Flanderized Muppets?

[Hubert]

I watched LTS last night and Rizzo really wasn't needed in the main group. He and Pepe served the same purpose basically; you could've given half of Rizzo's lines to Pepe and nothing would've changed. I woulddn't call that "Fladerization", just not knowing what to do with him.

I understand that he wasn't really needed, but what I'm saying is instead of just giving cranky commentary, they could at least have Rizzo say something more like him...if that's the case, then Sam's must not be flanderization, because they don't know what to do with him, so they just make him a super extreme America fan.

 

[Duke Remington]

That's the relationship people think they want, but in truth, it's just an annoying one note gag that lost it's charm very early on. Slight, often hypocritical jealousy with guest stars was fun... but fat joke/hiyah... that was only sort of funny in the beginning. Glad that the new movie added depth back into there. As I'd expect from someone who wrote brilliant romantic comedies, like Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Too true.

Regarding the hypocritical part, I think that that aspect of it all has become more and more mean-spirited and doesn't seem as funny anymore, contributing further to the Flanderization of Kermit & Piggy's relationship as well as to the Flanderization of Piggy's personality.

Oh, and in addition to what I said in my previous posts, another thing that was good about her character and made her seem more human in the old days was the fact that often times, some sort of negative karma or well-deserved punishment would befall her when she did something incredibly wrong and needed to be taught a lesson (such as Kermit discovering that she paid off the audience in the Dom DeLuise episode, planting the gossip item about her and Kermit being secretly married in the Loretta Swit episode, locking Lynn Redgrave in her dressing room, etc.). Today, the pig hardly ever gets punished for doing bad things and seems to get away with murder too much--especially since today's Piggy is usually over-the-top mean and violent and enjoys going around hitting people without thinking, making her come off as a jerk-*** and REALLY well-deserving of punishment or negative karma.

I still think Eric Jacobson and Jim Lewis really should seek out serious coachings from Frank Oz on how to better approach her character and save her from her Flanderization and restore the more well-balanced personality that she had in the past.

 

[minor muppetz]

Throughout Letters to Santa both Pepe and Rizzo speak out agaisnt believing in Santa Claus, and at the end it turns out Pepe is one of the three who wrote Santa a letter, showing that he believed in Santa all along... But we don't really get anything about of Rizzo not believing in Santa.

 

[Duke Remington]

New examples of Flanderized Muppets posted on TVTropes.org:

Mahna Mahna:
While many of his early appearances were in performances of the song, many of his early appearances also had him doing other things. In a sketch on The Ed Sullivan Show, he played the drums and provided wisecracks (and spoke coherent English) in the "String Quartet" sketch. In the "Sax and Violence" number he played the triangle bell and stole the show. But in recent years, his appearances are almost always performances or parodies of "Mahna Mahna". Even his Sesame Street counterpart, Bip Bipadotta, shouted "Mahna Mahna!" when he made a cameo in a 2009 episode.

Statler & Waldorf:
This has happened to several characters from The Muppet Show when they made the transition to the movies, but perhaps none as much as Statler and Waldorf. In the original show they were audience members who constantly complained about the show. They show up in various roles later, where they complain about everything and seem to have never had a positive experience in their lives.

• A lot of people still love them because of this.
• Statler and Waldorf get another case, because while they complained a lot during the show, they didn't complain about everything. Indeed, when it came to classic vaudeville numbers, they were positively enthusiastic and would even sing along, and rarely had anything negative to say about the guest stars. Fast forward a bit...

 

[mr3urious]

• Statler and Waldorf get another case, because while they complained a lot during the show, they didn't complain about everything. Indeed, when it came to classic vaudeville numbers, they were positively enthusiastic and would even sing along, and rarely had anything negative to say about the guest stars. Fast forward a bit...

They also couldn't find anything bad about their trip to Disney World, either.

 

[Oscarfan]

Mahna Mahna? How do you Flanderize a character that has no character?

 

[AquaGGR]

Mahna Mahna? How do you Flanderize a character that has no character?

Mahna Mahna did things in his early appearances like play instruments and actually speak coherently, but now all he does is sing "Mahna Mahna" or a variation of it.

 

[Oscarfan]

I would hardly call that Flanderization.

 

[AquaGGR]

I actually don't really consider that flanderization, I think he's been utilized to just sing "Mahna Mahna" nowadays and not play instruments like he used to.

 

[Oscarfan]

You mean in all of two sketches?