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This article I found today at http://www.dailytexanonline.com/med...rtainment/A.Sad.Day.For.Muppets-1009321.shtml is rather disturbing...
A sad day for muppets
New Disney head axes old Muppet hand
By Daniel Carter
Michael Eisner, former Disney CEO, has been criticized for many things - for micro managing, for losing Pixar, for turning the Disney franchise into a money-making corporation lacking soul. But he does love the Muppets.
"I've always been convinced that there are three real characters that have enduring entertainment value, that are evergreens: Mickey, Winnie and Kermit," Eisner told The Associated Press.
And after Disney acquired their rights, Kermit and his gang seemed ready to break their long silence and make a revival with the help of their enthusiastic new boss. The Muppet Holding Company, run by Eisner's handpicked team and headed by Chris Curtin, had big plans.
The comeback started last June in Paris, where Miss Piggy lounged in the front window of Colette wearing a peacock-feather dress by Prada. Kermit had plans to visit Paris too and set up a kissing booth at the foot of the Eiffel Tower as part of his 50th anniversary world tour, scheduled to begin on Oct. 14 and making stops in Kermit, Texas, the Great Wall of China, the Statue of Liberty, a frog-leg festival and 45 other landmarks. A Muppet reality show was planned, as was a Christmas special. The Muppet Holding Company even auditioned new puppeteers. The cogs in the factory were turning once again, and the doors were about to open to lucky children and adults around the world. There were even whispers of bringing the characters back to the big screen and possibly reviving the prime time Muppet show that ended in 1981.
But Michael Eisner is no longer Disney's CEO. Robert Iger is, and on Sept. 27, in his first major act in his new role, he fired Curtin and all but three senior staff members at the Muppet Holding Company.
A long engagement
In 1967 ABC hired the 24-year-old Eisner to work in its children's programming department. During his employment at ABC, ending in 1976 when he went to work as president of Paramount, Eisner rose to senior vice president of prime time production and development.
And he wanted the Muppets to air on ABC.
But the network's idea of a children's show was not Henson's, who aimed his slapstick, bordering on absurd, humor at a audience broader than just children, and he took the show to the United Kingdom where it was produced by Lew Grade. It was then syndicated and ran from 1976 to 1981. Henson eventually retired the show but went on to make movies - some starring Muppets, others starring David Bowie - and to work on children's programs such as "Sesame Street," "Muppet Babies" and "Fraggle Rock."
Eisner, who took over as Disney CEO in 1984, continued to pursue the rights to the Muppets, and in 1990 Henson agreed to turn his characters, neither dead nor forgotten but certainly out of the spotlight at the moment, over to Disney.
But on May 16, 1990, the day that the deal was to be signed, Jim Henson died of bacterial pneumonia. Kermit sang "It's Not Easy Being Green" at the funeral, and the University of Maryland built a statue of the man and his frog friend. Eisner and Disney would remain Muppet-less for another 14 years.
During these years the Jim Henson Company continued to produce Muppet ventures, such as "Muppets Tonight," a revival of the Muppet show format that lasted only two years, "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Muppet Treasure Island." But in 2004, the Henson children decided that their father's characters needed bigger backing to pull out of their B-grade slump and sold the rights to Eisner and Disney for $75 million.
Already on his way out, Eisner said of the acquisition: "The irony is I've been trying to get this for 40 years. I'll still be rooting for them from the outside."
A future for the Muppets?
The senior staff of the Muppet Holding Company has not yet been replaced, and there's been no word out of Disney as to the status of all those Muppet projects - the Christmas special, the reality show spoof or that hinted-at feature film.
Eisner worked with people he trusted: his friends, his personal architect and the principal of his children's elementary school. And those he didn't trust soon found the door; Michael Ovitz was booted out of the Disney family after only 14 months as president with only a $140 million platinum parachute to break his fall.
Curtin was one of Eisner's favored ones; the whole Muppet Holding Company crew was, really. Axing the lot can easily be read as a statement by Iger - Eisner's out, and it's a new day for the mouse. That view doesn't really say much for the open arms that Disney could be holding out to its new characters, the ones that Eisner was so excited about, but it does seem most likely.
The alternative is that Iger wasn't pleased with Curtin's leadership. But that doesn't really fit with Disney's plan for the Muppets.
"Patience is the key here," Andy Mooney, chairman of Disney's consumer-products division, told The Associated Press. "We don't want to create a flash in the pan."
So why would Iger fire Curtin before those slow first moves were played out? Surely the Christmas special isn't already doomed.
