The evolution of Telly

[Blue Frackle]

So here's Telly's debut. Did he make any more appearances as this deranged TV maniac, or did he just become normal Telly in a following episode, or do we not know?

 

[Drtooth]

I don't think there was ever a second appearance of TV obsessed Telly. While there certainly are hours of Sesame Street we haven't seen yet, I don't think they ever revisited that idea. I don't really buy the whole "he's a bad role model" being the reason they changed the character. There's nothing there outside of a heavy handed Aesop about how awful TV is delivered exclusively on that medium. And I never really liked that sort of thing personally because it's essentially the pusher saying "don't be an addict" and it rings hollow a good 80% of the time.

I'm more interested in how they decided Telly should be a worrywart (a perplexed pimple?!) and then how he became the ball of exaggerated emotions he is now. It's simple evolution based on the performer switching from Brain to Martin, sure, but there's probably a long period of transition here. With all due respect to Brian, Martin became the role and perfected the character. Even as a worrying character, he wasn't as fleshed out as he is now. Giving him those sky-high highs and bottom of the pit lows really made the character pop. He's much funnier, much deeper, and easier to relate to when he's firing on all emotions. His bottomless energy and excitement of getting each Letter of the Day at once, his rage at his cousin Iggy, and his depression when he feels he let Baby Bear down.

So much funnier and more potential than just a guy watching TV and doing nothing else, huh?

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I don't think tv obsessed Telly made more than one appearance. We know that the producers/writers basically thought he was a horrible character and a bad role model so they completely did away with the swirling eyes and antennae.
To me this sounds like something the crew decided pretty straight away.

In the book "40 Years of Life" they state that Telly became a main character completely by accident. A story was written for Big Bird,but on his way to the studio Caroll Spinney sprained his ankle. So in a panic,the entire crew had to completely reconfigure the entire episode in just a matter of hours. They quickly threw Telly in to do Big Bird's part,and thus,a star was born.

They might've been using Telly as a background character and just had the puppet laying around the set somewhere.

 

[Blue Frackle]

I don't really buy the whole "he's a bad role model" being the reason they changed the character.

See, I disagree. Kids want to be like Muppets. I could totally see a kid emulating being glued to the screen like that. Usually kids can't grasp a multi-layered lesson like that, so they just emulate the character because they look cool. Like the character of Frazzle was created so kids knew not to judge a book by it's cover, but he was just way too scary looking so they did away with him, or so I've heard.

I'm more interested in how they decided Telly should be a worrywart (a perplexed pimple?!) and then how he became the ball of exaggerated emotions he is now. It's simple evolution based on the performer switching from Brain to Martin, sure, but there's probably a long period of transition here.

I just never understood the point of having a character like him in his original incarnation, other than being an interesting gimmick to look at (the antenna, the swirly eyes), kind of like Dexter. Plus, the writers probably figured they couldn't write much material for a character who didn't even really interact with the other characters face-to-face.

It seems like Telly took a long absence before he became the character we know him as today. I'm surprised how little information Muppet Wiki has on Season 11, but there is so much missing content he may have made another appearance in his TV form. Do we even know we he made his debut as normal Telly? Equally as interesting as the first appearance of deranged TV Telly would be to see the first appearance of normal Telly.

I don't think tv obsessed Telly made more than one appearance. We know that the producers/writers basically thought he was a horrible character and a bad role model so they completely did away with the swirling eyes and antennae.
To me this sounds like something the crew decided pretty straight away.

In the book "40 Years of Life" they state that Telly became a main character completely by accident. A story was written for Big Bird,but on his way to the studio Caroll Spinney sprained his ankle. So in a panic,the entire crew had to completely reconfigure the entire episode in just a matter of hours. They quickly threw Telly in to do Big Bird's part,and thus,a star was born.

They might've been using Telly as a background character and just had the puppet laying around the set somewhere.

Sounds a lot like when Richard threw Elmo at Kevin; the best things happen by accident.

 

[minor muppetz]

Considering the majority of Telly's scenes in his first appearance have him looking closely at the TV screen, at a sideview, it seems like a waste to give him the spiral eyes and effects. Maybe if we saw the back of the TV instead (which is what I expected... I'm surprised that we got to actually see the TV screen), allowing us to see a front view of his face more.

I'm guessing that Brian Meehl took over as Telly in the eleventh season. I once e-mailed him (he has an official site), and he told me that he began performing in the latter half of season 10, so it's possible that he took over in season 10. Meehl has said that he was on the set when a Telly scene was shot (and it recently hit me that he was probably performing Barkley, who had a scene with Telly in his debut).

Somebody at Muppet Wiki said that the CTW Archives has a program guide for one season ten episode that includes Telly, saying that Telly and Bob do exercises. Makes me wonder if that's the Telly we're more familiar with, or if maybe they were watching an exercise program (among other possibilities).

