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New Muppet Show to be taped in England

By Phillip Chapman
Courtesy of USA Today
July 15, 2000

USA Today in their TV section had some news concerning the new Muppet Show announced last March:

"Miss Piggy returns. The Jim Henson Co. will produce 26 episodes of a new Muppets series in England. The show will air in the USA on Odyssey, a cable partnership between Henson and Hallmark."

This is quite a departure, likely due to EM.TV's overseas base. The show has been rumored for awhile that it would be taped in New York.

For the most part fans have been supportive of the idea that the show will be taped in England (like the original under the backing of the late Lord Grade), but many are disappointed that the show will be airing on the Odyssey Network.

"The new Muppet series is such a wonderful opportunity to get the Muppets back in the public eye and feed off the nostalgia of the people who grew up with the original, but airing this on Odyssey is a weak choice given its limited distribution" comments D. W. McKim. "It's still not available in a satisfying enough number of markets (and even in a lot of them, they only show the station during part of the day and then cut to something else) so a lot of people will miss out."

"At least, we know that in the USA at least, airing it on a station they co-own pretty much eliminates the fear of it being canceled before they're ready to end it... I really would have liked to see this go syndicated like the original."