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spcglider
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2004
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I am VERY excited to see ANY forward movement to having the Muppets back on the "small screen" where they belong. I hope this gives Disney an impetus to actually support a reprise of Muppets on TV. 
However, and this can be debated ad nauseam, I do not believe that the Muppets NEED to be "re-introduced" to the viewing public. It is my personal view that that sort of terminology is used as corporate tactical stalling pushed by overzealous bean-counters.
In short, The Muppets SCARE the Suits. They are a wild card. They've seen the Muppets make fistfuls of cash (when they had a creative force behind them) and they've seen them make horrific popular blunders (when handled by folks who don't "get it"...Muppets Wizard Of Oz, anyone?). They simply don't gamble... at least not with their own money.
But I think it is a dis-service to the Muppets (and their performers and creators) to think they couldn't immediately come back (in their "idiom") and entertain audiences just as they did in the "golden years". I mean, really... the material isn't that deep. Its rich and broad, but not that deep. Anybody with eyes, ears and a funnybone can pick it up.
Just make a new Muppet Show. No funky change-ups, no "edgy" twists, no pre-school fixations, no need to treat the audience like morons. Entertain the WHOLE family. It'll work. REALLY.
But if you need a litmus test, I suggest this: pick up the phone and place a call to any Hollywood actor (male or female) and ask them if they'd like to be a guest star on a new Muppet Show weekly series. You'll have to beat them off with a stick. They'll be on your doorstep in a heartbeat asking what they get to do and can they be in a sketch with their favorite Muppet.
One of the Muppet's greatest assets is their ability to mirror and parody popular culture. In the 1970's they made us bust a gut doing just that with guest stars like Roger Moore, Lynda Carter, and Crystal Gayle. On Muppets Tonight (dragged to ratings oblivion by "Aliens in the Family") they drove us to hysterics with guests like Larry King, John Goodman, and Pierce Brosnan... "Prawn, James Prawn"...
That's why I have good hopes for this particular idea. It plays on their strengths. It doesn't force them into unfamiliar, ill-fitting roles like all of the recent movies. It allows them to give us what we desire from them. It lets them be THEM... which is what we all fell in love with at the start. Yes?
This long winded and oddly optomistic rant was brought to you by the number 6, the letter C, and Gordon (not the one actually on Seasame Street).
-Gordon
However, and this can be debated ad nauseam, I do not believe that the Muppets NEED to be "re-introduced" to the viewing public. It is my personal view that that sort of terminology is used as corporate tactical stalling pushed by overzealous bean-counters.
In short, The Muppets SCARE the Suits. They are a wild card. They've seen the Muppets make fistfuls of cash (when they had a creative force behind them) and they've seen them make horrific popular blunders (when handled by folks who don't "get it"...Muppets Wizard Of Oz, anyone?). They simply don't gamble... at least not with their own money.
But I think it is a dis-service to the Muppets (and their performers and creators) to think they couldn't immediately come back (in their "idiom") and entertain audiences just as they did in the "golden years". I mean, really... the material isn't that deep. Its rich and broad, but not that deep. Anybody with eyes, ears and a funnybone can pick it up.
Just make a new Muppet Show. No funky change-ups, no "edgy" twists, no pre-school fixations, no need to treat the audience like morons. Entertain the WHOLE family. It'll work. REALLY.
But if you need a litmus test, I suggest this: pick up the phone and place a call to any Hollywood actor (male or female) and ask them if they'd like to be a guest star on a new Muppet Show weekly series. You'll have to beat them off with a stick. They'll be on your doorstep in a heartbeat asking what they get to do and can they be in a sketch with their favorite Muppet.
One of the Muppet's greatest assets is their ability to mirror and parody popular culture. In the 1970's they made us bust a gut doing just that with guest stars like Roger Moore, Lynda Carter, and Crystal Gayle. On Muppets Tonight (dragged to ratings oblivion by "Aliens in the Family") they drove us to hysterics with guests like Larry King, John Goodman, and Pierce Brosnan... "Prawn, James Prawn"...
That's why I have good hopes for this particular idea. It plays on their strengths. It doesn't force them into unfamiliar, ill-fitting roles like all of the recent movies. It allows them to give us what we desire from them. It lets them be THEM... which is what we all fell in love with at the start. Yes?
This long winded and oddly optomistic rant was brought to you by the number 6, the letter C, and Gordon (not the one actually on Seasame Street).
-Gordon
