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Chilly Down
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- Apr 13, 2002
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Hey, MC gang,
One thing that hasn't really been discussed on the forum yet is what we?d like to see in the upcoming Muppet Christmas TV-movie and Muppet series for Fox. No one knows for sure how often the writers, etc. check this forum, but I suppose we ought to give them some kind of an idea of what we're looking for in case they check in, right? So here are some of my thoughts:
--First, characters we'd like to see. Pepe is a definite; after the LJS commercials he should have a little bit of recognizability to the rest of the audience, and we Muppet fans are all dying to see more of the little shrimp--sorry, king prawn. Let's see more Bobo too! (Heck, all of Bill's characters are great. I'd love to see Clueless Morgan again if they can find a logical way to work him in.) Since it's widely rumored from a lot of sources that a new performer has taken over Piggy, there's a good chance that we'll see her back in action as well. Any chances we'll also have Fozzie or Animal? Since Bill Barretta is now performing Rowlf and Brian Henson has the Newsman, let's see more of these characters also. While neither voice is a dead-on match, the writing for these two at the Fest was perfect and the performers accurately captured their personalities. If these two show up again, I'll have no complaints. (They can even bring them back slowly, but let's not let the live gala be a fluke!)
--I'd also like to see more of Sal. Note I didn't say Sal and Johnny Fiama. I have nothing against Johnny, but he never made me fall on the floor laughing. Neither did Sal at first--but then, curiously enough, he made me laugh all weekend long at the Fest. Sal was the only character they had deliberately sent for Brian, and Bill usually had Pepe on his hand, so Sal was forced to interact with other characters for a change through Brian's improvisation. And he was GREAT. (Of course, the whole "Get outta Johnny" bit was very funny and memorable too.) In the live show, Sal popped up frequently -- and he was hilarious -- while Johnny only showed up as background in one of the production numbers. I'm not saying that we should get rid of Johnny. What I'm saying is that I'm intrigued at how well Sal interacted with the others, and I'd like to see this direction explored more in the future to see where it leads. Who knows? Sal may about to be explode into prominence the way Pepe did in Muppets From Space.
--Let's also get at least one musical number in the Christmas movie with the Electric Mayhem; they're missed by hardcore fan and non-fan alike. ("Jingle Bell Rock," perhaps?) Even if Janice can't take a vocal solo and even if Animal doesn't growl, we've still got the puppets, plus John Kennedy as Dr. Teeth, Jerry Nelson as Floyd, and Dave Goelz as Zoot. That should be enough for now. And maybe Janice and Animal can get instrumental solos.
--For that matter, Jerry Nelson's characters have gotten a lot of short shrift over the past decade. Let's see Floyd in a prominent role, and also have some featured scenes with Robin and even Fozzie's mom, okay? I miss these characters, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
--As for Kevin Clash: hmm. Still don't know what needs to be done with this guy. He's a brilliant performer who gives life to Elmo, arguably the most famous Muppet in the world right now after Kermit. And yet none of his TMS characters can register on the public?s consciousness. We've given Clifford plenty of chances, and he'll probably be in the movie and the series. But he's a comic hero like Kermit or Rowlf, not a completely wacky character like Fozzie or Gonzo, and after all this time he still hasn't found his "hook." Nothing personal against Clifford; he can still hang around, but let's try to find another character for Kevin to be his "star" character. Maybe Polly the Lobster needs to be given another shot? Of course, there's also the possibility that Kevin could inherit some of Frank's roles, which I have no problem with. We'll see, I guess.
--Mo the Frackle. OK, when they introduced this character on Family Feud, it was just to fill in for performers and characters who couldn't be there. But I found him more funny than most of the other characters a lot of the time. I think the writers have something to explore here.
--Unintentionally, the Muppet universe has wound up with very few strong female characters played by females. Here's hoping that trend gets reversed. Maybe Red Fraggle (Karen Prell) wanders out of a Fraggle hole one day and decides to visit with her new Muppet friends indefinitely? Maybe it's a little bit of a stretch, but hey -- what else are they doing with the Fraggles these days?
