Little things we've noticed

[LittleJerry92]

So I’m honestly wondering if the country back-up trio were originally intended to be female AM characters? Cause I find it odd that they would use male characters to lip-sync to the track, assuming a possible case of last-minute changes.

 

[LittleJerry92]

So I guess this skit never actually aired on the show?

 

[D'Snowth]

Off-model, anatomically incorrect Biff doing a carrot B.J.? I can see why.

 

[LittleJerry92]

In NTV, looking at the bit when the Nickmatics (playing the roles of the waiters at Nino’s) lip-sync to the line “We never, never, never make a pizza pie here!” I’m almost certain the fat blue keyboardist is Jim, the pumpkin guitarist is Richard, and Marty is the lavender drummer.

 

[minor muppetz]

In the YouTube thread, a few people have been referring to the Miami Mice as boring. That is a matter of opinion, I really disagree (and I was a big fan of them when I was a kid and knew nothing about Miami Vice).
But it does get me thinking some things.

The last time any of their segments aired was in season 24, I wonder if research showed kids being bored by them or if it was another thing. All this time I figured it was due to Miami Vice no longer being current or popular, which could also be a factor. It would be great to research how long many parody segments aired, if there’s any that lasted long after the source material was forgotten (which might be hard to determine, at least for movie parodies).

But you could say they are boring in their first sketch with Kermit the Frog. Kermit wants to interview them about adventure, thinking they have exciting stories to tell... but they just have casual attitudes over their adventure, used to it to the point where it’s just another thing. That is very funny.

With the Ernie sketch, they effectively do their job - they take Ernie to the repair shop, use bullhorns and basic police work, only to find out it had been closed the whole time.

When fans talked about the one with The Count, they left out (forgot?) the part about him counting everything, making it hard to get him to the police station (and they never do say why he needed a ride - I always thought his car broke down). So I thought the plot was basically “The Count’s car breaks down (which we don’t know), he goes to the Miami Mkce to get a ride to the space station, and they take him there to do the countdown”. In hindsight, without the “Miami Mice need to figure out how to stop The Count from counting their wardrobe and get them to the space station”, it does sound like a boring description.

Watching the one with Gordon, even though I knew the punchline before seeing it, I thought somehow it would seem lame. Gordon keeps guessing why they like exercise, only to learn it’s so they can wear fashionable exercise clothes. But his guesses - that it’s important, makes you healthy and strong, etc.” - sounds boring by comparison. Maybe it’d have been funnier if Gordon made more exciting-sounding guesses and their fashion reason sounded lame by comparison, or if he made a bunch of exciting guesses only for them to say one of Gordon’s guesses.

Thinking about how they eventually stopped doing the inserts and just appeared in street scenes, I wonder if they thought it would be more exciting if they showed up on the street (particularly with that theme music playing out of nowhere), but now I wonder if maybe they recognized that Miami Vice would eventually no longer be relevant and decided to put them in street scenes which wouldn’t likely be repeated later anyway as opposed to producing insert segments that would have a limited shelf life (though that didn’t stop other television parodies later on). And at the moment I do not know when Miami Vice went off the air.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I really think the Miami mice segments being faded away by season 25 just has to do with natural retirement. I don’t think ratings has to do with anything.

 

[MuppetSpot]

I really think the Miami mice segments being faded away by season 25 just has to do with natural retirement. I don’t think ratings has to do with anything.

That and probably lack of relevancy.

 

[D'Snowth]

That first one with Ernie (assuming that's the first one they did) was amusing enough on its own in terms of spoofing MIAMI VICE, but it feels like a case where you have one thing that's a joke, but as you try to keep doing the joke, it sort of loses its novelty, if that makes sense.

Some spoofs and parodies just kind of work better as one-shots, if you ask me.

 

[LittleJerry92]

The first one they did was with Kermit actually.

 

[minor muppetz]

The first one they did was with Kermit actually.

At least in terms of broadcast. Muppet Wiki has the taping date for that one but not the one with Ernie (though I wouldn't be surprised if they were both done on the same day).

Though it is interesting that, internally, that one is titled "Kermit Meets Miami Mice", when it's their first appearance. I would have titled it "Miami Mice: Kermit", but of course the titles weren't meant to be seen by the public anyway. I'm not sure whether the titling for the other two, on the seasons 17 and season 18 segments pages, are the titles in the script or not (I know those were primarily put together by somebody who doesn't have access to the trusted sources, but was told the titles from some of those who do).

At times I've heard talk that many of the titles in scripts are the same titles used at sesamestreet.org, but I can think of many cases where that's not the case, mainly with first season segments (where the "first season show content", which I think uses the same titles as in the scripts, listed very different titles). The first season show content includes "E&B Appliance War" which was online as "Bert and Ernie Blow a Fuse", "Ernie and the 8 Salesman" was online as "Wanna Buy an B?", the "Henson #" films were on the site as "Baker #..." I also want to say I saw what some segments were listed as (whether it was a case when I saw a script page or saw it listed by title in a guide before it was expanded). Of course Sesame Workshop or whoever tends to be somewhat inconsistent with how segments are titled across multiple platforms and chapter stop listings (and I think there have been known cases where a segment had a different title on the tape slate than in the scripts.... I think Kermit News: Cinderella's Fairy Godmother" was just titled "Kermit News: Cinderella" on the tape slate), and in the last few years it seems like Sesame Workshop has changed how some of its videos are titled. And I have heard of a few cases where a segments title is changed in later scripts.

Of course I've often been curious about the titling of the multiple versions of Ernie singing "Rubber Duckie", I looked at the Muppet Wiki season segment listings (and I don't know whether the titles used in those are the same titles as in the scripts), and they seem to be "Ernie Sings Rubber Duckie" (season 1), "Ernie Song Rubber Duckie" (season 2), and just plain "Rubber Duckie" (season 30). If that's the case, it could be hard to tell them apart by title (I guess they'd also have those reference numbers referring to what season they're from, I have a feeling the season 2 version is incorrectly listed as season 1). I would have guessed the later ones would have titles like "Ernie Sings Rubber Duckie - Version #2" and so on.

That first one with Ernie (assuming that's the first one they did) was amusing enough on its own in terms of spoofing MIAMI VICE, but it feels like a case where you have one thing that's a joke, but as you try to keep doing the joke, it sort of loses its novelty, if that makes sense.

Some spoofs and parodies just kind of work better as one-shots, if you ask me.

I did not realize they were doing the same joke. Well, I noticed the one with The Count and the street scene with Gordon heavily focus on their fashion sense, but I didn't really notice that being a thing in the ones with Kermit or Ernie. Unless you're referring to the Miami Mice name, I can't really think of what basic joke keeps being reused in all the sketches.

I really think the Miami mice segments being faded away by season 25 just has to do with natural retirement. I don’t think ratings has to do with anything.

I didn't really speculate it was a ratings thing (I don't think boring or unpopular sketches affected the shows general ratings), I was referring more to results from the test audiences. Of course the segments premiered in season 17 and the last broadcast was season 23, so if it had to do with test results, it took 7 years for testing to be poor. Though I saw that the one with The Count only aired twice, and that's the only one Sesame Workshop has put online.