The 10 Worst Muppets?

[Beauregard]

I never liked Sam the Eagle. He drives me nuts. His lines in The Great Muppet Caper ("You are all... WEIRDOS.") and Muppet Christmas Carol ("It is the American way... It is the BRITISH way...") make me laugh, but whenever he starts to give a speech about decency or what have you, I just wanna scream, "SHADDUP, YA STUPID BIRD. WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING ON THE SHOW IF IT APPALLS YOU SO MUCH."

True, true...But isn't that the whole point of Sam? To get under our skin and make us think, "What but WHAT are you doing there!" That said, I've always found him amusing...And I felt he really got a chance to shine as Mr Arrow the First Mate in MTI.

 

[RedPiggy]

Personally, I like Van Neuter, but he replaced Bunsen and Beaker in stead of complimenting them.

He's kinda like Digit: a cross between Bunsen and Beaker. Digit leaned more toward the "I wanna sing and dance" Beaker and Van Neuter leaned more toward Bunsen "I'd lose my license if this were real" Honeydew.

Clifford’s fine, but he edged out Kermit and that just makes people uncomfortable.

That never bothered me too much. Didn't Kermit let Scooter and Fozzie run things sometimes on TMS? I guess making the "cool" guy the host would've been done similarly had he handed the reigns to Floyd, though. Still, I like Clash characters overall.

I'm not going to list the WORST Muppets, but this would be my list of Muppets "with potential", not in any particular order:

Annie Sue (or Miss Mousey): It's a crying shame they didn't milk the possible love triangles more. While love triangles fit more with Mousey than Annie, the fact is Piggy still viewed them as rivals. Both of them could have teamed up and knocked Piggy off her little pedestal. You should also be able to be a female character in the Muppets without being compared to Piggy though. They were, well, mousey in front of Piggy, like only she deserved to have ambitions or goals. As much as I admire Piggy in terms of being a role model for the non-anorexic crowd, the other females should have been allowed to shine a bit more. Mousey and Annie got their own numbers, and Annie even seems more memorable, they just seemed tossed away when the writers/performers got bored.

The JHH-specific members: Yes, I know it was canceled. However, I still think that it might not have been had a wee bit more effort been put into the characters and the concept. The Muppets Tonight show suffered a similar issue. JHH wanted to split Muppets with Storyteller. I'm sure it made sense to Jim, but maybe it would have been better to have two shows instead. You get the impression that the show is more of a "hey, look what I can do" thing instead of a "I've got some great new characters for you to enjoy" thing. It suffers the same "I wanna do new stuff but everyone keeps wanting The Muppet Show" problem as Muppets Tonight. The Storyteller was "new", with great stories and memorable creatures. Muppet Central should have been similar. Instead of making a variety show for TV, which was getting less and less relevant, why not devote shows to parody certain shows of the time? The episode I liked best was the Ratings one, but I guess it's because it's the most obvious bridge between TMS humor and Dinosaurs humor, which was heavy on multimedia gags. Wasn't Muppets Tonight, which I concede I didn't watch that often, better when they finally broke from the formula?

That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[Drtooth]

I really don't want to be a hater, but Elmo is only good in Jim Henson's era and in modern times when he works off-the-cuff in interview situations. It's taken looking at some of these old unearthed clips lately that prove there was value in the little red guy in the 80s.

I could post a LONG, thorough article about how I really feel about Elmo, but I won't. I sort of like him, and I agree his best work was in the 80's (and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say early early 90's). Elmo's rise as a star came at a difficult time when SS lost so many people (even Dave Golez had to come in and fill a couple blanks and he stated he never really liked New York), and they were trying with hit or miss characters to fill in the blanks. Not to mention the competition from increasingly lousy kiddy shows on the start up cable preschool line ups, and even their own PBS. What really caused Elmo to turn into a personality devoid mascot, rather than a character, was hosting his own segment, which was clearly inspired by Blue's Clues (or other Nick Jr. stuff that came out at the time). Now he's the unofficial star of the show because it's the only thing keeping 2 and 3 year olds from watching some truely patronizing garbage. I really wish Elmo stuck to his monstery self- like in this classic skit. The monstery-ness was what made the character (and the reason why he talks in third person).

As for Abby, I didn't like her Poochie coming on too strong introduction, but I've really warmed up to the character. I just fear that she's going to be a character with untapped potential that becomes a personality devoid mascot and source of income for SW.

