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

[antsamthompson9]

Nice job with the editing, but I think you should remake it with all the lead-ins to the commercials, because there were some Muppet parts in those that weren't in the special. Also the whole intro should be there cause, there's a part where Joe says "Hey Mom, I'm with Kermit!" Also, JonnyB, Gonzo didn't say comatose, that was Kristen Bell. I don't think Jim Lewis would allow a Muppet to say comatose.

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

It's Thanksgiving, and Lady Gaga brought the turkey.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

I really don't want to hear that people think Piggy was out of character in this show, because I don't believe it was true.
First off the Karate chop, Kermit clearly deserved it, and has gotten chopped for way less as far back as the Muppet Show days.

Yeah. I kind of agree. Kermit was getting a little too intimate with Gaga for being in a relationship with and she did question what was going on before she karate chopped him. We all know that she was out of line on "Good Luck, Charlie" and I think maybe we're thinking that after that they might continue to use that 'flanderized' version of her and blow her character out of proportion, but in this special she wasn't nearly as bad. Just kind of jealous. I look forward to seeing how she'll be portrayed in the movie.

This is clearly a Lady Gaga special that got commissioned because her holiday special last year got great ratings and because she is massively famous and popular. Anyone thinking this was going to be a Muppet special with just a bit of Gaga is clearly deluded.

That's a good point. But then maybe they should have called it something else rather than "Lady Gaga and the Muppets." Maybe the title was too misleading there.

And I still don't see how Piggy came off as one-dimensional, she's always been a little pushy, a little jealousy over Kermie, and wanting the spotlight all to herself... none of that is anythingnew under the sun.

Yeah. That's exactly what I mean. I think the way she acted on GLC, sort of got us all a little too shook up. Hopefully that won't happen again.

 

[minor muppetz]

You wouldn't have had Scooter or Rowlf (perhaps in the background but not saying anything), and have the Electric Mayhem regulated as the background band without saying anything sans Animal.

Well, The Electric Mayhem was the background band for the opening song. And actually, if this was done in 2000, I think the Electric Mayhem scenes would have been done. It probably wouldn't have had Lips, and most of the dialogue would have been given to Floyd and Animal, though I could still see Zoot getting his lines. And considering by 2000 Dr. Teeth had a brief line in Muppets from Space and Dr. Teeth and Janice had dialogue in Muppet RaceMania, I think they would have gotten some brief dialogue in those scenes (even if just mumbling).

It's reported that this special came about because Lady Gaga's special from last year was a success. I wonder why they didn't just reair her special from last year.

 

[Beauregard]

Spectacular.

 

[dwayne1115]

Did Pepe call Scooter Scooper?

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Well, he's done that before. Also, he calls Kermit Kermin and Fozzie, Fotzie, etc.

 

[matleo]

It's reported that this special came about because Lady Gaga's special from last year was a success. I wonder why they didn't just reair her special from last year.

The old special wouldn't have promoted her new album.

 

[Mo Frackle]

Did Pepe call Scooter Scooper?

Yes. In fact, the first time Pepe called him "Scooper" was in one if the bonus features on the MWoO DVD.

 

[LouisTheOtter]

I, too, am late to the reviewing game (busy working weekend) but I figure I might as well offer my two cents on the whole Gagapalooza thing.

This was SO CLOSE to being a decent production. Just a little bit more effort would have taken a jumbled assortment of Gaga concert clips, somewhat-awkward celeb-Muppet mixes and decent Muppet-only material and made it a smoother, more enjoyable special. As it was, Mrs. Otter and I spent the bulk of the 90-minute running time shooting confused looks at each other. (She nearly bailed on it at the half-hour mark.)

Count me in on the camp that felt this was rushed together to promote Gaga's new album (and, to a lesser extent, to promote MMW). I'm also among those that felt Kristen Bell's segments served no real practical purpose (the first bit where she used Piggy as furniture while getting Gaga's autograph was kind of funny but every subsequent appearance got progressively odder).

Oddly, I thought a lot of it worked or was at least close to working. The dressing room scene and the audition reel felt like classic TMS fun, and it was great to see the Electric Mayhem in the "interview" bumpers, as well as the Gonzo-Rizzo pairing and the Chef-Beaker-Animal trio. And I like the over-the-top twist on Piggy's "Santa Baby," which took it a step beyond her previous renditions of the song.

I didn't always enjoy Gaga's concert footage but I actually found her charming in the scenes with Kermit. The "mutual admiration" clip had a classic-TMS feel to it (I'd love to know exactly what was inside Gaga's head when she stared off into space and murmured, "I need a swamp") and while the intro to "Gypsy" could have been a bit tighter and less ad-libby, as a musical number it actually seemed to work. (Steve Whitmire really nailed his duet vocals IMHO.)

Great blooper reel too. Statler and Waldorf looked and sounded like their classic '70s/'80s selves. And what can I tell you, there's just something fun about seeing our pals The Muppets singing and dancing to a pop number, even if it's something like "Venus" or "Applause."

No, it won't go down in history as a holiday classic but it did what it was supposed to - set things up for the new movie and prove that The Muppets belong in the modern media world.

Remember:
(1) Lady Gaga actually WANTED them involved (I was actually touched by her very sincere-sounding intro to the whole special) - and;
(2) We've been grousing a bit about the ratings for this special but it actually tied Glee (which, bizarrely, ALSO had a puppet theme) and that's no small potatoes, gang.

And, all things being equal, it's just nice to see Jim Lewis' name among the closing credits for a Muppet special after all the work he's done with them over the years. (If he did nothing else besides ghost-write Kermit's Before You Leap book I would still be grateful for his efforts.)