I feel like this exchange from the Muppet Fans Talking guys is relevant to this discussion, where they talk about what the future holds for Muppet fandom after the first news after the TV show was canceled and the first news was a Gonzo bathroom at Disney World.
JD Hansel: What does this mean for us? Are we going back to what it was like before the renaissance where we're a little band of people talking about an obscure property, or are things just gonna keep on keeping on?
Jarrod Fairclough: For my own sake, I'm hoping this is just a lull, this is a like a calm before the storm. I'm hoping something gets announced, I don't think anything will be announced this year, or if it does, I don't think we'll see anything big. But when you're a site that tries to do stuff every day, and especially basically doing it on your own like I am, for the most part, it's just me doing the Muppet Mindset every day, I'm desperate for information, news, something to happen, so I have something to talk about. I think occasionally there's news that's just not worth reporting, I don't think I reported on that toilet, cause I thought "What's the point? I'm not allowing myself to let that be news." I think this lull is a lot more difficult for me than it would've been before I took over the site. Cause the Mindset's a big part of my life now and when I've got nothing to do, I feel like I'm not doing my job, I feel like I'm letting down the people who like the site, I feel like I'm letting down Ryan Dosier, so that's why I'm desperate for news. Cause I don't wanna keep feeling like I'm not doing my job.
Steve Swanson: See, that's interesting, that's the exact opposite of how I feel about it. I mean I agree we're in a lull right now. I don't think we've gone back to the dark ages because, the dark ages was before Disney owned the Muppet property, and I think them owning it opens up a lot of doors. But there's a lull, I agree with that. I do definitely feel the absence of new stuff to talk about, but I don't feel the same urgency, Jarrod, that you probably feel. I haven't done a new episode of the MuppetCast, in fact, I've struggled with new things to do in the show. Lately I've been doing off-and-on the MuppetCast Mailbag Monday shows, which is really just an extended Q&A thing, that at least allows me to talk about the Muppets based on questions that people send, and it allows me to do a Muppets 101 for people who don't know a lot about the characters, and I can decimate a lot of this useless knowledge that I've acquired over the last 10 years now, but I don't feel an urgency to put out a new show all the time, I haven't in quite some time. My creative energy with that, I've talked about all the movies, and TV shows and done a ton of interviews, and are there more people to talk to? Yes, there's always more people to talk to, but until and unless there's a lot of new stuff coming out with Muppets again, I'm good with just letting the website sit there. And all those shows and everything is still there, and I'm glad all that work has been done, but I'm not chomping at the bit the same way most people are to put something new out there. Maybe that kinda makes me a jerk though, I don't know.
Jarrod: No, no, no.
JD: Yeah, in a way it almost does because... Obviously I mean that as a joke, I love ya Steve, but you've set up your website in a different way from the other fansites and I've done the same thing, we don't really do regular, consistent articles, regular, consistent news, we just kinda do stuff when we feel like it's worth doing stuff, which can be very good, cause it means when we release something it's more likely to be a good production, if it goes well, but it also means that we're not gonna have as devoted of an audience, and give them that same sense that there's something consistently good in life every single day or week. So Jarrod, you might feel like you have a responsibility that we feel like we don't have because, you're picking up where Ryan Doiser left off.
Jarrod: Exactly right. Ryan was posting almost every day for 5 and-a-half years. And I shouldn't say I'm doing it on my own, I've got Kieran Moore who writes top 10 lists of songs every Friday, Abigail Maughan who writes really good stuff, Mitchell Stein to a point, although he's busy with the Mickey Mindset. I would like more people on the team, I'd like to feel that responsibility less, but I'm also okay with not doing things on the site for a while. Like between Christmas and New Year, there wasn't much on the site at all, I posted maybe twice. Because I was on holiday, I was enjoying Christmas, I thought "You know what? The site will be okay for a couple weeks." But I feel like a week or so, especially at this point in the year, is the max I can afford to leave it before I feel like I'm not doing the job that Ryan asked me to do.
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. It doesn't help that they play that song everyday. Nothing against GnR, but the rare best songs are genre-less and suit any mood: 'Solsbury Hill' by Gabriel for example.
