Video: "1D Day" with One Direction, The Muppets and more Saturday November 23

[dwayne1115]

Well I think this was a hit or miss appearance for the Muppets. There really was not much excitement during or before this show, so I don't really know how many people really saw the Muppets on this show.
Now with The Lady GaGa special there is a lot of excitement pop, and it looks like the Muppets are going to be featured quite well.
Again, I think that with this One Direction show, they where just looking for anyone they could to eat some time.

 

[Drtooth]

The Muppets can branch out into other fanbases, but why does it always have to be through flavor-of-the-month music artists? Miley Cyrus, Andrea Boccelli, Michael Buble, CeeLo Green, Lady Gaga, One Direction... let's mix things up a bit, how about giving the Muppets guest appearances on other popular shows, like when they appeared on AFV or EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION... or even THE COSBY SHOW?

I don't see how that's an entirely different thing. They're still latching onto something else rather than having their own television project. I'll agree to this. The "flavor of the month" bit would work far better if they were guests on a Muppet Show. How many cultural footnotes appeared along side those characters on their home turf? Sure, we had comedians and musicians that stood the test of time... and in the cases of some of them, like John Denver and Paul Williams even became close collaborators. But then we have dubious celebrities that weren't even remembered 5 years down the road... to say the least of British celebs that never caught on outside of their home country.

However with some of these flavors of the month (who have had careers that lasted much longer than we realize... lest we forget Cee-Lo was part of Gnarles Barkley and Gaga has been since about 2008) have requested The Muppets. That's huge. We've gone from the era of celebrities requesting to be on The Muppet Show to celebrities requesting the Muppets on their show. No matter who they wind up working with, that is amazing when you think about it. Cee-Lo especially... he was even turned down for a Grammy appearance and Henson took over. Why don't we value that?

 

[dwayne1115]

I don't see how that's an entirely different thing. They're still latching onto something else rather than having their own television project. I'll agree to this. The "flavor of the month" bit would work far better if they were guests on a Muppet Show. How many cultural footnotes appeared along side those characters on their home turf? Sure, we had comedians and musicians that stood the test of time... and in the cases of some of them, like John Denver and Paul Williams even became close collaborators. But then we have dubious celebrities that weren't even remembered 5 years down the road... to say the least of British celebs that never caught on outside of their home country.

However with some of these flavors of the month (who have had careers that lasted much longer than we realize... lest we forget Cee-Lo was part of Gnarles Barkley and Gaga has been since about 2008) have requested The Muppets. That's huge. We've gone from the era of celebrities requesting to be on The Muppet Show to celebrities requesting the Muppets on their show. No matter who they wind up working with, that is amazing when you think about it. Cee-Lo especially... he was even turned down for a Grammy appearance and Henson took over. Why don't we value that?

You know I have not thought about it that way before, but your right. I mean that is how we even got the 2011 movie, is because of Jason Segal wanting to work with the Muppets.
So yes the tables have turned in that regard, but at least people still want to work with the Muppets, which is a good thing.

 

[minor muppetz]

With quite a few of us complaining about the Muppets working with certain celebrities (and I'm no exception, though I think I've complained significantly less than others), something has occurred to me. Many of the celebrities who appeared with the Muppets when we were younger were there to attract older audiences (like our parents) but we hadn't heard of (well, depending on our ages), and now the Muppets keep working with celebrities who are for younger audiences (okay, so some, like Lady Gaga and Jessica Simpson, do appeal to more than one teenage/tween demographic, even if they do get a lot of hate). I don't know if that's ironic or not.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, there's always been this stigma that Muppets are "for kids", so maybe it's an attempt to reintroduce the Muppets to today's kids.

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, there's always been this stigma that Muppets are "for kids", so maybe it's an attempt to reintroduce the Muppets to today's kids.

Yeah, that's ironic. Back in the 1970s Jim Henson wanted the Muppets to be for adults as well as kids, and so many celebrities who I'm sure most kids hadn't heard of were guests. And now it seems Disney is trying to make them appeal to kids by including stars that the kids would be more familiar with (or at least appeal to).

I think the Muppets Tonight era was the height of the Muppets working with celebrities I had already known about. That show had just as many guests (and special appearance guests) who I had known about (including some who I had seen in other works but didn't know by name or even know that was them until after I saw the episodes). But then before that the majority of celebrities I had known about who worked with the Muppets (and perhaps the majority of celebrities I knew about at the time) were those I first knew of because they worked with the Muppets (I think the only Muppet Show guest I knew about before knowing she was a guest was Valerie Harper, though I had also heard the name Cloris Leachman). And these last two movies have had just as many celebrities that I had heard about as they do celebrities I didn't.

