Bear in the Big Blue House is an American children's television series. It was created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. The show premiered on October 20, 1997, and its last episode aired on April 28, 2006. It is now owned by The Muppets Studio, a subsidiary of Disney that also owns, and is named after, the characters and copyrights.