Jim Henson Hour questions

[Jeffrey Gray]

I have seen a listing in the Museum of TV and Radio brochure for a Jim Henson Hour episode: "MuppeTelevision/Dog City"...I always thought Dog City was its own hour. Was there a half-hour Dog City as well? Because I have seen a JHH episode in Mark Pethick's list reading "K.D. Lang/Dog City," although "Sapsorrow" originally aired with the K.D. Lang MuppeTelevision segment. I know Mark Pethick lives in Canada, so did CBC replace Sapsorrow with the Dog City half-hour? Also, he has a listing for "Innertube / Pilot." Was there a MuppeTelevision pilot, or was Innertube a free-standing hour? I need help...

[Phillip Chapman]

Even though the episode was simply "Dog City" the first 15 minutes featured Muppet Television mostly teasing and leading in to "Dog City". Some characters were introduced and there was a little behind-the-scenes featurette. The rest of the 45 minutes was the Dog City special itself.

[Jeffrey Gray]

I see...but what of the "K.D. Lang/Dog City" listing? Was a second episode made and put in in place of Sapsorrow on CBC airings? And how long is Innertube in length?

[Phillip Chapman]

Innertube is about twelve minutes and was taped in 1987. Jim Henson did a ten minute pitch for JHH around this same time that talked about what the show would be about. It was two years later before JHH aired on NBC in the Spring of 1989.

The original of the episode you asked about aired in the US and in Canada on CBC. (I have both the US and Canadian airings so I can confirm this.) It included k. d. lang and Sapsorrow. It's possible that Mark put the two different episodes together for his listing or it could be a simple typo.

[Jeffrey Gray]

I dunno, Warrick tells me they truncated Dog City and put it in in place of Sapsorrow at one point...

[MahnaMahna]

OK. Let me try and settle some confusion.

I've seen it listed the way I have it. It was just from a list I found somewhere. I got all my tapes from trade and told the other person not to include the Storyteller episodes that were released on home video. The k.d. lang epidode - minus Sapsorrow - was on the same tape right before Dog City. The Dog City I have is the whole hour, and like Phil said, it has 15 minutes of "teasers" and adverts before it actually starts. (Mine are taped from NBC - actually they are from a Texas affiliate so they might trace back to Phil)

I hadn't gotten too excited about it, because I knew I had everything on the list. There doesn't seem to be a definitive list for the run of this show.

Hope this helps any confusion,

Mark Pethick

[Warrick]

No i told you that they *could* have cut it down to make it fit there.

And left Sapsorrow out.

See ya

[beaker]

Well, Mar emailed me the other day to say they are working on a character and episode guide for JHH and FR!!!
I definately cant wait for this!

[Jeffrey Gray]

OK, I get it now...thanks Mahna Mahna.