Well, I have to say on behalf of Lamb Chop and Sheri Lewis's creations, I am quite a fan of her as well as the Muppets. Of course, there are all kinds of Puppetry in the world (Though I wonder if they have any Asian Shadow Puppets at the conference)
I mean, Just beacuse it's a sock Puppet doesn't mean it's crummy. I mean, it's not what it's made of, but what gets breathed into it, the life a performer gives them in my book tht counts. I have seen awfully designed puppets with a more charismatic deleverence than some really well done, well made ones.
Look at Wismy's House, for example. The puppets are well designed, but the puppetry (not to mention the voices and writing) was just horrible.
Then we have the Pets.com puppet who is pretty cheasy (which is part of his character, you even see the arm that puppets him) and he was a great character ... well.. until the Bar none ads.
Too bad they couldn't get a hold of Paul Fusco, since ALF would have been great there.