Angel

"Smile Time" is an episode of Angel the television series spun off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For the fifth season of the show, the writers thought it would be fun to have the title character turn into a puppet. The story involves a group of demons who plot to drain the life energy out of children (not unlike the relationship between Skeksis and Podlings) by way of posessing a children's television puppet series. Several Henson veterans were involved in the production including Alice Dinnean-Vernon, Leslie Carrara, Victor Yerrid and Drew Massey performing the puppet Angel.

As if it weren't already obvious, the idea was inspired by writer Ben Edlund (The Tick) and creator Joss Whedon's childhood influences by Muppets. Coincidentally, Whedon's father, Tom Whedon wrote the script for Hey Cinderella!