The Muppets to be a vital component of its increasing popularity, providing an "effective and pleasurable viewing" method of presentation for the series' educational curriculum. In the early 1970s, the Muppets continued their presence in television, primarily appearing in "The Land of Gorch" segments during the first season of "Saturday Night Live". As his involvement with "Sesame Street" continued, Henson mused about the possibility of creating a network television series featuring the Muppets; as opposed to "Sesame Street", however, this proposed series would be aimed at a more adult audience and focus largely on sketch comedy. Two pilot specials, "The Muppets Valentine
The Muppets Take Manhattan solves his long-lasting identity crisis. In his "2009 Movie Guide", Leonard Maltin gave the film a three star rating (out of four) as well citing that the film is an "enjoyable outing with bouncy songs, [with a] nice use of N.Y.C. locations." Unlike the Henson's previous films ("The Muppet Movie", "The Great Muppet Caper", and "The Dark Crystal"), "The Muppets Take Manhattan" was originally released by TriStar Pictures and not produced by ITC Entertainment; mainly because ITC was suffering from extreme financial difficulties at the time. Therefore, unlike the previous films, the distribution rights to "The Muppets Take Manhattan" did