Henson talking to Disney and Viacom for potential partnership deals

[Luke]

Kev, I don't think they mean 'partnership' as in giving up any percentage of the company but in having relationships with other companies to do deals in specific areas. Hopefully big names like these handling things like distribution and backing production projects will mean the Hensons have the muscle to get some great programming out there again while still remaining in control and keeping the brand and characters "safe". I guess we'll see what happens - at least they are talking to people and people want to talk to them.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Once again, I hand it to Phil for making five long sentences look like five long sentences.

 

[Erine81981]

But, JHC needs to maintain the ownership and control at least in the higher percentage. We know Disney does create overkill lots of the time.

Maybe Viacom can get the older shows re-syndicated better??

Hope they can. I would love to see some syndicated muppet stuff shown. Just hope they can do it.

 

[Bean Bunny]

The plus side to having a partnership with Disney or Viacom, is that they could air their old shows on Viacom's TV Land, Nick, Spike TV, or Disney's Disney Channel, A&E, ABC Family, and Playhouse Disney. Both Disney and Viacom have theme parks to advertise. Disney and Viacom both have wide distrubtion for films. I think that if a pathership goes through Disney would co-fund a film with Henson, kind of like a Muppet Christmas Carol and Treasure Island.

 

[dwayne1115]

wow this is great news i am hoping they make a deal with disny for a few reasons. one they would more then likly but Dinosors and Muppets tonight on DVD but im kind of hoping that they dont do a show fr ABC i just dont really like ABC. Pluse i also think if they went to viacom things would go well for them to. But one thing i wonder is why not go to Warner Bros. Lisa Henson did a wonderfull job over there im sure they would give them a good deal. But i still love what sony has done for the muppets i think they have helped us out alot with gettting the muppets out there a little not much dont down them to much just think about it the next time you watch your favorit muppet movie or show on a DVD think about that. i also think that they might want to try MGM the compony has already been working with them and it has been sucsesful. AVMMC was good i enjoied seeing the Muppets back in the theater and i havent seen Good Boys but from what i have read it is doing wel money wise so why not use MGM who knows. This is great to hear some good newes frome JHC i knew things would start looking up for the muppets. But dont count your tadpools before they hach but i think things are going great.

 

[Gusworld]

The ongoing problem I've always perceived with pairing up with Disney (whether as an owner, co-financer, distribution partner or whatever) is that it really reinforces that misguided impression that the Muppets are purely a 'kiddie' property. This severely limits what Henson can do creatively with the characters.

Admittedly, this is a problem even without Disney involvement -- witness all the ridiculous complaints about how having Scooter cage-dancing in VMMC wasn't appropriate for a 'family' company like the Muppets. But Disney has spent so much time promoting itself as a family brand (and is so often targeted by conservatives when companies even peripherally associated with it are seen as going against that trend) that it does tend to further inflame the issue and feed the misconception.

This wouldn't be a problem with Viacom, of course, since they distribute all sorts of material across the board.

Nonetheless, any distribution partner is going to have to be an improvement on EM.TV, you'd think!

Cheers
Gus

 

[Luke]

im kind of hoping that they dont do a show fr ABC i just dont really like ABC.

They are doing stuff for ABC. That doesn't mean they can't do distribution or production deals with others though.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

The Muppets Wizard of Oz, directed by Kirk Thatcher, will be for ABC.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Once again, I hand it to Phil for making five long sentences look like five long sentences.

Just a correction: For making five long sentences look like five long paragraphs I mean.

Henson is a "family" company that makes a lot of "kiddie" stuff. With the classic Muppets, who aren't purely preschool characters, just DON'T put them on some Playhouse Disney show, assuming Disney were to get the deal (which somehow I don't expect). Maybe TMS reruns, but if they want to fill in their preschool entertainment block, do it with the non-Kermit/Piggy/Pepe gang.

Unless they want to do some spinoff show Gonzo has a son who's trying to be hip but still has some of his father's weird tendencies.

 

[Antrobus]

Hi,

I'm a Farscape lurker and drop by once in awhile to see what the news about JHC is over here. As many of you may (or may not) know it has been announced to the SaveFarscape campaign (from an unknown but reliable source within the show's ranks) that there is a 4 hour miniseries that will begin filming in Dec. in Sydney. Henson has not officially announced it yet, but its been in the news, so I'm not really leaking anything.

My question to Phil is if he thinks that the Henson's interest in working with Viacom is good news for Farscape. The SciFi Channel loses the rerun rights to Farscape in 2005 and the ownership of the 4 seasons reverts back to Henson.

We've (SaveFarscape.com) been led to believe that if the miniseries does well, that more seasons might be produced. However, we don't know who will be airing the mini. If a deal comes through with Viacom, will it end up on Spike TV or A&E? Any thoughts?