--Of course, not mentioned in this group are all the characters I expect I'll see anyway, like Kermit, Rizzo, Gonzo, Bunsen and Beaker, the Swedish Chef, Statler and Waldorf, etc., etc. Naturally, I want to see them, but I don't think it's something I have to really worry about. : -)
--There's a lot of difference of opinion on Muppets from Space, but one thing that almost everyone agrees on is that the boarding house segments were excellent. One thing that hasn't really been covered at length in other Muppet productions besides MFS is what everyday life is like for the Muppets, and I think there's definitely more potential here. Naturally, this would more likely be the format for the series as opposed to the movie. (Is this what Brian was thinking of with his proposed Muppet Sitcom a few years back?) I believe the original boarding house scenes were actually shot in someone's house, so naturally that couldn't be done over a weekly basis. They'd have to build a similar set, but I say it's worth it.
--Does the new Muppet sitcom format mean no guest stars? Jim always had humans interacting with the Muppet characters, and he felt that the few projects without them never worked out. So will we see the first regular human characters in the TMS universe interacting with the Muppets on a weekly basis the way Bob, Maria, Susan and Gordon interact with the Sesame Street characters now? Maybe Kermit hires a butler and a maid to help clean up at the boarding house, and each week's episode is about how they get somehow caught up in the crazy misadventures of the household's residents. OK, that's a little corny, but I'm just brainstorming here. What does everyone else think of this? (The other side of the coin is: I've never missed the humans in scenes where there are just Muppets around.)
I should note that the above are just suggestions and ideas. After having written several stories of my own, I know how hard it can be to balance old and new characters and still write a compelling story. I won't be picketing the Henson studios if the film and series don't turn out exactly like I hoped. But hey, if you don't say what you?d like to see, there's no way to get what you want!
So that's all I can think of for now. What would everyone else like to see? Feel free to respond to the points I've already made, or to comment on something else I haven't thought of yet.
One thing that hasn't really been discussed on the forum yet is what we?d like to see in the upcoming Muppet Christmas TV-movie and Muppet series for Fox. No one knows for sure how often the writers, etc. check this forum, but I suppose we ought to give them some kind of an idea of what we're looking for in case they check in, right? So here are some of my thoughts:
--First, characters we'd like to see. Pepe is a definite; after the LJS commercials he should have a little bit of recognizability to the rest of the audience, and we Muppet fans are all dying to see more of the little shrimp--sorry, king prawn. Let's see more Bobo too! (Heck, all of Bill's characters are great. I'd love to see Clueless Morgan again if they can find a logical way to work him in.) Since it's widely rumored from a lot of sources that a new performer has taken over Piggy, there's a good chance that we'll see her back in action as well. Any chances we'll also have Fozzie or Animal? Since Bill Barretta is now performing Rowlf and Brian Henson has the Newsman, let's see more of these characters also. While neither voice is a dead-on match, the writing for these two at the Fest was perfect and the performers accurately captured their personalities. If these two show up again, I'll have no complaints. (They can even bring them back slowly, but let's not let the live gala be a fluke!)
--I'd also like to see more of Sal. Note I didn't say Sal and Johnny Fiama. I have nothing against Johnny, but he never made me fall on the floor laughing. Neither did Sal at first--but then, curiously enough, he made me laugh all weekend long at the Fest. Sal was the only character they had deliberately sent for Brian, and Bill usually had Pepe on his hand, so Sal was forced to interact with other characters for a change through Brian's improvisation. And he was GREAT. (Of course, the whole "Get outta Johnny" bit was very funny and memorable too.) In the live show, Sal popped up frequently -- and he was hilarious -- while Johnny only showed up as background in one of the production numbers. I'm not saying that we should get rid of Johnny. What I'm saying is that I'm intrigued at how well Sal interacted with the others, and I'd like to see this direction explored more in the future to see where it leads. Who knows? Sal may about to be explode into prominence the way Pepe did in Muppets From Space.
