Could Lips have been dropped during production of GMC?

[minor muppetz]

This.
Annie Sue, The JugHuggers, and Crazy Harry where amongst the other residents, but they didn't appear.

They never appeared with the main characters going to stop the villians, so I wouldn't count them. It's not like they kept disapearing and reappearing. Part of me wonders why there were more characters in the hotel who didn't go to stop the villians (or ride bicycles or get thrown off the plane), but then again that might have been more characters than performers.

I sort of feel like Annie Sue should have gotten a fairly bigger part, since she was Louise Gold's main character. She was used quite a bit on The Muppet Show, even if it was mainly in group numbers.

 

[MartyMuppets]

I think Lips is basically a minor muppet character who has never had a chance for development. He was introduced as a new member of the Electric Mayhem in Season 5 and as far as I recall was never even mentioned by name in any episode.

If they had gone on to do Season 6 logically I expect he probably would have started to become more significant with his appearances on the show like the rest of the band, however without that opportunity, in GMC he was essentially just as much a background perennial extra as he always had been.

 

[Drtooth]

Are you referring to "during Jim's time" or in general? Before his reemergence Christmas 09, he last appeared in Muppet Christmas Carol.

Hmm... I forget about that... but even during those last years with Jim, Lips really didn't make much of an impact, but he was there when the Mayhem was on occasion. Just... a lot of Muppet projects since didn't feature the Mayhem all that much. I forget to what extent they were used (if any) in JHH, but Solid Foam was much more of a presence.

Given that the only things in the late 80's were TV specials and Muppet Babies and kid's videos, the Mayhem was a part of some of that. The specials and maybe the videos at least. Can't remember if Lips was in MFC at all, though.

I wonder if Dr. Teeth and Floyd are really too different from each other. Both are cool characters, both enjoy things that are hip and groovy, both act like leaders (Dr. Teeth has his name in the band title and does most of the lead singing, while Floyd interacts more with characters outside the band, having the advantage of not being a Jim Henson character and being the only EM musician whow as the main character of his performer).

That's trues, actually... Though I think Teeth definitely has something a little different than Floyd. albeit subtlety... and I do think is is due to Jim performing Kermit backstage and Floyd having more of the lines. Floyd's backstage presence also has a lot to do with being one of Jerry's big main characters, so it would make sense to have one of his characters in a scene with Kermit, anyone of Frank's and or anyone of Dave's or Richard's.

But it seems that Teeth's jazz background and Floyd's classic rock background give a slight subtlety in tone. Floyd is a bit more laid back, where as Teeth isn't so much laid back as he is smooooth. Plus, Teeth can be a little more bombastic if he wants to. He just never really had the same extended use Floyd did (again, due to Jim as Kermit)... plus, he does have that leadership quality, and he is the brains of the outfit. I'd say, if anything, being the leader gives him a certain distinction, that while not obvious, makes him just a bit different from Floyd.

That said, trumpets aren't usually present in Rock.

Then of course, there's the whole Steve aspect. Steve really didn't have many major characters until the end of the show, and Rizzo was his signature character... while he was in GMC briefly, and TMM sorta kinda... he really took off in MTM.

 

[minor muppetz]

Hmm... I forget about that... but even during those last years with Jim, Lips really didn't make much of an impact, but he was there when the Mayhem was on occasion. Just... a lot of Muppet projects since didn't feature the Mayhem all that much. I forget to what extent they were used (if any) in JHH, but Solid Foam was much more of a presence.

Given that the only things in the late 80's were TV specials and Muppet Babies and kid's videos, the Mayhem was a part of some of that. The specials and maybe the videos at least. Can't remember if Lips was in MFC at all, though.

Animal and Zoot were part of Solid Foam in one episode. Interestingly, last year I found out there was an article on JHH in Muppet Magazine which referred to Solid Foam as being a mix of old and new musicians, consisting of Animal, Zoot, Beard, and Digit. It makes me wonder if the "Food" episode was produced first (it's the only one to not have a guest star, and there's a few other things that make me think it might have been done first). Dr. Teeth was also shown sitting in a recording booth during a few Solid Foam numbers, while one episode showed Zoot and Lips on different monitors (I don't know if being on monitors count as "appearances", though I think all those monitor images were shot especially for the show). Though it seems Solid Foam wasn't really used much as a band until late in the show's short run (if you want to compare the 8 MuppeTelevision episodes with the first 8 Muppet Show episodes, The Electric Mayhem was only used as a group a small number of times as well).

Lips was in MFC. In fact that special is my first memory of the character. He was in the background of several scenes, like in GMC, and he even sort of got his own scene (where Doc slams the door on him).

I'd say that, outside of merchandise, the Electric Mayhem wasn't really used as a group in anything made between 1981 and 1984. I don't think Dr. Teeth was used in any productions between then, and of course Lips wasn't, either (besides the I Love Liberty special). But for some reason the first few major Muppet productions after TMS, GMC, and The Muppets Go to the Movies had a very small amount of characters, mainly a few major characters, a few secondary characters, and Rizzo (plus the jugband making a cameo in Rocky Mountain Holiday). By the end of Henson's life the Muppet specials started to have bigger casts of Muppets (even if you ignore all the Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock characters who crossed over into those specials).

It also seems like the band was used less as a band starting in the third season. While Dr. Teeth seemed to be used more frequently in the first two seasons, he was hardly in season three (and only had dialogue in three episodes, two of which were in UK spots). Most numbers with the band only had about three members, or were orchestra numbers (which I guess is the same thing, as at the time only three members were in the orchestra). Animal played drums in quite a bit of numbers without the rest of the Mayhem, and while Janice was used quite a bit that season, it seems most of her appearances were as Nurse Janice.

 

[Muppet Master]

Here's what I have to say about Lips...

The character is basically similar to Zoot, in so much the fact that he didn't speak much, and outside of playing his instrument, he really didn't have much of a role. So basically, we have 2 similar characters, and the rules of redundancy won out.

Plus... let's be honest. There wasn't much of Jim Henson projects that actually used the Electric Mayhem since MTM. The last time we saw Lips was a cameo in Muppets at Walt Disney World (maybe some where in "Celebrate Jim Henson"... I haven't seen it in years, so I can't tell)

Well Zoot actually got some lines on TMS and the first three muppet films, MTI, and the LG death trap.