A new "Muppet Show"

[Fozzie Bear]

Liv Tyler ( imagine her and the Electric Mayhem covering Aerosmith ).

Better yet: The Electric Mayhem covering Aerosmith WITH Aerosmith!!

 

[camilla]

I have been thinking hard about what made a good Muppet Show. I feel like many fly by night gusts are not the answer. They need to be flexible. i was never impressed with the Sly Stallone episode.

I agree with a lot of the suggestions such as Rennee Zwelliger and Ewan McGregor. i was also thinking John Travolota might be good. I also thought Cher might be quite good. Could you imagine her doing I got you Babe with one of the Muppets. Others that would be good would be Billy Joel or Paul McCartney. Paul Simon would be great again. Imagine him dsoing Eythmn of the saints with Animal. O would love to see Eoqan Atkison but less of the Mr Bean. if we could get some writitng by Richard Curtis or Ben Elton it would be great.

I wasalso thinking of Michael Flattely. i would love to see the Muppets Ricer Dacning. That would be fun!!
Camilla

 

[Gorgon Heap]

How about 'Husband & Wife' episodes with Catherine Zeta-Jones & Michael Douglas, Matthew Broderick & Sarah Jessica Parker, and maybe Jennifer Connelly & Paul Bettany?

From the upcoming Phanton of the Opera feature film:
*Emmy Rossum
*Gerard Butler
*Minnie Driver
*Patrick Wilson (also in "Angels in America")
*Miranda Richardson

Other suggested guest stars:
*Michael Caine (sang in "Muppet Christmas Carol"; when he did MCC, he was a respected British thespian with an Academy Award; now he's a respected British thespian with two Academy Awards and a knighthood; it'd be like Peter Ustinov prestige all over again- hopefully without the shameless kissing up tho!)
*Meryl Streep (classically trained opera singer as well as most Oscar-nominated person for acting)
*Sissy Spacek (did her own singing in Loretta Lynn biopic "Coal Miner's Daughter")
*Susan Sarandon (also a singer; husband & wife show with Tim Robbins? Oh wait, are they actually married or just commonlaw?)
*Lily Tomlin
*Hugh Grant
*Colin Firth
*Emma Thompson
*Goldie Hawn (also sings)
*Joan Cusack (does she sing? I have a hunch she does, don't know why)
*Mel Brooks (they've worked with him twice; he sings, too)
*John Lithgow (singer, 2-time Oscar nominee, Tony & Emmy winner, still well-known from "3rd Rock")
*Lisa Kudrow (Emmy winner, sitcom star, singer)
*Anne Hathaway (rising star, trained singer- even Julie Andrews said she has a beautiful voice! Makes me wish I could have the opportunity to hear it!)
*Jane Kaczmarek (if they do a show, you know they'll try to get people from the hot sitcoms that are on now)
*Kenneth Mars (now a regular on "Malcolm in the Middle" as German innkeeper Otto, played Franz Liebkind in "The Producers" (the original 1968 film) and has been a character actor for years)
*Gene Wilder
*Peter Boyle (did you know he was good friends with John Lennon?)
*Doris Roberts (did you know she was best friends with James Coco?)
*Bill Cosby (another Muppet lover; why was he never on TMS?)
*Mel Gibson (sings)
*Vin Diesel (he says he sings, his parents are opera singers)
*Jonathan Pryce (actor, singer, Tony-winner; credits include Bond villain in "Tomorrow Never Dies"; "Evita"; "Carrington"; "Glengarry Glen Ross"; Governor Swann in "Pirates of the Caribbean")
*Tom Hanks (does a lot of family-oriented stuff already; prestigious to boot)
*Tom Wilkinson
*Jim Broadbent
*Chris Cooper
*John Leguizamo
*Matthew Lillard (apparently a huge Muppet fan)
*Steve Buscemi
*Nathan Lane (was on Sesame Street; Broadway stars generally worked great on TMS- Ben Vereen, Ethel Merman, Zero Mostel, Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey etc.)
*Alan Cumming (won the Tony for the revival of "Cabaret")
*Anne Reinking
*Eric Idle (funneee!)
*Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean)
*Michael Palin (ditto)
*Joey Pasquale (sp?) (the comic from the live Muppet Show; hey, Jim booked Wally Boag! Hmm, maybe not such a good idea; he's definitely weird enough, though! Maybe after the show took off?)
*Christopher Lee (experiencing career renaissance/expanding fanbase since being in "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" trilogies; also a trained singer; this would be a great opportunity for a Halloween episode as he was the British equivalent of Vincent Price)

