The Muppet Show...Continued?

[Drtooth]

I'd tend to think Disney would realize the thing that made the Muppets special WAS the lack of serious continuity and sequels. Depending on how the movie goes, I'd sure like to see Jason back, but only if we can come up with something more along the lines of GMC or MTM... movies that aren't quite theme movies, but ones that don't take place in a certain time frame where the characters play themselves in different situations. Something that doesn't quite involve the same plot as the first one.

If there IS a direct sequel, I'd HATE to see a revenge plot. I've always decried the second TMNT movie for being Shredder wanting revenge instead of giving us a different villain... the only reason I liked the revenge bit of the Second Chipmunks film was because David Cross basically carried both films. If there's a sequel, i wanna see a different villain than Tex Richman no matter how good he is in the movie.

 

[minor muppetz]

But of course, Disney didn't own the Muppets when TMM was made. I'm talking purely about Disney here; i can see that turning into their strategy of "handling" the Muppet brand post-movie.

And even if Disney did own the Muppets back then, Disney wasn't very sequel-crazy at the time.

 

[Drtooth]

And even if Disney did own the Muppets back then, Disney wasn't very sequel-crazy at the time.

Somehow, it seems after Pixar put up a STRONG no DTV sequel policy (which I have a love hate relationship with... I love the fact that we don't get cheapquals of movies that didn't need to be continued, but at the same time, they SHOULD have kept up DTV Mickey and co movies like Three Musketeers... at least in the same matter they somehow okayed the Tinkerbell Italian comics based movies) they made DTV cheapquals of live action films. I'd HATE to see that happen with the Muppets. Hopefully the movie will be successful enough for another theatrical go-around, but not to the point where it will be a clone of this movie.

As for a show... the funny thing is several people want to bring back a television version of Star Trek. I think the same guy who did the movie and of all people Seth MacFarline ("Spock... this... is even... worse than the time I was... He-Man's Bowling partner..."), and yet someone wrote a whole article about how it just wouldn't fare well on television. The thing is, it's not too much different from why I think a new Muppet Show wouldn't do all that well, even if the movie's a smash success.

If we were to see a new Muppet show, something that's completely different from the original's the only way it's gonna happen. I could see a show very much like 30 Rock where you see the show come together, but not the show itself.

 

[Oscarfan]

I think variety-specials are the way to go, at least for now. If you think about, each of the viral videos could've been a single act on the Muppet Show, and those videos have views out the roof. Why they wouldn't work on TV is something I can't quite figure out.

 

[Drtooth]

Television to Muppets: "It's not you, it's ME!"

Television is in a strange state. While we're thankfully seeing less newly created reality shows, the staple reality programs just aren't budging. Action shows are stuck back to cop/investigation programs after the genre show slowly died (of course, it didn't help that Lost had such a stupid ending, The Event was a build up to "aliens did it" and no one cares about shows that don't even start the plot until halfway through the second season when they're canceled 5 episodes in). The sitcom, surprisingly, has made a comeback thanks in no small part to the Office. It is mostly cinematic, no laugh track/audience shows like The Middle and Raising Hope, as well as some mockumentary fair like Office, Parks and Rec and Modern Family. But the Laugh/audience show has made a comeback due to the likes of How I Met Your Mother (which I keep forgetting the laugh track/audience laughs because I barely notice them over the sounds of my own) and Chuck Lorre's Big Bang, Mike and Molly, and 2.5 Men.

I've also noticed that networks ONLY care about Sunday-Thursdays. You know a show's on the outs when they put it on Saturday Nights. They just stopped caring about Saturdays entirely and just rerun high rated shows from other nights. Other than SNL, of course. ABC doesn't even run "Wonderful World of Disney" movies anymore. It does movies, but usually PG-13 stuff and without the labels when it's family films. Fridays are Dodgey, but do-able. CBS has some stuff there... Fox has one original program and one rerun... there's stuff on Fridays, but it doesn't get the attention of the Monday-Thursday stuff... Sunday made a comeback years ago, though. Too bad everything gets pre-emptied by sports half the time.

