I'm sorry but i though the VMA appearance was worse than AGT. People were talking about how Kermit seemed mumbley and i didn't think it was that bad - but at VMA's it totally sounded like the performer had gumballs in his mouth - it was really kind of distracting because the unintentional end result was that it came across as if Kermit had engaged in WAY too much bubbley enroute in the limo.
When it comes right down to it, by and large fans want their performers to succeed. I want to root for Artie and i'm sure the various feedbacks on his performances must be a bit heartbreaking to read. I accept the concept of understudies more than other people here and if this is on-the-job training experience with Steve's support and guidance, i can live with that the same way i have zero issues with and am largely in favor of Matt Vogel's playing Big Bird 1/3-1/2 of the time these days (or the same way i felt about Eric and David's having been groomed to take over Frank's characters). The raw potential is there - but right now that's ALL i'm seeing...raw potential.
The two things we saw were good Kermit performances; not bad but not nearly what they should be when you're having someone play The Lead Muppet Character at two highly watched events (even if the performances were short). Steve is top-notch. We're going to notice a difference in overall quality even if a longtime very skilled Muppeteer was subbing. I can understand not having a "first tier" Muppeteer take over because you need to have Kermit "free" to interact with the other top gun Muppeteer's characters if this change lasts for awhile. But why did they skip over the numerous amount of way more skilled and nuanced Muppeteers on the second and third tiers and pluck someone straight out of the bottom tier? It shows bigtime that it's someone who doesn't have the needed experience doing this. It makes the Muppets as a property look bad.
The fact that none of us even knows why this is happening makes it worse - we're too preoccupied with wondering what happened to Steve and if all this is going on with his blessing or not that we can't even bring ourselves to enjoy Artie's interpretation even if it was a lot better. At least when John Tartaglia subbed for Ernie on Play With Me Sesame, that was (a) a very low visibility project - you had to have an upstart minor cable channel to see it (b) that was taped well enough in advance before airing so that by the time it did air and we saw a change, we already saw that Steve was still busy and doing lots of stuff in the meantime so there wasn't any worry or concern like this is all now basically happening in "real time".
We really do need answers. Like i say, Artie could do another appearance as Kermit and manage to totally knock it right out of the park and be absolutely brilliant but until we know what the deal is, it's hard to be all that appreciative (but speaking of appreciation, i do feel obliged to add my disclaimer that despite the hits he's taking...from myself included...i do appreciate the fact that he is doing it - again Artie's not the "bad guy" in this and he's doing a very thankless task by filling those flippers. I just wish that his performances were just better than merely "adequate" and leave me thinking "wrong choice; wrong time". I want to see him - or whoever else may perform Kermit - really succeed. But right now all i'm seeing is "servicable" performances, nothing "great", "impressive" or anywhere near "Steve-worthy". There's a reason we fans sometimes call him "Stevie Wonder" ya know!)
Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Jim Henson Idea Man
Back to the Rock Season 2
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
