I really think that since Jim Died that the Classic Muppets have really just looked for a leader, and have yet to find one.
That's the problem when someone like that dies. At least with creators or other big people behind an idea or product. Look at the state of Flux Disney was in for years after Walt died. it took them until The Little Mermaid to really get everything back on track. Warners, as I've said countless times, still has trouble finding new media featuring Looney Tunes, since the last of the classic animators (Chuck Jones) died years ago.
To me, everything they've done was just off being what it should have been. Face it, we lost Jim and Richard, and Frank wasn't as attentitive as he used to be. Somehow MCC and MTI worked because of Jerry Juhl's writing... but then again, they also didn't work because they had trouble with certain conceptual things... like making humans co-stars the stars of the film, and the Muppets playing second or third. Muppets from Space in its original form really had a classic Muppet spirit. Too bad that other conceptual problems (the lack of original musical numbers), and Sony's sickly hand in the project ruined what could have been a great film.
Then we get to the DTV/Telefilms, which had new writers, and their own conceptual problems as well.
Seems they've been really trying to find a voice, and everytime they got close, some corporate hand or conceptual problem took them a step back.
From official sources, Oz has distanced himself from the Muppets to concentrate on directing. He has been doing that since the 80s for non-Muppet or Henson related movies. I am guessing that Henson's death gave Frank the excuse to slowly move away from just being a "hand in a sock" and a voice to doing something that's more hands on. Don't forget, Jim only came into puppeteering as a way to get into television. It's kinda like a wannabe singer doing "American Idol" to get into the spotlight and then changing their style and sound to something they really want to do once they have the fame to back it up.
As far as Steve Whitmire's Kermit goes, I was impressed with the early performance when he was mimicking Jim's Kermit but now he seems to have taken the character somewhere different. The voice isn't the same as it was and the puppeteering seems to have changed too. Not that he isn't a very talented performer and voice artist, I just think, for some reason, the whole Kermit performance has changed.
The new voices and puppet performaces of classic Muppet characters take some getting used to for me. I seriously applaude the likes of Bill Barretta and Eric Jaconson for their great work and the fact they have obviously studied the characters' performers but, being a Muppet fan since the age of 3, do miss the Golden Age of the Muppets and the original Muppet performers. Having said that, without the "new" guys taking over the classic characters the Muppets would be dead. At least with new performers taking over the roles the Muppets could, in theory, continue on our screens forever.
I agree with all of that. I really do. We have to realise we're working with Muppets: the next generation. Frank wants to do films (though the Stepford Remake? Come on) that's his right. The only old schoolers really left are Dave and Steve. Jerry's in a state of semi-retirement, though he still does voice recording for Sesame, but I think that's about it.
I miss Frank as much as anyone else, but if he doesn't want to do it, he doesn't have to. I'd rather see someone talented like Eric take on and recreat the roles than have that whole Muppets tonight/MTi thing going where the focus was solely on the new characters due to his absense. I have some problems with Steve's Kermit, much as I do with the different Looney Tunes recasts. They don't even have one official voice artist for each anymore (it's very common to hear Billy West playing Bugs Bunny, then Jeff Bergman, then Joe Alasky- depending on who's available). I'm glad that most of the muppets have settled on one performer continuing the roles. Though characters like Dr. Teeth still bounce from performer to performer until someone has a handle on them.
We have to face the fact that the last great Muppet project was finished just before Jim passed on. Much like the last Great Looney Tunes project ended when Termite Terrace closed down. The thing here isn't to copy the essense of the classics head on. No one can do that, no matter how much talent they have. The real task is getting things as close to those glory days as possible, all the while keeping things fresh, and giving the artists behind it a real voice. Something I felt lack in MOZ and to some extent the other post Jerry Juhl films.