if Muppets Tonight had succedded...

[minor muppetz]

Yeah, and I don't remember Seymour either.

Seymour was the Elephant who appeared alongside Pepe on the show. They were a team: Seymour and Pepe. In the first season they were elevador operadors. in the secodn season they worked in the comissionary. Unfortunately, Seymour the Elephant hasn't been used in any Henson productions since Muppets Tonight!

 

[Harvey Towers]

Firstly, let's not just assume that Muppets Tonight was a failure as it only lasted for two sereis I think a lot came out of it: at the very least the characters of Johnny, Sal, Bobo, Pepe and the elevation of Clifford. Mr Poodlepants, Bill the Bubble Guy and Zippity Zap (best described as "green hip muppet") seem also to remain as fairly recodnisable background characters.

I'm not sure that the show would have survied the transistion of old to new muppet performers that we have seen in the last few years. The Muppets needed some off air time to cover for the departure of Frank and Jerry. Presumably, Frank's original characters would have been phased out in the same way that Jim's had been, perhaps to be replaced with still less recodnisable replacements. I supose it's possible Jerry and Dvae would have brought back some of their old TMS characters, but I have to doubt this.

Muppets Tonight wasn't perfect and I don't think that from it's start it was ever going to be. People on this forum have for a long time been crying out for the return of the original characters and that only happened though films like Muppets in Space and It's A Very Merry Muppet Chriatmas Movie.

Although many aren't keen on Pepe I think he has a more useful role now than he did on Muppets Tonight. And I've never found myself longing for the return of Seymour.

I've been fairly happy with what has happened since MT. We could sit and discuss what would have happened if the Muppet Show had kept going. Presumably we all think that is the definitive Muppet production. If it had gone on? Well, for a start Rizzo would never have become the main characters that has since...

So Muppets Tonight... Failure? Success? Mnay more of an experiment in what could ahve been done at the time but nevertheless stil worth the watching.

 

[minor muppetz]

Firstly, let's not just assume that Muppets Tonight was a failure as it only lasted for two sereis I think a lot came out of it: at the very least the characters of Johnny, Sal, Bobo, Pepe and the elevation of Clifford. Mr Poodlepants, Bill the Bubble Guy and Zippity Zap (best described as "green hip muppet") seem also to remain as fairly recodnisable background characters.

Maybe I should have titled this thread "If Muppets Tonight was more successful..." instead. I actually did think about titling it that way, but then i decided to give it the other title I thought of.

By "the elevation of Clifford", do you mean expanded role or popularity?

Also, I don't know what you mean by Bill the Bubble Guy remaining a fairly recognizable background character. I don't recall seeing him in any muppet productions made since muppets Tonight, if you are refferring to characters who have occassionally appeared in the background since muppets tonight (Mr. Poodlepants appeared in a scene cut from Muppets From Space, and had a cameo in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, while Zippety zap has appeared in the background in the last few movies). Did any of these three characters appear at the live muppet show at Muppetfest?

Or, if by "fairy recognizable" you mean still popular to casual fans, I don't think any of those three are well known to people outside this forum and the jim henson company who know about the muppets. Besides, I know that a lot of fans dislike Mr. Poodlepants and Bill the Bubble Guy (I really like Bill, though). I have a feeling that those two would have faded into the background, and hopefully with them gone Steve Whitmire would have been able to spend more time performing Bean Bunny (and maybe also Lips, although it would be weird for him to appear without the rest of the band there) and Dave Goelz would have had more time to perform Beauregard, Digit and Zoot (out of those three, Digit is the only one who never appeared on Muppets Tonight). If andy and randy pig stopped appearing, then that would have added even more screen time (although I think Andy and Randy would have been less likely to have stopped appearing).

 

[DerekJ]

So Muppets Tonight... Failure? Success? Mnay more of an experiment in what could ahve been done at the time but nevertheless stil worth the watching.

How about "The Kermit equivalent of all those other Bob Newhart sitcoms CBS tried to make without the same writers"?

(And that's being polite, ie. as opposed to "90 Weasel-era Disney using their latest purchase to make a land grab for more NBC territory without understanding what they'd bought, like that lame Carol Burnett show they tried bringing back, too...")

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm not sure that the show would have survied the transistion of old to new muppet performers that we have seen in the last few years. The Muppets needed some off air time to cover for the departure of Frank and Jerry. Presumably, Frank's original characters would have been phased out in the same way that Jim's had been, perhaps to be replaced with still less recodnisable replacements. I supose it's possible Jerry and Dvae would have brought back some of their old TMS characters, but I have to doubt this.

yeah, I wonder if more of Jim Henson or Richard Hunts characters would have been given new performers if this show continued. I am not sure if their characters were brought back with new performers because this show was cancled (and possibly if the jim henson comnpany believed that the lack of classic characters caused the shows cancelation) or if there was another reason. On Muppets Tonight, the only character to get a new performer was Rowlf (although Mulch also got a new performer; on the muppet show he was performed by Jerry nelson, and on Muppets Tonight he was performed by kevin Clash).

 

[Camellia]

Failure of Muppets Tonight in "the Ratings"

hi, My opinion: the show was fabulous!

why did it fail in the ratings?

"commoners" would rather watch stupid sex and violence and sit-coms and gossip and reality shows

oh well, we can hope GOOD TV will be back some day.

along with common decent values of peace, love, faith and respect

Cheers,
Camellia