Your Thoughts: Kermit and Miss Piggy on America's Got Talent

[Luke]

And America's Got Talent? I thought most people understood that reality television is garbage.

Its about 20 million viewers though, whether its rubbish quality TV or not. The idea is that they are trying to get the Muppets back in enough of the publics minds to get them to see a TV show or a theatrical movie. This is exactly the thing they need to be on, at least for now. Muppets From Space and VMX etc - they werent terrible, they weren't amazing ... but they kept the Muppets out there in the public eye. Would it have been better for them to be doing nothing because they are never going to equal a Jim/Frank era performance again ... not just because Jim/Frank aren't around but TV styles and audiences have changed dramatically? The Muppets were more suited to a 70's style audience, thats obvious, but i think there is a place for them today and from the publics reaction to recent stuff (at least on the web) they are happy to see Muppet stuff. You seem to be in the "do it exactly how it was in the TMS days or lock them away camp" which is never going to happen, times changed.

 

[frogboy4]

Frogster's posts are the kind of counter-productive ones that need moderation - not the rest of them that were shut down yesterday. The personal attacks and repetition of the same information he has said here countless times don't bring anything to the discussion. He's had this same rant (not discussion - rant) for years here. THIS is when we need moderators.

 

[redBoobergurl]

Frogster's posts are the kind of counter-productive ones that need moderation - not the rest of them that were shut down yesterday. The personal attacks and repetition of the same information he has said here countless times don't bring anything to the discussion. He's had this same rant (not discussion - rant) for years here. THIS is when we need moderators.

I 100% agree with that.

 

[Frogster]

Ok for all of you people who are upset with me, sorry but I'm sticking to it. To me, I see it as not being any different from George Lucas messing up Star Wars. If any of you have a problem with what I have to say, feel free to IM me, so this discussion can stay open.

I'll watch what I say from here on out as well.

 

[SJohnson]

This discussion has become so negative again. People are having their feelings hurt, we're seeing lots of the same points being re-iterated - sometimes in capital letters, and some people are talking in circles.

As a professional puppeteer, and as someone that hires puppeteers, I'm going to bow out of this discussion because it's beginning to make me sour on the whole Muppet Central community.

Good luck guys.

 

[Vic Romano]

Nice. This thread was reopen and it got embarrassing real fast. I think we're all wired a little too high-voltage here.

*passes out muffins to everyone

There's ways to debate passionately without calling people stupid and worthless and then reacting the same way. This is an internet forum; you can yell and scream as loud as you want and in capital letters and it's not going to drive your point any further.

Sjohnson, it seems you've got some great stories to share, and I'd personally love to hear more of them. So if one member's plea is enough, I sure hope you stay.

On another note, I think we now need an "Alternate Kermit" emoticon to represent violent rage.

Peace and love.

 

[theprawncracker]

There's ways to debate passionately without calling people stupid and worthless and then reacting the same way. This is an internet forum; you can yell and scream as loud as you want and in capital letters and it's not going to drive your point any further.

I agree with you here, Dave. And... yes, I got a little too heated. I was just trying to defend my opinion when it seemed like I was the only one who held it. I did go overboard, and I sincerely apologize. I still firmly stand by what I said, though.

Sjohnson, it seems you've got some great stories to share, and I'd personally love to hear more of them. So if one member's plea is enough, I sure hope you stay.

I agree on this point as well! I'm sorry if my flaring temper may have caused this. I certianly hope you don't leave!

On another note, I think we now need an "Alternate Kermit" emoticon to represent violent rage.

And that... is a brilliant idea.

 

[MelissaY1]

I have yet to watch the clip of this recent incarnation of Kermit (plan on doing so tomorrow when I'm home). But I can think back to when I heard Steve perform Kermit for the first time on the Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson and remember having alot of mixed emotions. Heck, I never even went to see Muppet Christmas Carol in the theater because I wasn't ready to see the "new" Kermit in a full length movie yet.

But obviously we all warmed up to his portrayal of Kermit. Whoever it was that performed Kermit on this show, had like Steve did at one time, big shoes to fill. I am sure there is a logical reason that Steve couldn't or didn't perform Kermit for this appearance. Do we know if they're still filming that stuff in Disney? Maybe his schedule just couldn't comply. Maybe he has personal family stuff going on and had to fly back home to be with them.

I understand people being upset that the Kermit we're used to wasn't there but let's give whoever it was a break. If he was a last minute replacement, that's a lot of pressure. If there was another reason behind them having someone else take over for one night, I think we should still adjust. Like many people have said on the fan sites, the general population won't notice the difference and will still embrace Kermit. And I'd rather see a "new" Kermit than no Kermit at all anymore.

 

[muppetinsider]

I know some of the people who were there, i know there are some talented performers who did well ... and yeah it does look like somehow Artie was thrown into this at the deep end - but to me it says a lot about how Diz really regard the Mups that they even contemplated putting an alternate performer in something this big. It baffles me. They say everything about how they respect the Muppets and they let something obviously little rehearsed and last minute go ahead .. regardless of the performers, wheres the quality control?

When you say "new performers" it sounds like you are suggesting this isn't a "one off" and the whole alternate performers thing is going ahead as per the vision years ago. Is that the case?

Yes, there has been much debate about weather to keep Steve on or not for Kermit. Since Disney has bought the Muppets this has always been one of their back projects, replacing the Frog as it's become known behind locked doors.
They have nothing against Steve or others personally, they are just looking into the future of these characters. They see how well they worked with Jim and Frank and they are trying to bring back that magic somehow, and they feel it is the performers that truly breathe the life into the script, not the scriptwriters.
If you are a truly gifted performer you can take a bad script and make it sound good. This performance on AGT was their first little experiment into reforming the Frog.
There will be other experiments with the Pig, but they are homing in on Kermit as of now.

 

[Oscarfan]

I finally read through some of this, and it's amazing at how much bashing there's been. How on Earth did we start questioning the current status of the Muppets based off of someone filling in for Steve? And what do we know? Beyond the performer, we have no evidence as to why he's doing it, what happened to Steve and if it's permanent.

And reading "muppetinsider"'s newest post, I think it IS a good idea to plan ahead for the future of the performers, not the franchise. Things could happen to the performers and they'd have a plan B.