Is Frank Oz still coming back?

[Lourenzo]

I looked it up on the Muppet wiki and it said the last time he played Grover was in 2013 Bert in 2006 and Cookie Monster in 2004

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I looked it up on the Muppet wiki and it said the last time he played Grover was in 2013 Bert in 2006 and Cookie Monster in 2004

2013 was a wonderful year. Frank played Grover twice that season and performed Anything Muppets in two other inserts. But that was ony two years ago, he may come back soon . This isn't the first time he's been absent for a season or two,he's also been absent for season 32,season 38,39 and season 41.

 

[minor muppetz]

I've been wondering if Frank Oz was coming back. He hasn't been on the show since Jerry Nelson died, and most of his recent performances (outside of parodies) featured Jerry Nelson with him. Would the lack of Jerry Nelson (not to mention Kevin Clash, Fran Brill, and maybe Joey Mazzarino) make him reluctant to come back?

I've read a few times that Sesame Workshop doesn't use Oz much because he's too expensive (and they have been having financial problems), and Oz did say in an interview that he comes back once a year "for fun", but in a more recent interview he said that neither Sesame Workshop or Disney ask him back because they have good enough replacements for his characters but is willing to come back.

It seems like Frank Oz hasn't directed a movie in years. Maybe he's been busy developing scripts that didn't get made, or maybe he's left projects/been replaced. I know I saw an interview with him where he said that he wasn't desperate for money that he was willing to direct bad scripts. But it does seem like there's been plenty of time where they could have used him as a performer.

 

[Drtooth]

Dude, he came back to do the voice of Yoda in an episode of Star Wars Rebels. Isn't that enough?

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Dude, he came back to do the voice of Yoda in an episode of Star Wars Rebels. Isn't that enough?

It WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH !!!!

 

[D'Snowth]

I've been wondering if Frank Oz was coming back. He hasn't been on the show since Jerry Nelson died, and most of his recent performances (outside of parodies) featured Jerry Nelson with him. Would the lack of Jerry Nelson (not to mention Kevin Clash, Fran Brill, and maybe Joey Mazzarino) make him reluctant to come back?

Perhaps. He said in I AM BIG BIRD that since so many of the older/original cast and crew members are gone, the sense of camaraderie that used to be on the set isn't really there anymore - even Caroll said he feels odd whenever newer/younger crew members refer to him as "sir." For the longest time, Frank seemed to be doing Cookie almost exclusively, but it seems like once they started doing new material with Mr. Johnson, that's when he started doing Grover again (and again, almost exclusively), and I've speculated the reason for him doing Grover again in that capacity was because it meant working with Jerry again (in some way or form).

 

[minor muppetz]

For the longest time, Frank seemed to be doing Cookie almost exclusively, but it seems like once they started doing new material with Mr. Johnson, that's when he started doing Grover again (and again, almost exclusively), and I've speculated the reason for him doing Grover again in that capacity was because it meant working with Jerry again (in some way or form).

From what I've seen Frank say about Grover in recent interviews, I feel like Grover must be one of his favorite characters to perform. It would have been great, though, if they had him perform Bert and Cookie Monster on those days in recent years when he's been exclusively Grover and a one-shot Anything Muppet.

In recent years he's performed one-shot Anything Muppets in parody segments, after a long period when he only performed his own established characters. The fact that the show will have significantly less parody segments might be another strike (maybe "strike" is the wrong word) against him coming back.

I wonder if they expected Frank to perform when they wrote last year's Estimation Vacation segment, since it has Bert and Guy Smiley interacting, the most they ever had. Like if he was going to perform that day, something came up preventing Frank to perform, and they just did it with Eric in both roles.

 

[MuppetSpot]

I think maybe Inside Out took some time out and the HBO deal. So maybe Frank will come back.

 

[Lourenzo]

Drtooth: I'm asked this mainly out of curiosity.

 

[JC Motors]

I think that Frank Oz has one of those part time contracts like some of the WWE superstars have, like The Rock has. It would be cool to see him come back on a full scale basis