Jim's ideas of new shows

[rumtar_10165]

I was reading a book and it says about how Jim Henson had an Idea of a muppet show called Zoocubus. Why can't Henso bring it to life?

 

[Kimp the Shrimp]

zoobalezoo already did it

 

[rumtar_10165]

I think you lost the name. I had read and saw that back in the 60's Jim wanted to produce a show called Zoocubus. it was the proto type for the Muppet Show.

 

[Kimp the Shrimp]

i was joking

http://www.zoobileezoo.com/zooframe.htm

 

[minor muppetz]

There are a lot of how ideas that Jim Henson pitched to networks in the 1960s that didn't get made, most likely because the networks weren't interested in them. At the time, most networks thought of puppets as being a kids entertainment, and didn't think they'd hold an adult audience. Sure, the networks knew that the muppets were good enough to be an act on an adult variety show, but didn't think there'd be enough ideas for a weekly prime time series starring them.

Some of the shows that Jim Henson wanted to make did get made into pilots but nothing beyond that. One example is Tales of The Tinkerdee, which actually had two pilots produced (the other one being Land of Tinkerdee), but a series was never made.

It's possible that by time The Muppet Show was made that Jim Henson wasn't interested in The Zoocus anymore. Or maybe he was too busy with enough projects to try to get The Zoocus made. In the 1980s, he was busy with Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, The Ghost of Faffner Hall, The Jim Henson Hour, and The Storyteller, plus various movies and specials. And the only ones of those series that he regularly performed on were Sesame Street (and that was only in segments so he could have spent only a few days a year on Sesame Street) and The Jim Henson Hour.

I think Jim Henson might have abandoned his idea for The Zoocus before Sesame Street began. Either that, or when he started pitching The Muppet Show to networks (it has been said that The Zoocus was similar to The Muppet Show).

 

[minor muppetz]

By the way, Jim Henson also produced a pilot for a series based on Cinderella, but the series didn't get made. This show was supposed to tell the story of Cinderella over the course of six months, with each episode continuing. This idea was later reworked as the special Hey, Cinderella!

By the way, you asked why Henson can't bring it to life. Who says henson can't bring it to life? It could probably be made as a series today. I'm sure that Henson still owns the rights to those unbuilt characters, not Disney. back when Henson wanted to make that show, it wasn't very common for there to be prime time puppet shows, but in the last few years there have been a lot of adult puppet shows, such as Greg The Bunny, Crank Yankers, TV Funhouse, and Wonder Showzen. Of course, I'm not sure if The Zoocus would be as adult and innapropiate as those other shows (I guess it wouldn't have been any more adult than The Muppet Show or Alf). Still, the idea could be brought back.

 

[rumtar_10165]

From out of the mouths of babes

We just watched Emmet Otter and my smallest neice (she's 5) asked me Is there a show about Emmet and his friends.

I thought about it and smiled. So here is what I ask Why don't Brian bring Emmet and Friends to a weekly half hour show?