Your Thoughts: The Muppets on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"

Of course, this was the one recent appearance that I missed!

Any chance that they'll re-air soon?

I was on set for three days of the shoot. I was actually in the room just before they shot the Bunsen & Beaker shtick. There was quite a bit of fuss about the Beaker puppet. Originally they intended it to be the "steam out the ears" Beaker, but the fog machine they wanted to use just didn't have a proper hook-up to make the gag work. So at the request of Steve Whitmire, they hurriedly swapped out to the "light up eyes" Beaker. And yes... you noticed what I notice right away in the footage: Beaker's mouth was funkily askew for some reason. But I do have to say, there were about 15 production people in a creepy basement room that was maybe 12 foot by 12 foot! That included the director, the assistant director, the pyrotechnic guy for the gag, the four Muppeteers, the producer, the assistant producer, the Muppet supprt person, the sound guy... the list goes on. I finally extracted myself after the fog machine just wasn't going to work. They didn't need me in the space taking up air, you know?

I have plenty more on-set tales to tell but they'll have to be peppered through the thread... too many to just blort out all at once.

Oh, yes... and I built Gonzo's cannon.

-Gordon

Dude! That's just totally awesome that you got to work on that set for a bit.

As sad as I was to see that Rowlf didn't play the piano during the song it was cool to see Paul play.

It's on Hulu for those in the US that missed it!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/118222/extreme-makeover-home-edition-the-morris-family

Rowlf, as far as I could determine, was not on-set at all. Its now Bill Baretta that is performing Rowlf and he was mucho busy handling all his own. I would have loved to been in proximity to Rowlf, for sure!

-G

Oh yes... and SPECIAL DANGER PROPS to Dave Goelz who ACTUALLY climbed up on top of the rickety garage roof to perform Gonzo through the hole!

-Gordon

You bulit the Cannon! how cool was that? What kind of desinge did you use?

Hey G, that's so awesome that you got to be there pressed in the tiny basement with those 15 other people...Or something less weird...Anyway! If you have stories, we obviously wanna hear 'em! I think it's awesome that there's a "Steam-outta-the-ears" Beaker and a light-up-eyes Beaker...That never even occoured to me before!

Surely you jest!

Yea, I thought Beaker looked kinda weird at the end. But I've never seen the light up eyes version, so it kinda made up for it.

Did Steve have to sign a saftey waiver or something for that roof shot?

Well Beaker's eyes light up in GMC so I think it would be some getting use to if that was the last time we seen it. It was Dave that was on the roof not Steve. Steve really seems like a true work horse, from everything Groden has said.

Like I have said so many times about Rowlf. Give it time we will see him show up more and more as time and apperacess and shows and movies roll out I'm sure.

dwayne1115: Yes... it was terriffically cool. In many many ways. The least of which being that I got to hang around and see the magic happening.

Beauregard: yup... the "many Beakers" were there in the "secret black trailer". It was awesomely cool to see them up close and personal.

Zeppo: Nope. No jest. I got a call at my work (I run a special effects shop in Minneapolis) from EM:HE asking if we did pyrotechnics. We don't. It takes a special license to do pyro and we never got one. But in my conversations with the producer, it was mentioned that they needed a circus cannon to launch Gonzo from. Well, that's what we do here... we build props. The producer was also completely floored by how much I knew already about the Muppets. I was asking questions about who was going to be doing the shoot (by name)... even he didn't know who most of the Muppeteers were by name. plus, we're pretty connected to the production community resources around here, so I was able to give him some starting points in his search for necessary components locally. Like a fog machine...

Anyway, they pretty much turned me loose and I designed and built the cannon. My co-worker Mike rigged it up with two confetti shooters inside attached to a trigger. It was set up so that Gonzo could be hauled out of the cannon on a monofilament line, brushing past the trigger which activated the confetti shooters all in one go.

And we got the hero shot in one take. Woot!

Gonzo's Hobbit: It was Dave Goelz on the roof. And as far as I know, there was no particular waiver or anything. A production like this is insured up the wazoo. They have to be. Its up to the show's producers to make sure they aren't really endangering the talent. And while Dave had to climb up a ladder and lay across a shingled roof for a few minutes, I don't believe for a moment that they'd let him do it if it was inordinately dangerous.

There was, on my part, a great amount of frustration during the shoot. I've been doing effects and film shoots for the past 18 years and so it gets frustrating when I have only one single thing to do "officially" for the production. That means a LOT of standing around doing nothing for many many hours waiting for my part to come up in the shooting schedule. And in the end, I "worked" for approximately a half an hour in three days worth of hanging out. The rest of the time was spent trying to stay out of the way of the rest of the production crew. You know, they guys who were getting paid to be there.
But it rankled me to be so useless. I know it didn't cause no nevermind to the crew, but its against my nature to ignore the work that's going on and not help out somehow. Its a shoot, you know?

It was likely a HUGE faux pas, but at one point I offered to help the Muppet Heap folks with whatever they might need an extra hand on. Carrying, standing guard, whatever. I got a pretty cold "No, thanks." which I probably completely deserved. I understand what they had at stake there and how they wouldn't open the door to getting messed up by a complete stranger. Yeah... my bad.

Oh, and let me tell you, if you desire to have your fingers, hand or arm broken in lightning-fast order by a petite lady with long, gray hair, just get them near a Muppet! I did NOT transgress the holiest of holies by doing anything of the like, but the gal in charge of those puppets (when they aren't ensconced on a Muppeteer arm) gave the subliminal impression that breaking your exremeties would be the least of your punishment if you did. I'm just sayin'.

-Gordon

I have got to get me a secret black trailer...Nevermind what's in it, it just sounds so cool!

HA! Good thing she wasn't around when we broke into the imaginary warehouse and stole the Muppeteers, let alone the Muppets...What? Yes, I am cool...Yes, I have an imagination...Right, now, why is everyone staring at me?

Dear spcglider,
I watched the show 3 hours after I recorded it and I lust loved it!
The Muppets were fantastic they did a great job on the show. I especaily loved it when I saw Kermit and Miss Piggy. What was your favorite part of the show? The house had a daycare center for kids I can't wait to hear back from you soon. Take care.

Ack, sorry, got names mixed up

Yea, that's what it's usually like on a set. The general rule of thumb seems to be that unless someone asks for your help, don't try to be useful. Especially in specialty areas because you seem to get on the bad side of the professionals. It's a wierd feeling if you're used to doing something all the time at other jobs. But that's cool that you got to work there, even for a little while.

Overnight ratings news:

Since they were up against the final Sunday Night Football game and the Simpsons, Extreme Makeover: Muppet Edition came in 3rd in its timeslot - but was still in many ways a win for ABC.

ABC had it's best Sunday night overall this season and its best rated Sunday night since November 2008. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition increased 6% (compared to its last original on 12/13) to a 3.3 rating.

Great stuff!

How great is it to hear Kermit done by Steve! Also who else is really likeing what Matt is doing with the voice of Crazy Harry!

Pitch perfect.

The Gonzo puppet didn't bother me that much even though it makes the MR one look perfect. I do wonder what's going on there.

I just finished watching it on ABC.com and I just have to say.............

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!

This has to be one of the best muppet appearance I've seen in a long time!1 IT was so perfect! Crazy Harry blowing up the house. Statler and Waldorf! JUST ONE PERSON! I laughed! I cried! It moved me! Thanks Disney, for bringing back the muppets!

Hey that was my line! lol oh well it's not like "I laughed O cried" is copywrited or anything