The problem with a Muppet program on network TV is that either you get them in a completely too competitive to survive or an uncompetitive slot that's hard to regularly catch them in. ABC pretty much wrote off Fridays and put cheap reality shows in the slot (for a while they just re-ran Modern Family), so that wouldn't be that good a spot either. The Muppet Show survived 5 seasons on syndication (could have lasted more but it ended its run admirably with the creators saying they left on a high note), but there is no original programming on weekend syndication anymore (the 90's? sure... remember Hercules and Xena?). Muppets Tonight couldn't last on prime time network, and moved to a different time slot in its first season opposite 60 minutes. Second season was Disney channel exclusive and was shortly canceled. Disney Channel or ABC family would be ideal, EXCEPT for their demographics. Even if a Muppet Show were on Disney, it would be a LOT like Studio DC.

 

[minor muppetz]

Somehow, it seems after Pixar put up a STRONG no DTV sequel policy (which I have a love hate relationship with... I love the fact that we don't get cheapquals of movies that didn't need to be continued, but at the same time, they SHOULD have kept up DTV Mickey and co movies like Three Musketeers... at least in the same matter they somehow okayed the Tinkerbell Italian comics based movies) they made DTV cheapquals of live action films. I'd HATE to see that happen with the Muppets. Hopefully the movie will be successful enough for another theatrical go-around, but not to the point where it will be a clone of this movie.

If we get any direct-to-video Muppet productions, I hope they're more like the direct-to-video stuff we've gotten in the past (the Playhouse videos, Play-Along Videos, Sing-Alongs, and Muppet Classic Theater), and not really a movie. Though I'd want more of the core characters involved; Pretty much all made-for-video stuff had a limited amount of Muppet Show characters, while introducing several new characters. The Playhouse videos probably had the most involvement of known characters (in part because they showcased clips from The Muppet Show), and I think the Interractivision videos had a good balance of main and secondary characters (though I only know details of one of the videos). I wouldn't want any more direct-to-video productions that are basically just Kermit and several new characters (which is the case with Kermit's Swamp Years and most of the sing-along videos).

 

[Drtooth]

I'd be torn if we had another DTV movie... On the one hand, new project... on the other, the Muppets NEED the budget and release of a theatrical film. I'd rather see strange Muppet projects like those than something akin to KSY or VMX that's made for television.

 

[Speed Tracer]

I'd tend to think Disney would realize the thing that made the Muppets special WAS the lack of serious continuity and sequels. Depending on how the movie goes, I'd sure like to see Jason back, but only if we can come up with something more along the lines of GMC or MTM... movies that aren't quite theme movies, but ones that don't take place in a certain time frame where the characters play themselves in different situations. Something that doesn't quite involve the same plot as the first one.

Would love to see Jason and Nick Stoller take on The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made. That would be a lovely tribute to Jim and Jerry Juhl, if done right. But whatever they do, you're right - The Great Muppet Caper works because of how different it is to The Muppet Movie. It's basically a romp.

 

[Joseph Sirrico]

hi can u please help me write a new movie script the chritsmas carlo plezz let me no

 

[Drtooth]

Would love to see Jason and Nick Stoller take on The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made. That would be a lovely tribute to Jim and Jerry Juhl, if done right. But whatever they do, you're right - The Great Muppet Caper works because of how different it is to The Muppet Movie. It's basically a romp.

That sort of movie would have to have a more casual audience take a huge leap of faith. If there's one thing Disney did right it was NOT using that film to relaunch and re-introduce the Muppets. There's too much theater of the absurd that, while it would fit in perfectly with the Muppets, would just confuse casual fans and scare off an audience. That movie may be too experimental to be made, and while it may have worked during the 80's after strong films like TMM, GMC and MTM, it would have seemed too odd a film as a stand alone.

I dream of a Muppet sketch movie, closer to the show than the movies, where each character has a segment of the movie, and do whatever they wanted with it in their personality. Fozzie would have a stand up comedy documentary (like Jerry Seinfeld's "the Comedian"), Piggy would have a glamorous, sophisticated romantic movie or glamor film about herself... Gonzo would do an experimental film...and like that. But I don't think that would fly with the public.