Jim Hill: Muppets Officially Back

[beaker]

We seem to be in the right place now though!

Hey that's what counts. Didn't we all agree that 2010 would be the official comeback/glorious reniassiance of the Muppets we've been waiting eons for?

 

[Drtooth]

Yes i agree with that, the viral videos are fantastic and a great indication that all is going very well. I don't think the comics or Tonner Dolls etc have a big bearing on things, thats just fan fluff - its really the mass media stuff that counts.

I agree about merchandise and all being fluff, but I think you're underestimating how comics fit into things... and I don't just mean the Muppet show comics... I mean the industry itself. Seems that any "comeback" or "Relaunch" starts off with either a comic, a video game, or in cases both (like Ghostbusters).

I think that all figures into this whole fakey "geek chic" bit where people are pretending to care about comics and video games, and some of them seem like the same people who shoved the kids who really cared about comics and video games into lockers in high school... I could put up a whole rant about how fake good looking nerds are ruining things for us George Costanza looking nerds, but I won't.

TV has been a tricky medium lately...The only way the Muppets could get into TV in this market is if they sneak in to the White House, create a major news hoax, or have Kermit become a corrupt politician that beat the rap and dance his way into our hearts (you KNOW who I'm talking about). Seems like the comics are acting like a surrogate TV show, as the Ghostbusters game acts like a surrogate third movie.

All I'm saying is that the Muppets need a big huge epic good video game as well. And, well, that really isn't their strong area.

 

[dwmckim]

Cosign. As maligned as they sometimes are, the "comic shop" crowd are one of the best thermometers of what's hot - if you have some kind of product (doesn't have to be a comic book, but any other kind of product that would be sold in a good comic shop like action figures etc), that can be sold in a comic shop - and especially if it does well - that's an excellent sign that the property will do well within general pop culture.

Here, the Muppets have done well - there were the pre-Disney-sale action figure and bust lines. Some of the more upscale shops will sell replica products (like the posers - none around me, but then i can't afford such things at this time in my life no matter how much i may want them), and the recent Boom! comics have totally helped the Muppet revival in more ways than one...

- the fact they exist is one thing in itself, but also having multiple titles.

- being high quality - the writing is top-notch and even in some ways better than stuff from the "real" Muppet writers. Even though the storybook titles have been a bit more mixed, these are much better than the film adaptations of stories and i wish the films could be more like these when they do them.

- the phenomal sales - record breaking! Nuff said. Second - even third prints! Selling out in one day!

- consistency - in months when there's not as much output from the actual Muppets, those reading the comics get a Muppet fix every month - usually twice a month due to the various titles

- Muppety goodness - by being very in tune with the fans and written by people who love the brand rather than just someone doing an assignment, these comics are full of stuff and characters the fans adore - and they're responding. In fact i would go so far as to say it's because the comics have been able to feature so much of the more obscure characters, some of which having been MIA for so long is a major factor in why we're able to see some long absent Muppets pop up in Bohemian Rhapsody! (Lips' recent resurfacing benefits from the practice as well even though he's actally been pretty absent from the comics so far)

 

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

I was trying to find the best way to ask this or find this out and here seems like a good place. I was reading something about a possibly new TV series with the Muppets which would be rather like the other ones theyve done in the past with maybe more of a feel like "The Office" has his blog said or have you heard anything about that by any chance?

 

[dwmckim]

Nothing's on the table right now (or at least if there is, no one's leaked the news)

There's a few things you may have heard. There had been several attempts over the last decade to do another primetime Muppet show. There was talk of a show for Fox around the beginning of the decade (before Disney bought them), after the Disney sale, they had written scripts for a possible short term reality show spoof, "America's Next Muppet" but that never went anywhere. The last credible news was around the beginning of 2008 when the Muppets shot a presentation pitch for a tv show. Again, nothing came out of that (plus this was before the infamous writers strike that put everything on hold), but we DID get the news that the Muppets would do tv specials (they were originally going to do an election themed special but it was decided that it would be too dated to later be used for re-airings or dvd releases so they went with Letters to Santa instead - plus the two Studio DC specials for the Disney Channel) and the biggest Muppet news for awhile was the announcement that Jason Segel and Nick Stoller were working on a Muppet movie script to be a huge relaunch effort.

The movie script got a lot of buzz and milage in the press. Jason Segel even talked about it on one of the Jimmy's talk shows (with Statler and Waldorf even showing up to heckle his interview). At one point, one reporter wrote that if the planned new movie went well, that would open the door for another primetime show. Even though he was speaking speculatively, the news media being in the sad state it's in picked up on this article, misinterpreted it and all of a sudden there was a bunch of "New Muppet television show" on the way articles popping up in blogs and entertainment reporters. So you may be thinking of one of those articles, but they were all shoddy reporting based on a rumor caused by one reporter's comment based solely on conjecture and not fact.

...of course since then, we've got the official confirmation of a new Muppet movie from Disney at D23 a few months back (though not the same script that Segel/Stoller were writing). Disney is doing a lot with the Muppets and the Muppets have Disney's full promotional/financial backing now but no news has come out yet about a tv show.

Behind the scenes of course, Disney is no doubt laying out long-term plans for the Muppet franchise and i wouldn't be at all surprised if one thing being worked on behind closed doors was a return to television. But though fans have lots of encouraging reasons to speculate, no credible news has come out about one being worked on. All signs indicate the movie is the next big project being focused on.

 

[beaker]

I was trying to find the best way to ask this or find this out and here seems like a good place. I was reading something about a possibly new TV series with the Muppets which would be rather like the other ones theyve done in the past with maybe more of a feel like "The Office" has his blog said or have you heard anything about that by any chance?

As a *huge* fan of both the Muppets and Office, that would be cool to see. I'm hoping Sesame Street spoofs the Office someday. Also, the Office has made a LOT of Muppet and Sesame references over the last 5 seasons.

I do know they did a mini series done in a mockumentary style a few years back if that's what you mean.

 

[Luke]

I was trying to find the best way to ask this or find this out and here seems like a good place. I was reading something about a possibly new TV series with the Muppets which would be rather like the other ones theyve done in the past with maybe more of a feel like "The Office" has his blog said or have you heard anything about that by any chance?

As DW said, that was the pilot they filmed that didnt make it to TV, i think it may have even been more of a test project. There are lots of pilots for things that have been made, some where news has made it out to fans and some where it hasn't. I think its false to say nothings on the table - there is always something on the table and obviously they aren't going to have a movie in Theaters and not have a TV show ready to capitalise and follow up. It's just we don't have a press release about it, lol. It's true some may not see much likelihood of the Muppets making it back to full time TV right now but everythings in motion and going great, they are all over the TV and doing projects. The signs are that the public are accepting them back in a big way - i think the viral videos actually helped that happen the most and it shows how connected to social networking everyone is now. I can appreciate there are people here who like the comics and they are great, but i think Disney are more interested in getting to the mainstream public more than anything, sure there little things for the "trendy retro crowd" and "hardcore fans" which are fantastic and good that they aren't just doing loads of Studio DC style stuff for kids and leaving us out but i think Disney realised its more of a whole family brand and best to make stuff that suits the entire audience than do little side projects targetting sections of the public. Which is as it should be, and how the Muppets always were!