ABC officially cancels "The Muppets"

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Yeah, that concerned me a lot when the show first came out, the fact that the show had almost no Muppet people working behind the scenes. It was all just people from the network, besides of course, Bill Prady.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, even with the movies. Now granted, Jason Segel and Nick Stoller did do a lot more of a respectable job than my initial expectations, and for that I was appreciative, but it seems to me that, for the most part, Disney is going out of their way to not bring in any actual Muppet people to work on these projects . . . I don't know if there's any kind of a legal or contractual hassle or what, but people like Lewis and Mazzarino could have very well been writers (especially since Joey left SST), and Kirk could certainly have directed - I don't think that Creature Shop Challenge must have done well enough to garner any new episodes.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

It is possible that Disney just wanted more recognizable names working on the movies. As for Mazzarino, they may be trying to avoid him since he's most well known for writing for a preschool show and he co wrote both of the 1999 Muppet flop movies Elmo in Grouchland and Muppets From Space.
I would be all for him coming back to work with the Muppets, but maybe Disney needs a bit more convincing.

 

[GonzoLover726]

Well, that was fun while it lasted **** ABC is cancelling everything between Muppets, Galavant, and more.

Though it was nice to see an Muppet (Kermit and the gang) show on TV as it aired even though I did grow up with Bear in the Big Blue House and loved watching it all the time as a kid. But it didn't have Kermit and the gang.

I know it's not likely but I wouldn't mind it being on Netflix or even Hulu. That being said, what's stopping Disney from showing any Muppet show or movie on their own channel since they own them all? I get copyright is probably something and that's why TMS seasons 4 and 5 still aren't on DVD yet but still.

 

[D'Snowth]

Not to mention Frank has made it clear that he would possibly direct a Muppet movie, but only if they ask him to, and he's never been asked to. But I really think you're right about wanting more recognizable names. That, and as I said before, I believe ABC was really wanting THE MUPPETS to achieve mainstream success, and brought in other writers from other mainstream shows to try to give it that kind of level of success.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Frank Oz really is an underrated director, it would also be nice if he got to write something once in a while, he probably understands the characters more than anyone.

 

[D'Snowth]

I remember he was asked of his opinion of the original script for the 2011 movie, and he did admit he felt he didn't really capture the characters very well, and felt it was almost a little disrespectful to them . . . but then again, his opinion of the characters of recent years is that they've become too nice and too sweet, lacking any kind of conflict among them that was present back in the days of him and Jim. Then again, I think a lack of older colleagues being around is also playing a factor in it as well: in the Caroll Spinney documentary, he did admit that he missed the camaraderie that was among those on the set back in the old days, while Caroll admitted he felt it odd to have some of the younger production assistants on the set refer to him as "sir."

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I remember he was asked of his opinion of the original script for the 2011 movie, and he did admit he felt he didn't really capture the characters very well, and felt it was almost a little disrespectful to them . . . but then again, his opinion of the characters of recent years is that they've become too nice and too sweet, lacking any kind of conflict among them that was present back in the days of him and Jim. Then again, I think a lack of older colleagues being around is also playing a factor in it as well: in the Caroll Spinney documentary, he did admit that he missed the camaraderie that was among those on the set back in the old days, while Caroll admitted he felt it odd to have some of the younger production assistants on the set refer to him as "sir."

I've wondered about that for a while. I wonder if he ever actually got to see the finished/polished script or if he just saw the original draft.
In some ways I kind of see what he means. I can see how a lot of the Walter/Gary/Mary plot could be seen as too cute (even though I personally liked it) but as for the rest of the movie, I think it was very respectful to the characters.

 

[scooterfan360]

Nevertheless, my point was that you guys could have saved yourselves a lot of time, effort, energy, and heartache. I know what I'm talking about: I've been following Ken Levine's blog for years, he's been a writer for television since the 70s, he's seen how the industry has changed over the years, he knows all of the ins and outs of television, and he knows firsthand how fickle networks are, especially when it comes to viewer feedback . . . or, in this case, not giving Rizzo's butt about viewer feedback. #RenewTheMuppets was doomed from the start. Even if any of the higher ups at ABC even saw any of this, they probably just took it with a grain of salt: viewer feedback doesn't persuade network executives; moolah and numbers do. And apparently THE MUPPETS wasn't bringing in either, so that's that.

It'd be nice if, just once, people would realize I'm just trying to get some points across without people always having to whine about me being some kind of a negative pessimist bent on trying to ruin everything for everybody else.

your not a pessimist, your just telling them, what would work and what doesn't work, and what's not going to work. btw, what you said about viewer feedback is true, I once sent an email to cbs, asking them to bring back Saturday supercade. but they ignored me, and never responded to the email. I know one network that responds to their viewers, and it's cartoon network. I once emailed them asking them to air some of my favorite cartoons, and they emailed my back letting me down gently, telling me that they were unable to get a hold of them.

 

[D'Snowth]

I know one network that responds to their viewers, and it's cartoon network. I once emailed them asking them to air some of my favorite cartoons, and they emailed my back letting me down gently, telling me that they were unable to get a hold of them.

Well, I remember way back when after Courage had ended, a lot of fans did something similar to #RenewTheMuppets, and that was petition to get CN to renew it for at least one more season . . . and yes, I participated in that . . . when I was an ignorant kid, and didn't know any better. But we petitioned and when we had what we felt like was enough signatures, we submitted the petition to both Stretch Films and CN, but nothing ever happened. Again, part of it too was that even though Courage went over well enough with viewers, it just wasn't the critical and commercial success that other shows like Dexter, Powerpuff Girls, and the Eds were, and they all got fifth seasons because of it.