The New Muppet Show Cast

[dwmckim]

One character i'd really like to see again on at least a supporting character basis is Zondra (or Darcy; her MT reincarnation) Not only a great character (well - characters) but her inclusion would also would provide something for a female Muppeteer to do.

More generally though, this is really the first Muppet Show that will be on in the wake of the Muppet Fandom explosion - yes, there was MuppetZine and the newsgroup during Muppets Tonight but since then there's been more sites (like this one) and overall forums for Muppet fans plus MuppetFest and this is a time when Henson should be pretty aware how much of a hardcore cult fan following they have as they put the show together...so that being the case, i would like to see a lot of "Easter Eggs" in the new show that would be little treasures or in-jokes that the hardcore fans would get. Nothing that would be too distracting for the casual or even new fan, but basically some great uses of cameos from the other Classic Muppet shows (or other shows with casts besides the Classic Muppets) sprinkled around that will have the loyal fans squealing with delight! Especially if this ended up in the same block of programming as the Simpsons, i think it would be great to see a lot of the same care going into subtle "for-the-fans" acknowledgments of the Muppets history as the Simpsons animators/writers sprinkle thorugh the show.

 

[kansasteen14]

I REALLLY hope that Rowlf has a bigger [art on this than he has had recently,and I know this sounds stupid but I would like to see Camilla become more important again.

 

[Lorde Pompeo]

My Idea For A New Show!

I know this thread is nice and all but I think that you guys are going the wrong way... Before thinking about WHO should appear in the show, we should think about WHAT kind of show it should be...

It shouldn't be like The Muppet Show (so that people won't start comparing them which would result in not liking the new since the original is the best no matter what) but it shouldn't be like Muppets Tonight either (so that people won't relate the new show to the small amount of success of Muppets Tonight)...

It should be (and it will be) something new... No matter what kind of show we are going to have, there are some things that can't be out of a Muppet show, so we are facing some problems when trying to achieve a concept that would work out as a show:

- How to have all the Muppets from The Muppet Show and all the Muppets from Muppets Tonight (I won't even mention other Muppets)?
- How to have Musical Numbers?
- How to have Weird and Funny Numbers?
- How to have little recuring sketches (Pigs in Space, Tales from the Vet, Chef's Kitchen, Veteranarian's Hospital, Snooky Bloir Contest Thingy with Carl the Big Mean Bunny)?
- How to have Guest Stars?

It is very hard to find an Universal answer to all these questions, but I told myself I would do it and so I will (I started to write this at 3.30am... at 5.30am I was almost finished and my computer crashed and I lost eveything... It's 6am right now...)...

I find it funny that each one of you is reducing the character list for the new show to 10 or 12 Muppets, and by choosing your favourites you are implying that many other Muppets who other people would choose will stay out of the show... Is there any way to please everybody? YES! To put them all in!

How to have all the Muppets in the new show? My first answer was "Muppet Boarding House"... Since the new show will probably be Sitcom based, because the variety show format is going "bye-bye", the description of the Muppets life in their house would be nice... very Sitcomish... But then, some of the other questions wouldn't be answered... The Guest Star problem for instance... How would it be solved? It would be very hard...

However, I had another thing in mind even better that Muppet Boarding House... I have found a way that (to me) looks like the best one to solve all the questions above...

The show would be called:

"THE MUPPETS RULE THE MALL!"

J.P. Grosse found out that he had too much money so he bought a piece of land some years ago. It turns out that the worthless piece of land is now right in the middle of a new growing town, where the Muppets live. After talking to Kermit and the others, J.P. decided to build a Mall and let the Muppets run it, as long as he recieved his payment in the end of the month (It is his duty as Landlord)... After some months, the Mall was actually built and the Muppets choose which stores they wanted to run... Now they have spread their wackyness and mad fun all over the place... or shall I say Plaza...

---//---

This is the Plot Summary of what could work out very well as a half-hour TV show... I imagine the Mall like this:

OUTSIDE ENTRANCE

- Fountain (Fishes, The Cosmic Fishes of Knowledge)
- Garden (Sheeps, Cows, Horses)
- Tavelling Matt is usally seen here, hidden behind something
- Parking Spaces for Cars (Seymour, Pepe, Carl the Big Mean Bunny)

GROUND FLOOR

- Glass Entrance Door (Bobo and Pops)
- Stage (Fozzie, Animal, Rowlf)
- Tables and Chairs (Statler, Waldorf, Emily Bear, J.P. Grosse, Mr. Pudman, Carter, Mama Fiama)
- Muppy is always sleeping next to his owner
- Penguins dressed as waiters work in this area
- Bar (Polly, Clueless, Mr. Callahan)
- IceCream and Candy Shop (Sweetums and other Monsters)
- Restaurant (Sweedish Chef, Gladys, Lew Zealand)
- George and Beauregard are usually seen here, cleaning the floor
- The Hexed Store (Changes Every Week)