 

[Drtooth]

You know I have not thought about it that way before, but your right. I mean that is how we even got the 2011 movie, is because of Jason Segal wanting to work with the Muppets.
So yes the tables have turned in that regard, but at least people still want to work with the Muppets, which is a good thing.

I still don't know what Disney was planning to do with the Muppets Cheapest Movie, but the Muppets got a movie mostly due to the star power of the writing team. And we can all agree that outside fan perspective gave the project the jolt it needed, preventing another theme movie or classic retelling with D-list cameos. Something we'd be excited about only because we were getting a new project, but not the project itself. Heck, Disney could have probably Wembled about and we'd probably still be asking "when is Cheapest going to happen?" while a line of dud remakes came out that would have cost Disney money.

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

The thing is, it's not about bringing new fans to The Muppets. The idea is that The Muppets will draw new fans (or at least viewers) to these crummy specials. The Muppets are a tried and true brand. They've lasted around sixty years. They've got a built-in fan base, as well as legions of nostalgic adults who grew up on The Muppets.

I'm sure there are instances in the pre-Disney era in which The Muppets worked with fad "talent," but those instances are eclipsed by their interactions with seasoned professionals who, even today, are respected entertainers. John Cleese, Elton John, Ben Vereen, Rich Little, Steve Martin... and that's just the people who are still alive. One Direction and Selena Gomez? BENEATH THEM.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm sure there are instances in the pre-Disney era in which The Muppets worked with fad "talent," but those instances are eclipsed by their interactions with seasoned professionals who, even today, are respected entertainers. John Cleese, Elton John, Ben Vereen, Rich Little, Steve Martin... and that's just the people who are still alive. One Direction and Selena Gomez? BENEATH THEM.

We really need a face palm emoticom. We really do.

My only complaint is that the Muppets don't have their own show. Fair and simple. The Muppet Show did have celebrities with staying power, but a lot of those celebrities were kinda just getting started around then. I mean, look at Stallone. Could they imagine he was going to be an action film powerhouse when all he had under his belt was Rocky? The only tried and true celebs they had back then were allong the lines of Bob Hope, Andy Williams, and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Some celebs were more popular after TMS appearances. I mean, Star Wars was popular back then, but not the HUGE thing it became. You never know who's going to be the huge stars they become.

But at least with a show you have one lousy guest, there's someone better next time. We remember the John Cleeses, Elton Johns, and Mark Hamils... we completely forget about the annoying British Game Show host with the personality of a brick, and that woman that sang that one disco song that was barely on the Billboard top 20 for a week. But again, TV show. I'll agree to that gripe that the Muppets should do the inviting... too bad there's no logical place to put a TV show now.

And even though I hate One Direction... just... Muppets from Space cameos. Really. Wanna know what's really beneath them? The D and F list jokers they got to fill that one out. At least with fad performers people liked them to begin with. I hate One Direction but, and I'm going to beat this dead horse till candy comes out, you have NO idea how much I hate Rob Schneider. And he was in a Muppet Movie. I can't think of anyone worse to work with the Muppets. Even Studio DC wasn't as terrible as a never funny SNL throwaway cast member who only had dubious celebrity because he was friends with Adam Sandler. I'd rather... anything AVGN ever said than watch a second of The Animal or The Hot Chick. If he ever even wound up next to so much as a Tickle-Me-Elmo toy, that would be something to really get angry about. I mean, seriously... crummy boy band that tweenagers like vs. hack comedian... The Muppets are far more lucky to work with the former than the latter.

 

[minor muppetz]

I mean, look at Stallone. Could they imagine he was going to be an action film powerhouse when all he had under his belt was Rocky?

After reading this, I'm surprised that Rocky only had a brief mention during Kermit's first introduction, as opposed to heavily focusing on the fact that he was the star of that movie (like how the Christopher Reeve episode made a big deal out of his role as Superman, or how the Lynda Carter one made a big deal out of her being Wonder Woman, and those episodes didn't even feature them as their signature characters).

One thing I've been thinking recently, and maybe this should be its own thread, but maybe the Muppets should try to do a series of occasional variety show specials. Not a new regular weekly series, but specials airing a few times a year, using the same sets, with a few celebrities, but the Muppets being the main attraction. I wonder if that would work.