering was.

 

[nytimez]

Not everyone knows it, but Disney tried to buy Sesame Street when they were buying the Muppets. It was back in the late 80's/early 90's when Jim Henson was at deaths door. For some reason he was willing to part with the Muppets, but wanted Sesame Street to be a separate entity. This is a big reason why they took his name off the attraction.

Streets of America was going to be Sesame Street, but they went with New York when they couldn't make a deal.

also I've been hearing that Bugs life will replace Honey I Shrunk and Pizza Planet is going where Studio Catering was.

I don't see how that's possible. Jim Henson didn't own Sesame Street.

 

[ASteelersMidget]

What??????

 

[ASteelersMidget]

Not everyone knows it, but Disney tried to buy Sesame Street when they were buying the Muppets. It was back in the late 80's/early 90's when Jim Henson was at deaths door. For some reason he was willing to part with the Muppets, but wanted Sesame Street to be a separate entity. This is a big reason why they took his name off the attraction.

Streets of America was going to be Sesame Street, but they went with New York when they couldn't make a deal.

also I've been hearing that Bugs life will replace Honey I Shrunk and Pizza Planet is going where Studio Catering was.

What?????



stupid random double post

 

[disneysource]

I don't see how that's possible. Jim Henson didn't own Sesame Street.

Of course he must had some ownership. I just found this off of a google search.

"In late 1989, Henson made a radical change in his career. Wanting to become less of a businessman and focus more on the creative side of the production, he entered into talks with Michael Eisner to sell his company and characters (minus Sesame Street) to the Walt Disney Company. After Henson's sudden and untimely death, negotiations went awry, and Disney would not acquire the Muppets until February 2004, which it now controls through the wholly owned subsidiary The Muppets Studio."

 

[nytimez]

Of course he did. I just found this off of a google search.

"In late 1989, Henson made a radical change in his career. Wanting to become less of a businessman and focus more on the creative side of the production, he entered into talks with Michael Eisner to sell his company and characters (minus Sesame Street) to the Walt Disney Company. After Henson's sudden and untimely death, negotiations went awry, and Disney would not acquire the Muppets until February 2004, which it now controls through the wholly owned subsidiary The Muppets Studio."

You are completely misunderstanding a simplified piece of trivia you Googled.

Jim Henson did not and never did own Sesame Street. He owned the Muppets, including the Muppets used on Sesame Street. The Muppets used on Sesame Street were never considered for inclusion in the deal he was working on with Disney. That's what the "minus Sesame Street" part of that means. He was not going to sell the Sesame Street MUPPETS, not Sesame Street itself because -- again -- he did not and never did own it, and you cannot sell what you do not own.

 

[disneysource]

You are completely misunderstanding a simplified piece of trivia you Googled.

If he owns the characters, that is a big part of ownership in a company.

It says in the book Street Gang the complete history of Sesame Street that Jim Henson put it in his will all his characters rights would be transferred to CTW after he dies. So maybe it is still possible. Though Jim Henson did wish to keep the characters separate from one another.

 

[nytimez]

If he owns the characters, that is a big part of ownership in a company.

It says in the book Street Gang the complete history of Sesame Street that Jim Henson put it in his will all his characters rights would be transferred to CTW after he dies. So maybe it is still possible. Though Jim Henson did wish to keep the characters separate from one another.

No, it is ZERO ownership in the company. He did not own any portion of the company, only the characters he created.

 

[doconeill]

CTW had previously purchased the rights to all the muppets developed for Sesame Street prior to Disney purchasing "The Muppets" - 2001 I think. Sesame Street was never part of Jim Henson Studios - they just provided the muppets and talent under contract. Kermit the Frog was not part of that deal - he had been created a decade before, and although he was one of the first muppets on the show he wasn't originally meant to be a permanent character, and after 2001 he stopped appearing except in repeated segments, and in a 40th anniversary episode.

What Disney purchased were those developed specifically for The Muppet Show, plus Kermit. Disney purchased that from Jim Henson Studios. There were many other properties owned by JHS that Disney did not buy (such as the Fraggles) - they only purchased the properties specifically called "The Muppets", and prior to that the "Bear in the Big Blue House" characters.

 

[nytimez]

CTW had previously purchased the rights to all the muppets developed for Sesame Street prior to Disney purchasing "The Muppets" - 2001 I think. Sesame Street was never part of Jim Henson Studios - they just provided the muppets and talent under contract. Kermit the Frog was not part of that deal - he had been created a decade before, and although he was one of the first muppets on the show he wasn't originally meant to be a permanent character, and after 2001 he stopped appearing except in repeated segments, and in a 40th anniversary episode.

What Disney purchased were those developed specifically for The Muppet Show, plus Kermit. Disney purchased that from Jim Henson Studios. There were many other properties owned by JHS that Disney did not buy (such as the Fraggles) - they only purchased the properties specifically called "The Muppets", and prior to that the "Bear in the Big Blue House" characters.

"Bear in the Big Blue House" -- I had completely forgotten about that one.

I've noticed the Fraggles on TV more -- I think some new-ish channel is running them. I had forgotten about them as well, even though I really enjoyed that show so many, many years ago.

