Watch Jim Henson’s WIZARD OF ID Pilot, Which Could Have Made SESAME STREET Never Happen
I like the What If..? game, looking back at history and asking what would have happened if events had gone down differently. Like, what if Jim Henson’s Wizard of Id pilot had gotten off the ground?
The Wizard of Id is (was? Does it even run anymore) a daily comic strip by Johnny Hart, who loved period piece comics - he also did BC. In 1968 Hart met with Jim Henson to discuss a TV show version of the comic, using Henson’s Muppets and animated backgrounds. They shot a pilot for ABC. The reaction was good, but the network dragged its feet, and Henson went on to lend his Muppets to Sesame Street instead. History was made.
But what if The Wizard of Id had been picked up right away? Would Henson have gone on to do Sesame Street or would he have been too busy? And without Sesame Street what would have been the future of the Muppets? And vice versa - would Sesame Street have been the same without the Henson magic?
Here’s a clip from the Wizard of Id pilot. Click here to read more about this moment in What If…? history at the Henson web site.
