Kermit the Frog first appeared on Sesame Street in 1969 before The Muppet Show premiered in 1976, but the long-running children's show didn't introduce the beloved character. The friendly frog puppet is known for his roles as a news reporter and a TV producer in the different shows he's appeared on, as well as his romantic history with Miss Piggy. He's a familiar face to generations of children who've grown up hearing him declare, "Hi-ho! Kermit the Frog here!" As one of Jim Henson's first creations, Kermit actually debuted in 1955 — although not on a program many have even heard of.
Kermit the Frog is arguably the most iconic of all of Muppets, and maintains popular culture relevancy, despite having been introduced over 60 years ago. He is commonly the focus of Muppet properties and merchandise — he's even a popular image in memes! The character is down-to-earth, endlessly likable, and surprisingly relatable (for a puppet frog).
Puppeteer, filmmaker, and Muppets creator Jim Henson (who also breathed life into other famous Muppet Show characters like Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and more) created the first Kermit puppets in 1955 — made out of coat material and ping pong balls — while he was a college freshman. A local Washington D.C. television network was dazzled by Henson's puppetry on one of their shows entitled Afternoon with Inga, swiftly offering the opportunity for his own show with them. And this is where Kermit first received his big break via the program Sam and Friends. Airing at night, the show introduced Kermit while he was still a more lizard-like version of his character, not quite yet America's favorite lovable frog.
Henson eventually founded his own studio (which he dubbed Muppets Inc.), and Kermit's rise to fame began. The character appeared on The Today Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1969, Henson teamed up with Joan Ganz Cooney, who helped spearhead what would become the culturally iconic children's TV series Sesame Street (now available to stream on HBO Max). Kermit was even prominently featured in the pitch reel that the show used to sell the program. In Sesame Street's early years, Kermit regularly taught the audience about reading and counting. Kermit first sang his iconic song, "It's Not Easy Being Green" on the children's show.
In 1976, Henson used Kermit as a main focal point in his new series The Muppet Show, which produced in the United Kingdom but was picked up and released via CBS in the United States. It was in this show that the world met characters like starlet Miss Piggy, aspiring comedian Fozzie Bear and frustrated performance artist Gonzo (aka "Gonzo the Great). The Muppet Show took the world by storm, and their TV success led to subsequent movie releases such as The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan in the late '70s and early '80s. The Muppets are still a strong franchise today, and Kermit remains at the forefront: fretting over the details and charming audiences in the process.