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A message for you all, SSLFan I know slander when I see it, and it doesn’t make it any less outrageous that it’s being passed on by a “good guy.” I don’t care who posts stuff like this, it’s about what he posted. Again, take a moment to appreciate the difference between information and...

That is great news.

To which I replied, they've come a long way since then. Those classic performances have their place, but are you seriously arguing that modern-day Muppet performers shouldn't be world-class (or even proficient) puppeteers? The Muppet characters have a ragtag, motley, low-rent quality to them...

To me, it says a lot that even someone who liked Artie's Kermit is willing to admit the above. When was the last time the Muppets looked so amateurish on national TV? Personally, I think Kermit is too important to get way with casting an imperfect beginner!

Exactly. Some people don't seem to understand that there's a difference between a fact (or an alleged fact) and an opinion. And there's a big and important difference between speculation and slander. Apparently you can say anything you like about the Muppet performers as long as you claim to...

StarrFilter's post was unverifiable, inflammatory, and -- even if it had some basis in fact, clearly biased against Steve. ("X's contract was terminated," for example, would be a factual statement. "X was fired for being a diva" is an opinion.) I post under my own name and I take responsibility...

So is Frank Oz, but that doesn't mean he filmed anything this season. Guys, this kind of scrabbling around for information isn't going to help anyone put the pieces of the puzzle together. I don't think it's helpful to be passing on rumors that are blatantly disrespectful, but neither is it...

I think you're confusing multiple points of view here. I don't like Artie's performance, and I don't think Artie's performance is anything like Jim's, or Steve's. But as far as I can tell, the people who are saying that he's like Jim's early Kermit are doing so to try to defend Artie...

Oh, so as long as you "know" this malicious gossip isn't intended to harm any of US, the devoted fans, you think it's just fine for a cowardly lurker to accuse a Muppet performer of being an unprofessional, demanding "diva"? Garbage. This is nasty, unsubstantiated slander, plain and simple...

Are you saying that to perform Kermit, you have to start out imitating Jim's first performances and work your way up to the present day? Because I don't want to wait another 50 years for Artie to "catch up."

As long as we're suggesting things that don't have the remotest chance of happening, then I vote for gold bricks to fall out of the sky. Someone else in this discussion brought up the example of the Futurama voice actors. How would your plan play out in that analogy? Fox executives: "Hey, we...

I didn't mean to misread you. But I do think that many casual fans noticed something was amiss, and there's plenty of other hotspots around the interwebs where less hardcore versions of this argument are playing out. And I'd also argue that if a performance is bad enough that devoted Muppet...

Never mind believing it, I have a hard time respecting it. Even if it turns out to be true that Steve Whitmire has left Sesame Street, "fired for being a diva" is an incredibly inflammatory claim to make as a statement of fact. StarrFilter's post opens with "I don't know if this has been...

Multiple sources have reported that Jim was considering the possibility of finding alternates or understudies, but he never put the plan into action. The fact that Jim merely considered something like this doesn't mean he would ultimately have decided to do it. I mean, this is a guy who had a...

That raises the question of what constitutes a "B-level" appearance. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million people saw "Kermit" on America's Got Talent. If Steve's working on something larger-scale than that, I'd love to know about it. I agree with you, Jamie: If people are expecting The...

Thanks Ryan, but this isn't about me, it's just about Kermit. One thing that's worth pointing out is that while the fan debate rages over whether Artie is or isn't an acceptable replacement, the larger issue of recasting is being ignored. As long as the focus stays on Artie and Kermit...

This is the first time I've seen the slippery slope argument presented as a positive thing. Does this mean if next week Artie is replaced by an even less competent performer, you won't mind as much since Artie's already third generation? I agree, Luke. I've said before, Disney can't think...

Melissa, I agree completely that publicity is the key to bringing the Muppets back to the bigtime. My point is that an appearance that lasts "a lousy few minutes" only has promotional value if the appearance itself isn't lousy. Whatever the Muppets do, however brief it may be, it has to...

The Muppets deserve better I agree completely, Luke. I take Melissa's point that endless criticism isn't helpful, but I don't buy the idea that pale imitations will somehow inspire a new generation of Muppet fans. What made the Muppets so brilliant initially was that they were doing...

So it's OK for Kermit to sound and behave completely differently if it's only sometimes? The biggest question in all of this is how Disney came to put an obviously different (and in my opinion, completely unready) "Kermit" on the national stage. Ferrell, you can't know if Steve "approves" of...