TV Alert: "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" on CW Monday December 2

[Phillip]

Monday night watch the Muppets Christmas special "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" on the CW at 8 pm eastern, 7 pm central. The Muppets will present their own take on the classic "It's a Wonderful Life" in this TV movie.

Let us know how the 2002 special has aged more than ten years later. Read our reviews from the first broadcast in 2002. "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" Widescreen DVD is also available.

If you saw this made-for-tv movie, please like this message and share your thoughts below.

 

[D'Snowth]

It's a movie, not a special.

And I still stand by my opinion that it's the worst Muppet movie ever made. It's like an emo teen crawled out of his depressive funk, decided to try his hand at writing Muppet fanfiction, then passed it off as a screenplay and it got made into a movie.

Yeah, the Muppets always included some sly and somewhat edgy humor so adults could be entertained as well, but the adult humor in this movie was done in very poor taste, which is probably the fault of THE SIMPSONS writers they brought on board, for whatever reason.

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm watching this right now, and they cut out the entire Crocodile Hunter scene. So those seeing this for the first time suddenly saw Fozzie looking like the Grinch without knowing why.

 

[dwayne1115]

That's when I turned it off, I hate edits like that!

 

[Oscarfan]

I was watching some of it while on line for food at the student center. Whoever cut it the way it was needs to be fired. Just the way it went to commercials was bad.

 

[minor muppetz]

Not surprisingly, they also cut the scene with the NBC logo on Kermit's foot. Actually, they kept the dialogue in, but I think they dubbed it over a different shot of Kermit talking. I can't remember if the NBC music played in this scene or not, but if it did then that was cut.

 

[DannyRWW]

I do like this movie...I know a lot of people don't..that being said not a fan of the edit on tv...but I had to tune in for Gonzo and Kermit singing.

Mind you there are some a parts I would change

 

[dwayne1115]

They also edited the fact NBC productions help make the movie. All it says is that it's from Jim Henson Productions

 

[minor muppetz]

I didn't watch all of this broadcast, and there were times I wasn't paying attention, but is it just me or were the Scrubs and Fear Factor scenes cut?

Though if those were, it was kind of a strength. I always thought it was weird that the Muppets determined that Miss Piggy was a big-enough star to be the shows guest (and she's a Muppet), yet she was reduced to being an extra on a TV show??? And the Fear Factor scene, Danny says that most of television is now reality programming due to Kermit not being born.... Back when this movie was made Kermit wasn't on TV much (and existing Kermit material hadn't been shown on Sesame Street for a year), and the Muppets haven't really had regular weekly television exposure since then (except for in France, and any non-US country that aired TMS reruns), so the lack of Kermit being born really wouldn't be effective. And since this movie was made reality has dominated television in a much bigger way (so that makes this special a bit more timeless).

I would have edited the parts with Sam and Scooter at Club Dot.

 

[Drtooth]

And I still stand by my opinion that it's the worst Muppet movie ever made. It's like an emo teen crawled out of his depressive funk, decided to try his hand at writing Muppet fanfiction, then passed it off as a screenplay and it got made into a movie.

Yeah, the Muppets always included some sly and somewhat edgy humor so adults could be entertained as well, but the adult humor in this movie was done in very poor taste, which is probably the fault of THE SIMPSONS writers they brought on board, for whatever reason.

While I don't think it's the worst, or one of the worst Muppet films there are (we all know what I think it is by now),but I do agree it did age poorly. The humor is much more like Simpsons, Early Family Guy style and there's too many pop culture references. And the style of humor that uses pop culture references are more dated than the references they use. This telefilm aired well before Will and Grace and the Seltzer/Frieberg movies destroyed pop culture humor forever (more so the latter than the former, but W&G did it's fair share of ruining mentioning stuff). The Muppets was essentially the same idea, but far superior and less derivative. Like an accidental spiritual remake. Then again, there is a lot of good in this movie, if you look for it.

After Kermit's lobotomized, barely present performance in MFS, he comes back with a passion, freaking out at Piggy and the others when the show goes to pot. Something that hasn't been seen since Steve took over the character... but to be fair, Tom Cratchett was never even mildly aggressive in any retelling, and MT's show duties fell on Clifford (though Kermit had some moments). We got a nice angle on the Kermit/Piggy relationship (she's a trainwreck without Kermit in the alternate universe), and we had the grand return of The Muppet Theater. Not to mention when this special came out, the Muppet possibilities were limitless. The toyline was up and running, there was more merchandise than you can shake a stick at (we could afford to be choosy too), and the potential for another project was high (unfortunately, nothing came out of it until movie I dare not speak the name of).

I was watching some of it while on line for food at the student center. Whoever cut it the way it was needs to be fired. Just the way it went to commercials was bad.

It's just not a Muppet Holiday Special if it doesn't have 5 minutes of commercial for every 2 minutes of show. LTS can tell you that.