My Thoughts: Disney's Muppets

I hope you are right travellingpat

I totally agree . . .unfortunately, the longer Disney keeps sitting on their hands, waiting for the "right moment," the Muppets are quickly leaving the publics eye. It almost seems like Disney purposely took the Muppets off the Market to replace them with the "Disney versions." What's missing is the originality that the Muppets have always exemplified, the innovation, the humor, and the love. The new pop culture Muppets aren't doing so well. Perhaps Disney will get the hint.

Forgive my cynical self if I mention how we've heard this cryptic hollow knock before to no avail...

Sorry I'm late, but I heard that Iger is a EXTREMELY big muppet fan, and he REALLY wants the muppets to get back in the public's eye.

Where did you hear that? that changes some things in my brain!!!!

Internet, freinds, a lot of places

Knowing Disney they are probably just trying to figure out how to suck the most money out of this franchise

I work with kids and 1 in every 20 knows who Kermit the Frog is. That is sad and I am crying right now

My thoughts of Muppet ideas from Disney

I think Disney did some nice ideas for the Muppets. Here's a list of what I think was nice of Disney.

1. Disney releasing season sets of The Muppet Show.
2. Disney made The Muppets Wizard of Oz.
3. Disney released several Muppet CD's.
4. Disney lets Sesame Workshop include Kermit on Do De Rubber Duck and Everybody Be Yo'Self and SS videos since SW lost rights to him.
5. Disney released a restored and remastered DVD of The Muppet Movie.
6. Disney made nifty and cool TV appearances like Kermit appearing on Extreme Makeover Home Edition or the TV Land Awards.
7. Disney released Before You Leap.
8. Disney made a Kermit's 50th anniversary parade in Texas.
9. Disney has a Muppet store in Disney World.
10. Disney released nifty Kermit pins.

Wizard of Oz was planned before the Disney buyout. I would sauy a lot of the fact that it felt rushed, and had a c-list pop star (for the tweens) as Dorothy was due to them.

Other than that they have been doing pretty little. I give them credit for allowing SW to use old Kermit clips. But that's about it.

I have said this countless times before. In today's world, when someone says "muppet" or even "puppet", whats the first thing that comes to mind? Sesame street, baby shows, ect. I think disney is right in the fact they are releasing things slowly. Re-introducing the muppets and hopefully making people realize that the muppets are not really for toddlers and preschoolers, but for everyone. If they were to release something every week, people would think its the invasion of the baby show. Its better to start out slowly, get poeple used to the muppets, make them realise its not a baby show.

Personally, I think they need to get big name celebrities to work with the muppets.

Getting big name celebrities to work with the Muppets is key. Just like it used to be.

Yeah, as much as I'm sure it would bug most of the people who visit this forum, I think getting the Muppets with people like Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale, and Miley Cyrus would help a lot. (I wouldn't mind, I'm into all that Disney Channel crap )

No, he said big celebrities. Not any of this teeny-bopper garbage that people say ruined the MWoO. I'm thinking that the Muppets should work with somebody like Tom Hanks or Morgan Freeman, or somebody who actually has something other than one thing from the Disney Channel on their acting resume'.

Daniel

Well, it would be great for Muppets to be seen with big named celebrities, but I think there sould defiantly be a happy medium between the popular celebrities of the day and true stars. However, the Muppets really need to get back into the public eye and perhaps the popular celebs may help in some reguard.

It's a little sad to me when people say that the Muppets are dead and that nothing good has come from the Muppets in recent years, because that isn't true, in my opinion. Then again, I mainly grew up on Muppet productions made after Jim's death, so maybe my opinion isn't justified so much.

I haven't seen The Muppets Wizard of Oz yet, but it doesn't bother me so much that it was made for TV (the rushedness is another story). First and foremost, The Muppets are television personalities. Though I will be the first to say that I ADORE the Muppet Movies to no end, The Muppet Show and even Muppets Tonight are where they seem the most comfortable in my opinion. Not that they don't work beautifully on the big screen... It's just good to see them in a variety show format. (.... Which really has nothing to do what I was just saying. GAH! Forgive me. must be tired.)

I think Disney really does need to focus on releasing the remaining seasons of The Muppet Show on DVD. I think that if people show strong support for the oldies, Disney will soon learn what the fans want.



... Somehow I think someone is going to beat me up over this post.

Aw, no I won't beat you, hehe. We all have our own opinions of what we like, and that's as it should be. My favorite Muppet movie is Muppets Take Manhattan, though so many others seem to be put it last, lol. Yet even so, I acknowledge that The Muppet Movie is probably the better film.

I don't think the post-Jim projects measure up to the Jim projects. It's no one's fault, it's just hard to follow a classic. But again, art is very subjective, we all have our own points of view.

The thing is, I don't think it's possible to compare the post-Jim Muppets to the things made when Jim was alive. Jim was beyond special. He was the heart and soul of the Muppets. I don't think the Muppets will every be the same after Jim, but they do still have a magical quality. I just try to look at the Muppets on different levels. For example, I like Muppets Tonight on different levels that I love The Muppet Show. And though it's far from perfect, Muppets From Space has some good qualities.


I just think that saying the Muppets are dead is like a slap in the face. When I see them, even in the most mediocre of TV interviews or movies, I am still enthralled. It probably has alot to do with whoever is performing at the time.

WHO? ...and I'm not joking!

I always thought that a fantastic Muppet collaboration with be them and Eminem, I think that it could work on so many levels!

Yeah, but they've been pretty slow at doing this. Season 2 of TMS is now available, but that's about 3 years after the release of Sesaon 1. Now compare that with what Sesame Workshop has done with Old School Sesame Street; The first set was released in November 2006, followed by the second set in October 2007. That's less than a year between the two. Plus, they also released two box sets of The Electric Company within roughly the same time span.

Now I know that when a DVD set is released, there's all kinds of formalities that have to be worked out like copyrights, royalties to actors, performers music composers and the like. But SW had just as many -- if not more -- of these things to work out and if a non-profit organization like SW with limited staff, money and resources can manage to do this so quickly, then I fail to see why a company like Disney with much more money and staff, can't do the same.

Yep, they' re to blame!