I really liked muppets tonight!. I liked many of the new characters, like seymour, pepe, dr. phil van neuter, zippety zap, craniac (the brain-headed creature from pigs in space: deep dish nine), nigel the director, bill the bubble guy and the bird announcer. however, there are some things i didn't like.
Many people have said that the lack of old characters was due to the deaths of jim henson and richard hunt, and because of frank oz's limited appearances. however, jerry nelson was on this show, but aside from statler, he hardly performed any regular characters. they didn't even give him any major new characters. sure, casual fans might not know who many of his characters are, but they wouldn't know who the new characters are either (at first). some of jerry nelsons characters, like lew zeland and crazy harry, are around for pretty much one joke, but a lot of the new characters (like bill the bubble guy) were only there for one joke too. Robin should have been there to interact with kermit, and it would have been interesting to see him with andy and randy. although the electric mayhem was rarely there (outside of animal), floyd should have been there. He would have fit in with some of the cast, like clifford and zippety zap. on the muppet show, floyd normally interacted with other characters outside of the electric mayhem. pops should have been there too, and with the show set at a tv studio, there should have been muppet sports with louis kazager, and althoguh the writers hated him, fleet scribbler would have also fit in with this format, perhaps doing a cover story on the muppets (or johnny fiama), or hosting a tabloid show. uncle deadley could have appeared in tales from the vet, and j.p. gross could have been the head of the network in the garth brooks episode, especially since the head of the network was performed by jerry nelson.
Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire were also there. zoot and lips could have had some screen time, perhaps try to expand their roles and give lips a personality. Lips should have appeared in the closing number in the billy crystal episode. Digit should have worked behind the scenes on this show, and beauregard should have appeared more. it would have been good if zoot and flash had a saxaphone battle.
I didn't mind clifford being on the show, but if they are going to have a muppet other than kermit host the show, why not a well-known character from the muppet show? perhaps gonzo and rizzo could have hosted the show, considering how they were the stars of most muppet productions in the 1990s. Since kevin clash was availible to do the show, i wish that leon would have been on the show as well (the fans may not know leon, but they probably wouldn't be too much more likely to know clifford either). It is strange that kevin clash didn't perform more characters, especially since there were plenty of scenes without clifford. after all, jim henson could always perform plenty of other characters besides kermit on the muppet show. oddly enough, it seems like most of the other characters who kevin clash performed were characters he didn't normally perform (miss piggy, animal, waldorf, etc.), whose voices were not dubbed for some reason.
with a new muppet show, there should be as many well-known characters as possible, and if there are new characters, don't make them all as major as kermit or gonzo. make them start out being as major as somebody like beauregard or link hogthrob, and slowly make them part of the main cast.
if the muppets are going to do another show, and have a new band, don't just make the band be there to play music. the electric mayhem did more than just play music. with the main exception of lips, each member, especially floyd, normally appeared without each other. they appeared in other skits, like at the dance. they interacted with non-musicians. the same can be said about solid foam (from the jim henson hour). the band on muppets tonight was never referred to by name, very few members were referred to by name, they hardly appeared backstage, and they rarely spoke. they didn't even perform their own music numbers. they probably didn't really do anything that the electric mayhem wouldn't have done if the electric mayhem was on the show instead. just watch the mayhem in the muppets wizard of oz, and you'll see what the muppets tonight band did. the muppets tonight band did look cool though, and i would like to see them make some kind of new appearance in another production, but not at the expense of the electric mayhem (or solid foam, or the jugband, or geri and the atrics).
this show also should have had more complete music numbers. and more complete acts. without backstage interruptions. and i think this show was too modern and had too many direct parodies. most parodies on the muppet show wre style parodies. and yes, the muppet show did occasionally have interruptions during acts (like the hypnootized horse in the linda ronstadt episode, or the banana sketch in the sandy dunchan episode, or the singing civil servants number in the danny kaye episode).
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