--Let's also get at least one musical number in the Christmas movie with the Electric Mayhem; they're missed by hardcore fan and non-fan alike. ("Jingle Bell Rock," perhaps?) Even if Janice can't take a vocal solo and even if Animal doesn't growl, we've still got the puppets, plus John Kennedy as Dr. Teeth, Jerry Nelson as Floyd, and Dave Goelz as Zoot. That should be enough for now. And maybe Janice and Animal can get instrumental solos.
--For that matter, Jerry Nelson's characters have gotten a lot of short shrift over the past decade. Let's see Floyd in a prominent role, and also have some featured scenes with Robin and even Fozzie's mom, okay? I miss these characters, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
--As for Kevin Clash: hmm. Still don't know what needs to be done with this guy. He's a brilliant performer who gives life to Elmo, arguably the most famous Muppet in the world right now after Kermit. And yet none of his TMS characters can register on the public?s consciousness. We've given Clifford plenty of chances, and he'll probably be in the movie and the series. But he's a comic hero like Kermit or Rowlf, not a completely wacky character like Fozzie or Gonzo, and after all this time he still hasn't found his "hook." Nothing personal against Clifford; he can still hang around, but let's try to find another character for Kevin to be his "star" character. Maybe Polly the Lobster needs to be given another shot? Of course, there's also the possibility that Kevin could inherit some of Frank's roles, which I have no problem with. We'll see, I guess.
--Mo the Frackle. OK, when they introduced this character on Family Feud, it was just to fill in for performers and characters who couldn't be there. But I found him more funny than most of the other characters a lot of the time. I think the writers have something to explore here.
--Unintentionally, the Muppet universe has wound up with very few strong female characters played by females. Here's hoping that trend gets reversed. Maybe Red Fraggle (Karen Prell) wanders out of a Fraggle hole one day and decides to visit with her new Muppet friends indefinitely? Maybe it's a little bit of a stretch, but hey -- what else are they doing with the Fraggles these days?
--Of course, not mentioned in this group are all the characters I expect I'll see anyway, like Kermit, Rizzo, Gonzo, Bunsen and Beaker, the Swedish Chef, Statler and Waldorf, etc., etc. Naturally, I want to see them, but I don't think it's something I have to really worry about. : -)
--There's a lot of difference of opinion on Muppets from Space, but one thing that almost everyone agrees on is that the boarding house segments were excellent. One thing that hasn't really been covered at length in other Muppet productions besides MFS is what everyday life is like for the Muppets, and I think there's definitely more potential here. Naturally, this would more likely be the format for the series as opposed to the movie. (Is this what Brian was thinking of with his proposed Muppet Sitcom a few years back?) I believe the original boarding house scenes were actually shot in someone's house, so naturally that couldn't be done over a weekly basis. They'd have to build a similar set, but I say it's worth it.
--Does the new Muppet sitcom format mean no guest stars? Jim always had humans interacting with the Muppet characters, and he felt that the few projects without them never worked out. So will we see the first regular human characters in the TMS universe interacting with the Muppets on a weekly basis the way Bob, Maria, Susan and Gordon interact with the Sesame Street characters now? Maybe Kermit hires a butler and a maid to help clean up at the boarding house, and each week's episode is about how they get somehow caught up in the crazy misadventures of the household's residents. OK, that's a little corny, but I'm just brainstorming here. What does everyone else think of this? (The other side of the coin is: I've never missed the humans in scenes where there are just Muppets around.)
I should note that the above are just suggestions and ideas. After having written several stories of my own, I know how hard it can be to balance old and new characters and still write a compelling story. I won't be picketing the Henson studios if the film and series don't turn out exactly like I hoped. But hey, if you don't say what you?d like to see, there's no way to get what you want!
So that's all I can think of for now. What would everyone else like to see? Feel free to respond to the points I've already made, or to comment on something else I haven't thought of yet.
