Your Thoughts: Lady Gaga and The Muppets Holiday Spectacular on ABC

[LamangoNumber2]

So, the question is, what part of Gaga's anatomy did Pepe accidently prawn?

 

[dwayne1115]

Surprise surprise... everyone hated it.

I'll agree it was okay, but the main problem for me is that it was rushed. There were a LOT of missed opportunities here, and it seems like the Muppets were added in last minute and this was a Gaga concert special. I actually kinda expected that. The only real disappointment is that they barely interacted with Gaga, and they felt like 2 specials cobbled together with some linking footage.

Seriously, I was not expecting this to be a great classic, but rather something that's a cross promotion of MMW and Gaga's new album. I'm more disappointed that Disney didn't sponsor the Kermit balloon in the Thanksgiving Day parade. That was a pretty stupid lost opportunity to plug the movie.

And really, the Muppet solo segments were pretty good. This isn't Kermit and Piggy appearing for 2 minutes in a crappy variety show/reality show. They brought out Big Mean Carl, Scooter, and Lips. You think everyone would be bouncing off the walls on Lips alone.

There are some Lady Gaga fans on the forum who loved that she did the show with the Muppets. Me personally I did not watch the show for her, but for the Muppets. I think the last scene with Gaga Kermit and Piggy hit it on the head. Gaga was going in one direction, promoting her new album. The Muppets where trying to put on a Christmas show. I think if they worked more on putting together a Christmas show, it would have been a lot better.

We will have to see how many people really did watch it with the ratings. It did go up against Glee and Thursday Night Football, so it should be interesting how many people watched the show.

 

[MissMusical12]

I really was hoping for something better than what we received...pretty much I thought the special follows the pattern of Lady Gaga song, Muppet Moment, Lady Gaga song, Muppet Moment. But, it seemed too focused on Lady Gaga and her new album, since her songs tended to drag a bit. And I do agree that Miss Piggy should've gotten better treatment for this special. I didn't even get to watch the whole special cause I kinda felt a little bored with it. But.....was it the worst thing the Muppets have done? No. Was it the best? No. There were decent moments in there. I was happy to see characters like Lips, Big Mean Carl, and Bobo in this special. Overall, from what I saw, it could've been better.

 

[dwayne1115]

What else could the Muppets have really done to make there parts better? I really thought they where spot on, and there parts really had a Muppet Show type feel to it.

 

[D'Snowth]

Again, none of the Muppets were really spot-on in this special, nobody really seemed to be on top of their game last night, they all came across as a bunch of Nigels... except for Piggy, of course. Even Statler and Waldorf's signature, "D'OH-hohohohoho!" laugh lacked energy.

Somebody previous mentioned that the Electric Mayhem's bits were lame... I can agree with that, they pretty much were.

 

[bendpuppets]

So, I missed the first 30 minutes because I was watching Glee

I DVR'd both Glee and the Muppets. Lady Gaga & The Muppets Holiday Spectacular was anything but spectacular. Gaga is great in her own right, but this tried too hard to be... whatever it was.

The Muppet segments were okay, but a lot of the material was either recycled or dull and uninspired.

As for Glee. Great looking puppets by talented builders... on Glee, blech.

Give me Muppet Family Christmas any day. I miss Jerry Juhl.

 

[MuppetsFan4Life]

I think we can all agree that Walter looked like he had the time of his life.

 

[jvcarroll]

Gaga was good. The Muppets were pretty good. I wish they had been woven into more of Gaga's numbers and there had been more of a story tying the whole thing together. They didn't even get to talk to Elton or RuPaul. I didn't really like Piggy's Santa Baby number. The performance seemed to pantomime better earlier Piggy performances. It wasn't bad. It just kind of had me wanting to hit the fastforward button to see what was next. Whomever predicted that this would be mostly a Gaga special with the Muppets thrown in was right. I think they were a good mix when on screen together. There just wasn't enough of it. The outtakes and the cutaways ended up being the best part.

 

[Xerus]

My opinions.

Yeah, the special had too many Lady Gaga musical numbers and not enough Muppet scenes. I thought it would be neat if they did more skits like a Vet's Hospital Christmas skit or Swedish Chef in the kitchen cooking a wild Christmas gift, or Gonzo doing a crazy Christmas stunt.

Also, the special aired at 9:30 PM where I lived and ended at 11 PM. That's kind of past kids' bedtimes. Luckily it aired on a Thanksgiving 4 day weekend.

Though it was great seeing the old favorite characters again along with the new characters like Big Mean Carl and a new Muppet like that ram.

And has anyone noticed that whenever Lips is in a scene with the Electric Mayhem, Zoot somehow gets a little more dialogue? It's great and rare whenever Zoot speaks.

And I like how Rizzo finally had dialogue after he didn't have any in that, "The Muppets", movie. I was worried that he would be reduced back to being a silent character like in the old days.

And I guess characters like Bean Bunny, Clifford, Johnny Fiama, and Sal are officially retired.

Overall, the special was good, but I don't think it'll be something I'll save on my DVR.

 

[Drtooth]

Whomever predicted that this would be mostly a Gaga special with the Muppets thrown in was right. I think they were a good mix when on screen together. There just wasn't enough of it. The outtakes and the cutaways ended up being the best part.

The more I think about this, the more I think this was a Lady Gaga special that they just incorporated the Muppets in last minute. For one thing, a 90 minute TV slot is pretty awkward and unusual... especially for a network time slot. That's probably why nothing meshed. It probably wasn't supposed to.

I don't buy the "The Muppets were off" crap. They have had much worse performances, and at least they managed to get some fan favorites in there. And the Leprechaun Brothers bits were good, if underused. I'd say something was slightly off with Gonzo, but he's been going down the Steve Martin route of becoming less and less wacky for years. But seriously? We're ragging on the Electric Mayhem's appearance? Yeah... remember when we got all excited that Dr. Teeth said "Shalom" even though band disappeared for the rest of MFS? We have the band back, they're talking, Lips is there... that's huge.