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

[GelflingWaldo]

Let me say that I'm not anti-recasts. This is not a "I don't want anyone else ever touching Kermit" situation or protest. Also I don't think the performance of Kermit on 'America's Got Talent' was necessarily bad - it was not dead-on perfect, but it was pretty darn good. But I don't care if it was 100% flawless and pitch perfect, it still does not make it right. Sure recasts are necessary to keep characters alive. And I embrace and support recasting of characters (Steve as Kermit. Eric as Piggy and Fozzie. Dave as Waldorf. Bill as Rowlf. ect.) I am not against someone else (even Artie) taking on the role of Kermit someday when Steve is no longer able to continue. I am not against recasts. What I am against is performer flip-flopping.

Unless Steve has hung-up the frog for good and Artie (or whoever) is the new full-time performer of Kermit, I don't want to hear anyone but Steve talking for the frog.

I don't want an appearance of Kermit to be announced and then people wonder if it will be "Kermit A" or "Kermit B". I don't want multiple Kermits co-existing in the public eye. Everyone will have their favorite, or one they like more then the other -- and then fandom will begin to divide even more. I also think the characters need continuity and consistently - that's what allows the characters to grow and be rich 3-dimentional characters and not just flat impressions.

Disney does this with their other characters. For over 90 years Mickey Mouse has had only 1 official voice at a given time -- Walt Disney (from 1928 to 1947), Jimmy MacDonald (1947–1977), and Wayne Allwine (1977-2009). These 3 men did the voice of Mickey for everything - cartoons, TV shows, movies, toys, commercials, albums, audio books, stage shows, video games, theme park attractions, and anything else. If a Mickey as much as cleared his throat in the past 30 years, you could bet it was Wayne Allwine that recorded it. I think Kermit should be the same -- one performer at a time. No flip-flopping between first and second string. No flip-flopping between Steve and Artie and anyone else based on availability, convenience, cost, or importance of appearance.

Again, this is nothing against Artie (if that's who performed the Frog on AGT). This is nothing against the performance on the show. This is not about how good/bad the puppeteering or the vocals were. This is not a "I like so-and-so's Kermit more" moment. This is not anti-recasting. What I have a problem with is performer flip-flopping.

1 Muppet, 1 Voice.

 

[minor muppetz]

Does anybody know whether the singing was pre-recorded or live? Because the Muppets rarely sing live. If the singing was pre-recorded, then I wonder how far in advance it was... If the replacement was more-or-less last minute I would have expected Kermit's singing to have been done by Steve.

 

[dwmckim]

In my last post, i wanted to get off my chest a bunch of thoughts feelings i had running around my mind even if i didn't quite have the words i wanted at the time to express them. I found some words...

I've talked about this being very hard on all of us (and as a result stressful and the main reason emotions are at a Five on the Richter Scale) due to none of us not knowing WHAT we should be feeling because we don't know what happened to explain what we saw occur.

This feeling is very much like the same kind of traumatic experience that a parent goes through if they wake up one morning and discover that their child never came home after having gone out the night before. Just the situation itself is a horrendous one but on top of that are all the restless panic of not knowing what's going on...did he get arrested, was he in a car accident where he was put in the hospital or killed? Was he kidnapped? Was he acting up and spent the night sleeping with someone? Was he being responsible and decided to sleep over at a friend's because he had to much to drink and didn't want to drive? You have no idea how to feel and it's driving you all the more nuts because every possible scenario is running through your head both good and bad. The tears are forming but you don't know if they should fall because you don't yet actually know if they have a reason to be there. And on top of all that is the hurt and betrayal that NO ONE has even attempted to call you to let you know what was going on even though everyone who would know must surely be aware that you would be worried sick.

This is why Disney/the Muppet team can't remain silent and not tell fans why Steve couldn't be there Wednesday night. We're all worried sick pacing the floors wondering where our loved one is and what's happened to him tortured by all the worst case scenarios floating around our heads. Given the number of people who have contact with inside sources being they forum members here or at TP, the webmasters of TP, MC, The Newsflash, and the Muppetcast, doesn't it seem odd that we don't have any explanation THREE DAYS LATER even though we're all in a collective epidemic level panic? But so far the ONLY real inside info that's come out is who the replacement performer was. Well that's just fine and dandy for keeping the Muppet Wiki fully updated but we're worried sick over Steve! It doesn't matter how much we may like the answers or not, but we need someone to come forward and tell us what happened and where he is...his breakfast is still waiting for him on the kitchen table, his laundry is being done, but he's still not come home or called. We're biting our nails down to the bone, pulling our hair out, choking back the tears looking through the photo albums, not knowing if he's fine or really hurt...or worse, if we should call the police or if that might be a mistake because he's actually okay and any minute now that call we've been waiting for should come, shouldn't it? One more minute...two more minutes...three...RIIIING - "Hello? NO I DO *NOT* WANT TO BUY A NEWSPAPER AND DON'T YOU *DARE* EVER CALL THIS HOUSE AGAIN OR I WILL SUE!" (slam) tick tock tick tock tick tock...

Froggie Baby, we NEED you to come home or at least CALL us and tell us where you are. We need to know if we should be preparing your lunch, your funeral arrangements, or your grounding/punishment.

 

[MelissaY1]

Ok so I finally watched the clip with the "imposter" Kermit and all I have to say is, I don't understand why everyone is that upset. I didn't think whomever it was was that bad. I thought the singing as Kermit was decent. The speaking so so but you know what? If this is someone who will either be performing Kermit from time to time or eventually taking over the role, I am almost sure that transition will come where it will be back to sounding like the Kermit we know. Look how much Steve's Kermit improved over the years.

