Working in the characters' favor are the familiarity and likeability that they've already garnered during their three years on television.

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Thornton remained on the show until it ended in 2010, working alongside new characters played by Owen's son Tom, Keith Clifford and Brian Murphy.

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We actually have already started working on a new car and characters, and we have plans for additional content as well.

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You learn to write by writing, and writing a novel (counting the time for research and working out the back-story on all the main characters) usually takes about two years.

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Structurally, "The Muppets" is simple: Miss Piggy is the star of a late-night show, Kermit is her executive producer, and some assortment of available Henson characters, both new and old, are working behind the scenes.

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Their daughter, Rhoda, by contrast, is a hard-working vet who cares for animals better than many of the characters care for their friends and families.

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Earlier this week, Disney chief executive Bob Iger told shareholders the company was also working on "some stand-alone movies featuring the great Star Wars characters".

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Before the game is played, the basic interactions of objects and characters in the world are worked out and some possible ways of working through the story are prepared.

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"We are working on a few stand-alone films... derived from great Star Wars characters, " Disney CEO Bob Iger told the CNBC channel on Tuesday.

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