FIRST FLOOR

- Pet Shop (Dr. Phil Van Neuter)
- Clothes Store (Hilda, Mildred, Annie Sue) with Sports Clothes Section (Lewis Kazagger)
- Apliances and Machines Store (Dr. Bunsen, Beaker) with Video Cassete and DVD Section (Link, Dr. Strangepork, Peejay)
- Music Store (Nigel, Dr. Teeth, Floyd, Zoot, Lips)
- Cosmetics Store (Miss Piggy, Spamela, Janice)
- Cinema (Scooter, Crazy Harry, Manha Manha, Snowts)
- Mickey Moose and a Gorila are usually seen here, minding their own buisness

SECOND FLOOR

- Weird Store (Gonzo, Camilla) with Talking Things Section (Marvin Suggs)
- Chickens are usually seen here, with their friends
- Cheese Store (Rizzo and all the other Rats)
- Sound Booth (The Newsman)
- The Muppet News Flashes are read through the Speakers placed all over the Mall but the Newsman still gets hurt
- Bookstore (Clifford, Sam, Wayne, Wanda)
- Games Room (Robin, Bean Bunny, Babies from Baby Band)

- Andy and Randy are fired from a different store each week
- Snooky Bloir, Bobby Benson and other favourite Muppets are the Regular Costumers for the Shops Jokes
- Kermit will take care of the schedule for the Stage Numbers

---//---

The fact that most of the Muppets have their own space doesn't mean that they will never leave it... There will be lots of swaping managements, leaving stores alone for performing at the Stage, etc... Every Saturday (or whatever day the show airs) Kermit asks a Guest Star to come and perform a number or two in the Stage with the Muppets... Other Stars make Cameo Appearences by stoping at the Mall to buy something...

We could have "Tales from the Vet" while Dr. Phil tells them to his costumers... "Pigs in Space" as part of a collective fantasy from Link, Dr. Strangepork and Peejay... Chef's Kitchen as he prepares dinner... Polly and Clueless little chat at the Bar... ETC!

We would have Musical, Weird and Funny numbers...

We could have it all...

If at least I could send my idea to JimHensonCompany...

Anyway... Tell me what YOU think... PLEASE! This took 4 hours of my sleep... It's 7.30am right now...

Would this work as a show??? I think the tittle is awsome...

«THE MUPPETS RULE THE MALL!»

Lets start a TMRTM Campaign!

Honestly... Tell me what you think...

Thank you!

 

[frogboy4]

That's an interesting hook. Ideas have been bouncing around the board for years on what a new Muppet show should be like. The best part of Muppets From Space was the boarding house sequence and though they don't all have to live together, seeing the characters in their daily lives outside the theater is more interesting. I like the mall idea, but just seeing the Muppets having odd jobs is enough. If it were set around their lives outside of the theater they can still have a skit from time to time, but the conflict should be focused in the real world rather than a theater or house backdrop. I think it has already been reported that the new show will not be a sitcom, but I don't think they've decided what it will be.

 

[salthemonkey]

I think there does need to be more music and more characters... but I believe what we will see is the main puppeteers. Dave, Bill, Steve and Jerry. The cast will probably depend on what characters they bring. Although most of us could handle a larger cast ...lets face it how many of our non-Muppet friends can tell the difference between the old guys even if they know their names. Not many I know. I also believe that the New Muppet, in order to get a large viewership they will limit the number of main characters.

 

[grail]

honestly...i like it! i really do. it hits all the bases, covers the whole gamut of Muppets, and updates the show to a more contemporary setting.

impressive work!

 

[frogboy4]

Sal is very accurate in my opinion. I just hope our faves can make appearances in the background and in walk-on roles. I just hope there's enough Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie as they seemed to be missing from Muppets Tonight and that may have turned many people off. Bringing back Scooter and Rowlf for bit roles every now and then would be cool too (though I'd hope to see them more often). I know new characters are a necessity but not at the expense of our faves. I think that's why we've seen Fozzie, Rowlf and Piggy get new voices recently.

 

[salthemonkey]

Lorde Pompeo

I hope you don't think I was bashing your idea.... I do believe that would be a great way to intergrate the show... I just have a feeling they are playing this one close... and as a result not much in the way of experimenting is going to happen.

 

[the_great_gonzo]

I really like the idea of setting the show in the boarding house. Plus if they're worried about guest stars, they could just have something like The Muppets need money so they open the boarding house as a Celebrity Bed & Breakfast where each episode another guest stays for the weekend. Another idea (and you are all probably going to hate me for this) is to have a segment called Muppet Memories or something like that. Fozzie's Mom could host it and it is just her looking at old scrapbooks and having little Muppet Babies segments. (The puppets, not the cartoons.) Well that's just my two pennies.

 

[kansasteen14]

I LOVE the Mall Idea,but I think it would be cool if they had the mall and the boarding house so you could see them in every day lives and that away on the way to the mall they could have "on the street segments". I would also like to see Kermit in charge of a shop at the mall and always having J.P. Grosse come in and check on him.