I am certainly as curious as everyone else as to why Steve wasn't performing but people are really blowing this up in my humble opinion. I thought it was still a fun, enjoyable performance by the characters, and it seemed to have gone well overall for everyone involved with the show.

 

[theprawncracker]

Here's an article I wrote about Steve for The Muppet Mindset. I swear, no mention of Artie anywhere! http://themuppetmindset.blogspot.com/2009/09/steve-whitmire-saturday.html

 

[GelflingWaldo]

I've talked about this being very hard on all of us (and as a result stressful and the main reason emotions are at a Five on the Richter Scale) due to none of us not knowing WHAT we should be feeling because we don't know what happened to explain what we saw occur.

Yeah, the difficult part here is we don't know what really happened (and we may never know for sure). I've put pleas out to some of my insider contacts, but no one has answered (and if they did, they've said they couldn't comment or didn't know).

The possibilities are endless and with nothing else to go on our fanboy imaginations run wild. Such as...

Maybe Steve and Eric were both there ready to go on and put on an awesome show. As the cameras started to roll, just seconds before Nick Cannon announced Kermit and Piggy's act, Steve got violently ill due to some tainted meat on the craft-services table. So Steve turned to Artie (who was there to perform one of the chickens) and asked him to step forward, save the day and take his place in the act (as the show must go on).

Or... maybe months ago some evil big-shot Disney executive was harboring his personal vendetta against the Whitmire family and orchestrated this as some plot to get rid of Steve once and for all.

Or... maybe Steve is planning on retiring soon and is working to train and transition the character to a new performer.

Or... maybe the Muppet producers are just testing out new performers to break them in and to see how audiences respond to the new voices.

Or... maybe Steve had some big family emergency but the Muppets were contractually obligated to provide Kermit. So they had to find someone to fill in just this one time.

Or... something else…who knows?

I wouldn't expect Disney to issue a big press release about it. They probably don't want to talk about it or make a bit fuss over it. But without knowing why this recast/fill-in occurred, many fans will assume the worst. Or at least keep wonder why it happened and what is up.

All I have to say is, I don't understand why everyone is that upset. I didn't think whomever it was was that bad.

I don't think it was a bad performance either. The voice wasn't 100% perfect and we can nit-pick the puppeteering, but overall it was good. However, in this fan's opinion, it simply was not the right performance. And that's the issue.

The bigger question/debate here simply is why? If Steve is not going to perform Kermit anymore that would be nice to know. And if Steve is (and he simply couldn't make it on Wednesday) then I think they should have sent in a replacement for the character and not a replacement for the puppeteer.

 

[SJohnson]

I really don't think so. Although you've stated your opinion of favoring the performance, as far as I'm aware your comments don't fit japoi's description, and I don't believe you've said anything that would be a lie. In fact I'm almost 100% positive I know who he's talking about, but I'lll remain quiet so as not to accidentally accuse any innocent parties.

whew.

 

[MelissaY1]

Yeah, the difficult part here is we don't know what really happened (and we may never know for sure). I've put pleas out to some of my insider contacts, but no one has answered (and if they did, they've said they couldn't comment or didn't know).

The possibilities are endless and with nothing else to go on our fanboy imaginations run wild. Such as...

Maybe Steve and Eric were both there ready to go on and put on an awesome show. As the cameras started to roll, just seconds before Nick Cannon announced Kermit and Piggy's act, Steve got violently ill due to some tainted meat on the craft-services table. So Steve turned to Artie (who was there to perform one of the chickens) and asked him to step forward, save the day and take his place in the act (as the show must go on).

Or... maybe months ago some evil big-shot Disney executive was harboring his personal vendetta against the Whitmire family and orchestrated this as some plot to get rid of Steve once and for all.

Or... maybe Steve is planning on retiring soon and is working to train and transition the character to a new performer.

Or... maybe the Muppet producers are just testing out new performers to break them in and to see how audiences respond to the new voices.

Or... maybe Steve had some big family emergency but the Muppets were contractually obligated to provide Kermit. So they had to find someone to fill in just this one time.

Or... something else…who knows?

I wouldn't expect Disney to issue a big press release about it. They probably don't want to talk about it or make a bit fuss over it. But without knowing why this recast/fill-in occurred, many fans will assume the worst. Or at least keep wonder why it happened and what is up.


I don't think it was a bad performance either. The voice wasn't 100% perfect and we can nit-pick the puppeteering, but overall it was good. However, in this fan's opinion, it simply was not the right performance. And that's the issue.

The bigger question/debate here simply is why? If Steve is not going to perform Kermit anymore that would be nice to know. And if Steve is (and he simply couldn't make it on Wednesday) then I think they should have sent in a replacement for the character and not a replacement for the puppeteer.

It was definitely unfortunate circumstances to have a fill in for, I agree with you on that. The puppetry was a little stiff, but again if they didn't have much time to prepare, I wouldn't expect much more than what we saw. It would be nice to find out why Steve wasn't there. On the other hand though, I don't feel anyone at Henson "owes" us an explanation, and I think alot of people feel that they do and that's why there's a lot of hard feelings going around.

 

[Super Scooter]

I don't think Henson owes us an explanation. But Disney does.

Seriously, though, this kind of deserves an explanation. I mean, when Eric took over Frank's characters, we kind of expected something like that because Frank was phasing himself out anyway. But Steve's been so busy with the Muppets, it's a complete shock to see someone else fill in like that. It would be nice to know just what's going on.

I don't think anyone's demanding that intimate details of Steve's life be revealed, not that that was your suggestion. But I'm sure pretty much everyone is concerned about Steve. It wouldn't take much of an explanation at all. "Steve is fine. Wasn't able to make the show. He'll be back soon." That wouldn't kill anyone to say, would it? ... I just said it and I'm fine. Unless that can't be said, which is why people are freaking out.

 

[ToasterBoy]

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