Rockers and musicians:
*Ray Charles (I'm baffled as to why they never had him on the original show)
*Stevie Wonder
*Barbra Streisand (hey, she's doing "Meet the Fockers", it's not like she's unattainable)
*Cher
*Paul McCartney (maybe they could get him now)
*Billy Joel (how terrific would this be? Oh yeah!)
*David Bowie ("Magic Jump" reprise, anyone?)
*Phil Collins
*Eric Clapton (oh yeah!)
*Mick Jagger (oh yeah!)
*Lenny Kravitz (that would be AWESOME! It'd be a colorful show to be certain)
*Christina Aguilera (I may get slammed for this, by myself at least, but out of all the pop singers out there, she's the only one with a voice; there could be some good possibilities for musical numbers here, like "Genie in a Bottle" with the Muppet monsters dressed as a Sultan, Sheik and white-suited fez-wearing businessman)
*Alanis Morrissette
*Sheryl Crow
*Jewel (the Muppets have worked with a lot of socially conscientious performers- John Denver anyone?)
*Gwen Stefani (they had Debbie Harry on the original TMS)
*Weird Al Yankovic (oh yeah!)
*Ray Stevens (a classic in the making!)

Whew! Long list. Fun though. My apologies for repeating some suggestions, I'm just trying to keep them logged, to keep track of them.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[Emerald]

I agree with Luke expect for Ozzy Osbourne....TOO WEIRD TO APPEAR ON TMS!
See ya

Remember, though, that could have been said of Alice Cooper's appearance. And that was an AWESOME show! (I love those ghost muppets in the "Welcome to My Nightmare" number!)

 

[Emerald]

for my money they should just rerun the old shows!

Deffinately. I couldn't believe my great luck when I found reruns on the Hallmark Channel, back when it was Odysey. And I couldn't believe my HORRIBLE luck when Hallmark pulled the plug on it! Do they still show Fraggle Rock reruns? That was a great show, too. Help us spirit of Jim Henson, you're our only hope. Influence a powerful, major cable station to bring back our Muppets.

 

[McFraggle]

I would say if ABC does a show, it will have a lot of the ABC/ Disney stars on it. Which could be good if they got somebody like George Lopez, David Spade, or Damon Wayans.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

What was the ratio of tv/film/stage stars on the original TMS, I wonder?

I have seen a lot of names popping up in this thread that I just don't think fit with the Muppets at all. David Spade, for example, seems a little too self-centered in anything I've ever seen him in that would even look good performing with the Muppets.

Keep in mind, someone who is an actor, to make a successful show, has to be able to perform WITH the Muppets, not try to perform above the Muppeteers; otherwise, the whole thing is fake. If you watch some episodes of TMS, or even SS, you'll be able to see the difference between actors who are GOOD and who perform With them as opposed to being Good and performing ABOVE them.

If you remember, the Jim Henson Hour did a lot with network stars; that never really worked for me. I liked the segments prior to the Muppets' segments much better in lots of cases (if you can believe it).

Oh, and writing is a huge issue; the writing needs to be as good as it was on the original series, so they need to hire writers who give a darn about the Muppets and their personalities.

 

[Gorgon Heap]

Oh, and writing is a huge issue; the writing needs to be as good as it was on the original series, so they need to hire writers who give a darn about the Muppets and their personalities.

Like TravellingMatt and myself!

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[Jennifer]

A lone voice in the wilderness...

I like Disney...I always have...please don't drum me off the board...

I hope that Disney will put its merchandising muscle behind the Muppets, maybe re-release the movie soundtracks on CD, release the early specials like "Frog Prince", a more extensive Muppet Show DVD set...

Funny the previous poster should mention Christopher Lee...I'd written a sketch idea for him quite a while ago, with him, some Muppet vampires, and Count von Count performing "Night Waltz (The Sun Won't Set)" from Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Maybe I'll re-post...

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Like TravellingMatt and myself!

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

HEY! Don't forget me!!

Anyhow, I have always said that whoever is working on Muppets projects need to do research and go back and view all the original works and LEARN the history of the characters and how performances worked over the years and/or changed. That'll help make better scripts.