Muppets General

I suppose this goes here. Sort of. It certainly doesn't fit anywhere else.

Anyways, while I'm not a super The Muppets fan per se, I've always liked the Muppets' humor for how fun, witty, and downright brilliant it could be.

The recent movie got me looking into the Muppets shows and movies I remembered watching - I already had Treasure Island favorited, so this time I went and looked up Muppets Tonight, I show I remembered being fun to watch but one I only rarely ended up being able to watch for some reason or another.

Looking back on it, it still pretty good even now that I'm much older (as standard for the Muppets, really), and a few jokes that flew over my head as a kid made me laugh (as standard for anything that came out in the 90's, and the Muppets, really). Some guy has the first eight episodes up on youtube, and someone else has bits of the second season.

Unfortunately, if the comments and such I found when looking it up are any indication, it got a lot of undue They Changed It, Now It Sucks! hate, which as always is tragic, especially in this case, since one of the major elements of the Muppets is cycling focus on a wide array of characters and areas of humor both new and old in the first place.

I'm willing to bet a ton of people here have their own Muppets memories as well, so I figured we ought to have a topic for it.

edited 22nd Nov '11 10:35:51 PM by KnownUnknown

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KermitsSwampYears

I wonder, should the Muppets make another television show (which will probably happen eventually - I don't see the imagineers at the Jim Henson Company not doing what they love), what style would it be in? Particularly if they continue the "Muppets host their own show" framing device.

The Muppets Show was in the style of Vaudeville show, and while the Jim Henson Hour's framing is... difficult to place, Muppets Tonight was an update on the idea by having the Muppets host a Tonight Show-style variety show.

So if they were going to update it for nowadays, what style might they use?

edited 20th Feb '12 7:45:46 AM by KnownUnknown

Weblog?

I really want to see a The Muppet Show revival but 1.) Muppets Tonight did poorly in ratings and was canned after two seasons, and 2.) television is HARD to work in right now, as the competition is fierce and all the shows picked up by the 3 big networks are all the same thing! The only places that support a TINY bit of creativity are cable networks, who have a TINY budget!

I'd be content with several TV or DVD specials if getting a show is impossible.

That's kind of beside the point (if only just). I'm just wondering what kind of updated framing format they would use.

Speculation, don'cha'know.

edited 20th Feb '12 8:28:35 AM by KnownUnknown

Yeah I know I didn't really answer your question, this is kind of Berserk Button for me.

....now, they're already doing a webshow. ... what's hot these days? Vaudeville hasn't been fresh even in the 80's. But there are still sketch shows like Robot Chicken and MAD, both of who's edits remind me more of the frenetic pacing of the two pitch pilots Jim Henson produced in the 70's. I'm going to need to think this through...

I think they should push the art of puppetry even more. That's what Jim always used to do. They can't just stick with hand-puppet-with-rods characters all the time. Part of the draw for the original was that it showed how much more you can do with puppetry than what people expect of them (ex- a Muppet who sang only about running, and whose 6 legs were on a rotation machine that made him look he was imitating the Road Runner!). Things like that.

edited 20th Feb '12 8:45:16 AM by Shota

The viral videos they're doing on youtube are intended to feel out interest in a TV return.

I've heard the only reason they started working on the current movie is because Jason Segel made it his personal mission to revive his favorite franchise, and that got started because his character in... I think it was Forgetting Sarah Marshall... stated a love of the Muppets.

And then I understand the resulting film was The Jason Segel Movie Featuring The Muppets.

Brian Henson is directing The Happy Time Murders, a comedy film that spoofs film noir mysteries about a Muppet detective living in a world of humans, assigned on a case for the murders of several Muppet cast members of a children's show.

The UK is developing a new Muppet series that will have original characters and will be in the format of a talk show.

Plus, Disney is now developing a direct sequel to The Muppets. It did indeed revive interest in them!

edited 15th Mar '12 8:11:01 AM by kyun

Muppets Tonight is coming back?

Anyone know of a place online to watch Muppet Babies. Serious nostalgic show for me..

How did I never say this thread title makes me think of a hospital?

A quick search came up with a 65-episode playlist on Youtube. That's the closest to legitimate it seems you're going to get, and it's still probably too illegal for the forum rules.

This is a happy surprise!

Was that from the original Muppet Show or ''Muppets Tonight"?

Um, neither, it's web-original.

It's brand brand new.

This gives me hope for the latest iteration of the Muppets then.

Ok, what marketing genius thought that this was a good idea?

Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy break up just in time for new "Muppets" series.

Is ABC really so scared of not having enough good material that they have to make shit up to draw attention to themselves with cheap melodrama?

(Not specifically about the show, so not posted in that thread.)

Um, no, it's part of the show. Did you see the pilot? They weren't together anymore.

No, I didn't see the pilot, but making it part of the show is still attention whoring via melodrama.

..... I don't see this as a desperate promotional gimmick. It's more to go in line with the plot of the show. .... now why they didn't do this before the release of The Muppets (2011) to make the premise more sensible, I have no idea.

What I want to know is where the hell the idea Piggy and Kermit were a stable couple came from to begin with. Them breaking up is not that surprising!

She does tend to Clothesline him across the room whenever he pisses her off.

That'd be pretty abusive if the weren't a pig and frog.