I find it a little interesting that, when Caroll Spinney was unable to do a show that was scheduled to be taped, that they needed to do it on that day so badly that they just gave Telly a new personality and performer and put him in place of Big Bird. I know, we probably wouldn't have the Telly we know today (and might not have even seen any footage of the original Telly... Would they have included a clip in 40 Years of Sunny Days and/or included the whole episode on iTunes if Telly didn't become a major character?), but it's interesting they did that instead of deciding to just reusing street scenes from a previous season (maybe doing the episode at a later date). Then again, "time is money", and they might have decided to go through with it since others were on the set (they probably wouldn't want to have to pay the cast and crew for what little time they were there for if they got to leave early because they didn't do an episode). But considering Brian Meehl was on the set (he was reportedly the only puppeteer on the set that day), they must have planned for him to do some segments.

Brian Meehl did inform somebody from Muppet Wiki who contacted him that after the original incarnation of the character was dropped, they used him as a utility monster for a short while (which explains why the puppet was used as the Two-Headed Monster's mother) before he gave the character his new personality. I'm guessing this happened in season eleven, and he became a much more major character in season twelve. There is a season 12 press release that refers to him as a new character, which could have been referring to him as a main character (though that same press release also refers to other characters known to have been around before as "new"). I doubt his sole segment in episode 1446 was what was intended for Big Bird... And the next episode did involve Telly, but also had other Muppets and performers besides Brian Meehl (who said he got the role because he was the only performer on set).

We probably won't know what episode was the one where Telly was first performed by Meehl, unless we get access to every episode from seasons 10 and 11 (or at least every episode between episodes 1257 and whatever is the first to clearly feature Telly outside of his television obsession), or maybe if somebody finds guides to all those episodes. Then again, I wonder if Brian Meehl remembers what happened in that episode.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Considering the majority of Telly's scenes in his first appearance have him looking closely at the TV screen, at a sideview, it seems like a waste to give him the spiral eyes and effects. Maybe if we saw the back of the TV instead (which is what I expected... I'm surprised that we got to actually see the TV screen), allowing us to see a front view of his face more.

I always thought it was weird how he was presented. Like was he supposed to be like a cat laying on that box?

 

[Fozzieboba]

I always thought it was weird how he was presented. Like was he supposed to be like a cat laying on that box?

Whoa. Those eyes are creepy as ****! Thank god he didn't make anymore appearances like that. When I first saw that version of Telly, I almost turned my head away from the TV set.

 

[YellowYahooey]

I don't remember seeing this TV-obsessed version of Telly Monster on the Canadian broadcasts when CBC aired select episodes from Season 10 during 1980. Maybe it was due to the "bad role model" perception, and the folks at the CBC felt it was inappropriate for younger children.

What is believed to be the only episode with this version of Telly was later released on iTunes (full with no edits) and now on HBO Max (the latter with three consecutive segments edited out). I really am glad I have the iTunes releases.

I do know, after Episode 1257, CBC definitely aired Eps. 1259 through 1261, as some of the segments stood out to me, such as "Ah, for the Joys of the Countryside" in #1259, and I do recall seeing "The D Museum" in at least two CBC broadcasts.

 

[Fozzieboba]

I don't remember seeing this TV-obsessed version of Telly Monster on the Canadian broadcasts when CBC aired select episodes from Season 10 during 1980. Maybe it was due to the "bad role model" perception, and the folks at the CBC felt it was inappropriate for younger children.

What is believed to be the only episode with this version of Telly was later released on iTunes (full with no edits) and now on HBO Max (the latter with three consecutive segments edited out). I really am glad I have the iTunes releases.

I do know, after Episode 1257, CBC definitely aired Eps. 1259 through 1261, as some of the segments stood out to me, such as "Ah, for the Joys of the Countryside" in #1259, and I do recall seeing "The D Museum" in at least two CBC broadcasts.

The script for episode #1277 did say he was going to appear in the final aired version. But he never actually made any appearance in that episodes, I wonder if the script was a miscalculation?

 

[minor muppetz]

The script for episode #1277 did say he was going to appear in the final aired version. But he never actually made any appearance in that episodes, I wonder if the script was a miscalculation?

Actually that info comes from the program guide (okay, so it likely was in an early draft of the script). Many of the program guides have a note that the printing deadlines come before the final edits and some segments listed don't appear, and the wiki has uncovered many instances where the program guides list segments that do not appear in the final aired scripts or finished episodes.

At least I assume it wasn't in the script used for reference. I know the scripts sourced sometimes include segments with a note that they are to be deleted (and in some cases, segments listed in the scripts as being cut ended up appearing in the episode after all).