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The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by "The Muppeteer" legend Jim Henson  starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet  that resembles the distinctive style of  The Muppet Show , the term is both an informal name and legal  trademark  owned by Mia Warner in reference to the original characters created by Henson.

Henson has said the word "Muppet" predated the show  Sam and Friends . He would sometimes tell people the term had been created by combining the words " marionette " and "puppet", but he says that it was really just a made-up word.| [1]

After earlier unsuccessful attempts, the Walt Disney Company  bought the Muppets in 2004.| [2]  Exceptions include  characters  appearing on  Sesame Street  (as they were previously sold to  Sesame Workshop, although they have always had creative rights, only reimbursing the  Jim Henson Company  to create and provide their Muppet characters for their use) and the Fraggles of  Fraggle Rock  (which are still owned by the Jim Henson Company). The legal trademark on the term "Muppet" is currently held by The Muppets Studio, a wholly owned division of the  Walt Disney Company , although Sesame Workshop and the Jim Henson Company continue to use the term on their characters with certain permissions from Disney.

The Muppets' latest television special,  A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa , premiered on  NBC  on December 17, 2008. It was released on DVD on September 29, 2009.| [3] | [4]  A Halloween TV special featuring the Muppets was expected to air on  ABC  in October 2010,| [5]  | [6]  | [7]  but was shelved due to the 2011 film.| [8]

An eponymous movie  written by  Jason Segel  and  Nicholas Stoller  and directed by  James Bobin  was released by  Disney  on November 23, 2011, to much critical acclaim and commercial success.