Before Kermit the Frog could raise the curtain on “The Muppet Show,” creator Jim Henson had to get past something considerably less entertaining than a pair of hecklers: television executives who wouldn’t give him a series.

“It was a real study in perseverance,” Henson biographer Brian Jay Jones told Variety.

The show’s 50th anniversary comes with a reminder that an entertainment favorite can begin as an idea nobody quite knows what to do with. In Variety’s Oct. 12 retrospective, Henson’s daughter, Jim Henson Company CEO Lisa Henson, and longtime collaborator and puppeteer Louise Gold recalled the stubborn work and generous spirit behind the familiar faces.

Henson had already created puppets for “Sesame Street” and “Saturday Night Live,” but his own variety show remained a hard sell. According to Variety, two ABC pilots failed to become a series, and further development for CBS went nowhere.

The breakthrough came from across the Atlantic. British television producer Lew Grade, founder of ITC, offered the backing Henson needed, with one important condition. The team would make the show in Britain.

So, in January 1976, Henson and his colleagues shipped their entire puppet inventory to London and taped episodes with guest stars Juliet Prowse and Connie Stevens as prototypes for the series.

That wasn’t simply a change of address. Grade’s international distribution helped the show reach dozens of countries within a year, turning a network rejection into a route to audiences around the world.

Variety dates the British premiere to Sept. 5, 1976. American viewers encountered the syndicated series that fall, with local stations choosing their own premiere dates rather than one nationwide opening night.

Gold joined in the second season and worked alongside Henson so literally that she operated the right hand of some characters while he handled the left. Her recollection of a fun, hardworking and generous boss gives the anniversary something warmer than a corporate milestone.

Henson died in 1990, but this year’s special, THE MUPPET SHOW, brought the troupe back to the Muppet Theatre with singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter, actress and comedian Maya Rudolph and executive producer Seth Rogen. Disney reported in February that the Feb. 4 event attracted 7.58 million viewers across ABC and Disney+ during eight days of multiplatform viewing.

The applause didn’t end with the audience. The Television Academy’s awards record lists four 2026 Emmy wins from six nominations, recognizing the special, writing, picture editing and production design.

“They’re all multi-dimensional, fallible, funny characters,” Lisa Henson said of the Muppets’ staying power.

For families who have passed these characters from one generation to another, that may be the most recognizable part of the story. The gang’s appeal survives alongside its mistakes, and the show itself exists because Henson kept working after the first doors closed.

This article originally appeared on MovieGuide.com.