Sam and Friends
| Sam and Friends | |
|---|---|
Kermit (left) and Harry the Hipster (right) in the "Visual Thinking" sketch. | |
| Created by | |
| Starring |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 400+ |
| Production | |
| Running time | 3–5 minutes per sketch |
| Original release | |
| Network | WRC-TV |
| Release | May 9, 1955 – December 15, 1961 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Sam and Friends is an American live-action and puppet sketch comedy television series and a lead-in to The Tonight Show created by puppeteer Jim Henson and his eventual wife Jane Henson. It marks the debut of The Muppets franchise, particularly Kermit the Frog.
The show aired live twice daily as a local series in Washington, D.C., on WRC-TV in black and white, and later color, on weeknights from May 9, 1955, to December 15, 1961. However, due to network budget issues, most of the original episodes were never preserved to film/kinescope and are considered lost.
A few of the show's surviving episodes can be viewed at the Paley Center for Media, but many can also be found on video websites like YouTube, such as those digitally archived by the Jim Henson Company. Some have also been documented by either the Henson Archives or newspaper articles published while the show was still on air.