 

[disneysource]

Disney must have had a deal in place with CTW as well. Because from what I've heard Eisner wanted to create a Sesame Street at Hollywood Studios. A key component would have probably been getting Jim Henson on board first.

 

[doconeill]

Disney must have had a deal in place with CTW as well. Because from what I've heard Eisner wanted to create a Sesame Street at Hollywood Studios. A key component would have probably been getting Jim Henson on board first.

You logic doesn't follow. There was NEVER a deal in place with CTW. Just because he wanted to create a Sesame Street at then-MGM Studios, doesn't mean there was already a deal. In fact, there was a fair bit of animosity at the time between the players after Jim Henson's death.

Prior to his death, Jim Henson was adamant that the Sesame Street characters stayed a separate property and would not be sold to Disney. There were anecdotes that Jim was going to put it in his will to transfer the characters to CTW, but it never actually happened. CTW purchased their characters from JHC years later, while Disney was again negotiating to purchase the Muppets.

 

[skiingfast]

It can be hard to license the same rights to two different entitites.

http://www.sesameplace.com/sesame2/

 

[KidDurango]

Having been with Disney at the time, I also have to cast doubt on the Sesame Street plan. While I can't know what was in Michael's head, I can say that I have seen and read what I believe to be the majority of renderings, story treatments and other materials associated with the Muppets and their role at Disney-MGM. I even spoke briefly with Jim Henson himself at the constuction site for Here Come the Muppets. Sesame Street was never included in the plans. The OP suggests that New York Street was a fall back when Disney didn't get the rights to Sesame Street, but New York street was already so named prior to the Muppet deal even being started. Again, Micheal may have thought about it, and may have even said to someone at some point, "wouldn't it be great if..." But Jim was very clear that any Sesame Street Muppets would stay with CTW.

 

[nytimez]

Having been with Disney at the time, I also have to cast doubt on the Sesame Street plan. While I can't know what was in Michael's head, I can say that I have seen and read what I believe to be the majority of renderings, story treatments and other materials associated with the Muppets and their role at Disney-MGM. I even spoke briefly with Jim Henson himself at the constuction site for Here Come the Muppets. Sesame Street was never included in the plans. The OP suggests that New York Street was a fall back when Disney didn't get the rights to Sesame Street, but New York street was already so named prior to the Muppet deal even being started. Again, Micheal may have thought about it, and may have even said to someone at some point, "wouldn't it be great if..." But Jim was very clear that any Sesame Street Muppets would stay with CTW.

Thanks for the insight... would love to hear about your encounter with Jim Henson. I'm a big fan, so no detail is too small...

 

[DCTooTall]

Having been with Disney at the time, I also have to cast doubt on the Sesame Street plan. While I can't know what was in Michael's head, I can say that I have seen and read what I believe to be the majority of renderings, story treatments and other materials associated with the Muppets and their role at Disney-MGM. I even spoke briefly with Jim Henson himself at the constuction site for Here Come the Muppets. Sesame Street was never included in the plans. The OP suggests that New York Street was a fall back when Disney didn't get the rights to Sesame Street, but New York street was already so named prior to the Muppet deal even being started. Again, Micheal may have thought about it, and may have even said to someone at some point, "wouldn't it be great if..." But Jim was very clear that any Sesame Street Muppets would stay with CTW.

Besides the fact that when Disney-MGM opened, it was a working studio. New York Street was used (as well as the residential street) for various productions filmed at the studio. It was only accessible to guests via the BackStage Tour tram (Back when you boarded the Tram at the Animation Building, in what is now a queue area for M&G's).


There is no way that there was a plan to make this working setpiece a 'Sesame street'. Even after they opened the area to guest foot traffic to increase park capacity, It was still used on occasion for filming purposes until they gave up on the idea of running a working studio.

 

[Sosai X]

Jim Henson sold only the main Muppet characters and the "Bear in Big Blue House" franchise to Disney. The deal did not include Fraggle Rock, the characters from Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, and other Creature Shop projects. The Sesame Street characters were sold to a German company when Henson's children sold his company. That company went bankrupt in 2000 and the Sesame Street characters became the property of Sesame Workshop.

 

[Oglet]

They have more than enough characters to make a real full on cartoon style town based on characters from hollywoods golden years. That would fit in with DHS and give many characters a home that is not around that big ugly blue hat. They could take what they have at DL and take it a few steps beyond and make it really amazing.

 

[doconeill]

Jim Henson sold only the main Muppet characters and the "Bear in Big Blue House" franchise to Disney. The deal did not include Fraggle Rock, the characters from Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, and other Creature Shop projects. The Sesame Street characters were sold to a German company when Henson's children sold his company. That company went bankrupt in 2000 and the Sesame Street characters became the property of Sesame Workshop.

To be more precise, the ENTIRE Jim Henson Company (and ALL of the characters) was sold by the family to a German company (EM.TV AG). I don't know if EM.TV went bankrupt either before or after, but the the Sesame Street characters were sold to CTW early on in EM.TV's governance, probably at the start of their money issues. The Henson family purchased back all the remaining assets at a fraction of what they sold it for in 2003.

 

[disneysource]

from what I've been told the characters would be mostly cast members in costumes except for Oscar and Snufflapacus(spelling). Those two would be controlled by animatronics. Oscar would insult people and interact with guests. While Snuff would be near Big Birds nest.