Muppets Tonight was launched without a clear idea of what the Muppet brand was doing. The show comes off as hap-hazard and after its time. Personally, I like Van Neuter, but he replaced Bunsen and Beaker in stead of complimenting them. Clifford’s fine, but he edged out Kermit and that just makes people uncomfortable. Andy, Randy, Spamela and Bobo had some humorous moments, but you can’t have a legit Muppet program without Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy. Also, why the frog try to replace the Electric Mayhem? It isn’t like the new band spoke much. Most folk felt offended by the Muppet interlopers even if they miraculously knew of the program and could locate its on-again, off-again timeslot after Urkel. Oh, and the Deep Dish Nine spaceship wasn’t as attractive as the Swinetrek. I think the Henson production team had finally figured this out right before ABC lowered the axe.

The problem with MT is that it was coming off the relaunch after Henson's death and they were trying to limit the role of Kermit at the time, not to mention that Frank Oz was busy with his movie career at the time, limiting his characters. No matter what character would have taken over the role as host, it still would have lost that feeling that the Muppet Show had when Kermit hosted. Though, I tend to think if Gonzo and Rizzo hosted the show it would have been smoother. I really do like Clifford as a character on his own, but placing him in the host's seat was like trying to give it the feel of a talk show, not a variety show. And because of that, it had that uneven feeling that the show didn't know what it wanted to be. I think that the characters they kept after the show ended (including VanNeuter) were the cream of the crop. In fact, I really wish Brian would work on Disney Muppet projects... I LOVED his characters... Sal and VanNeuter.

Really, I can't blame any of the characters for the reason the show felt the way it did. It was a concept that was trying to do so much at once, and it felt very hit or miss at points.

 

[Frogster]

Frogboy, I totally agree with you 100%. And that's something worth saying, since it doesn't happen often lol.

 

[D'Snowth]

I <3 him he is my favorite, why would you think otherwise?

Finally, someone acknowledges my existence in this thread! Lol.

 

[dwmckim]

I never liked Sam the Eagle. He drives me nuts. His lines in The Great Muppet Caper ("You are all... WEIRDOS.") and Muppet Christmas Carol ("It is the American way... It is the BRITISH way...") make me laugh, but whenever he starts to give a speech about decency or what have you, I just wanna scream, "SHADDUP, YA STUPID BIRD. WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING ON THE SHOW IF IT APPALLS YOU SO MUCH."

This aspect of the character reminds me of the conservative leaders of watchdog groups like Moral Majority or American Family Association - the whole purpose of their existance is to live in criticism of others and they'd feel empty and meaningless if they didn't have stuff to lash out against.

 

[Drtooth]

Which makes it all the better that he's actually an idiot deep down inside. Like how Beethoven is his favorite playwright.

 

[Beauregard]

He actually reminds me of so many people who get uptight and walk around the place proclaiming something to be "Right!" based on a misinformation. In Sam's case, it's funny because he usually realises his mistake just a few minutes too late...Such as when he says that Endangered Animals are ridiculous, until he realises that the American Bald Eagle is one of them.

 

[Super Scooter]

An aspect of the character that I think gets used a lot less lately is the "lazy patriot" part of his character. He acted all high and mighty, but Kermit typically had to correct his "facts" all the time. I always found that hillarious.

 

[beaker]

I LOVE Sam The Eagle! I think in the last decade his character has become all the more topical and hilarious. He's pretty much a giant spoof of all those war loving, right wing religious fanatic Republicans trying to but into everyone's business and who have no sense of humor. It's great.

And I LOVE Muppets Tonight. Just wish it was on dvd

And now, for my list of the top ten worst Muppets of all time:

10 Elmo
9 Elmo
8 Elmo
7 Elmo
6 Elmo
5 Elmo
4 Elmo
3 Elmo
2 Elmo
1 Elmo

No seriously, I can't see how any Henson loving affaciando can even remotely stand that abomination. I was tolerant of his antics in the late 90's, heck even into the new millennium. I bought Elmopalooza and dug it. But enough already. How much longer will that red menace be a stranglehold on Sesame Street?

I want to have hope for the new generation, but how any child can find anything likeable in that character is beyond me.
Yes, I realize how much money the Elmo thing has brought to Sesame and I understand it.

I love the entire breadth of Clash's work, from The Great Space Coaster to Dinosaurs and the Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight, as well as all his NON Elmo Sesame work.

But for the love of Pete...I just cant in good conscience say that I find anything remotely likeable about Elmo. And find it really unfortunate he's become the "face" of Sesame and the majority focus of all the merch and dvd production.