It seems the Muppets got hit by a stray cannonball in a bout of political infighting, and Iger's statement as to who the big mouse is will likely knock the Muppet Holding Company off its feet, at least for a while.
Muppets' head writer dies
So, did you hear the one about Jerry Juhl? No? Well, it's too late now, because he's dead!
WOKKA WOKKA WOKKA!
Jerry Juhl was a puppeteer before they decided to put a frill around Kermit's neck to make him look more like a frog. Juhl, the writing genius behind every Fozzie joke, was the second Henson hire. Working on the early "Sam and Friends" with Jim and his wife, Jane, Juhl stayed with the Muppets after Henson's death and through all the off-and-on television shows. He died of cancer on Sept. 26 at the age of 69.
The case could easily be made that "The Muppet Show" wouldn't have happened without Juhl. In many ways Henson was just the taskmaster, the man with the idea to put these little felt bodies onto a television screen and throw them around. But it was Juhl who wrote the shows that sometimes hit - "The Frog Prince" - and sometimes missed - "Hey, Cinderella!" - and those shows that proved Henson's ideas could work.
And of course without "The Muppet Show," there's no "Fraggle Rock," no movies and no talk about a Disney revival of the characters.
But a better question might be whether, without Juhl, Gonzo would have fallen in love with Camilla the Chicken. In the first season - despite the inherent gumption of eating a tire while Flight of the Bumblebee played - Gonzo was a fairly drowsy character. And then he became a loveable spazoid, flew out of cannons, fell out of love with Miss Piggy and into a relationship with a chicken, and - here's Juhl's real mark on the characters: not punch lines but depth, desires, and a reason for the audience to latch onto and stay tuned in for decades - underwent an identity crisis.
In "The Great Muppet Caper," Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo are shipped to England. Fozzie's crate reads, "Bear," Kermit's reads, "Frog," but Gonzo's crate just says, "Whatever." John Cleese, in Episode 47, calls him an "ugly, disgusting little blue creature who catches cannonballs."
In "The Muppet Movie," Gonzo wonders if he could be from space. "We're flyin', not walkin', on featherless wings. We can hold onto love like invisible strings," he sings, sitting around a campfire with Rowlf playing harmonica and Fozzie strumming a ukulele. Twenty years later, in "Muppets from Space," his bowl of cereal confirmed his theory - later verified again by cosmic fish - and Muppet fans had the answer to a great running joke that wasn't really even a joke but 20 years of Juhl's character development and loving treatment of a pile of blue felt.
A sad day for muppets
New Disney head axes old Muppet hand
By Daniel Carter
Michael Eisner, former Disney CEO, has been criticized for many things - for micro managing, for losing Pixar, for turning the Disney franchise into a money-making corporation lacking soul. But he does love the Muppets.
"I've always been convinced that there are three real characters that have enduring entertainment value, that are evergreens: Mickey, Winnie and Kermit," Eisner told The Associated Press.
And after Disney acquired their rights, Kermit and his gang seemed ready to break their long silence and make a revival with the help of their enthusiastic new boss. The Muppet Holding Company, run by Eisner's handpicked team and headed by Chris Curtin, had big plans.
The comeback started last June in Paris, where Miss Piggy lounged in the front window of Colette wearing a peacock-feather dress by Prada. Kermit had plans to visit Paris too and set up a kissing booth at the foot of the Eiffel Tower as part of his 50th anniversary world tour, scheduled to begin on Oct. 14 and making stops in Kermit, Texas, the Great Wall of China, the Statue of Liberty, a frog-leg festival and 45 other landmarks. A Muppet reality show was planned, as was a Christmas special. The Muppet Holding Company even auditioned new puppeteers. The cogs in the factory were turning once again, and the doors were about to open to lucky children and adults around the world. There were even whispers of bringing the characters back to the big screen and possibly reviving the prime time Muppet show that ended in 1981.
But Michael Eisner is no longer Disney's CEO. Robert Iger is, and on Sept. 27, in his first major act in his new role, he fired Curtin and all but three senior staff members at the Muppet Holding Company.
A long engagement
In 1967 ABC hired the 24-year-old Eisner to work in its children's programming department. During his employment at ABC, ending in 1976 when he went to work as president of Paramount, Eisner rose to senior vice president of prime time production and development.
And he wanted the Muppets to air on ABC.
But the network's idea of a children's show was not Henson's, who aimed his slapstick, bordering on absurd, humor at a audience broader than just children, and he took the show to the United Kingdom where it was produced by Lew Grade. It was then syndicated and ran from 1976 to 1981. Henson eventually retired the show but went on to make movies - some starring Muppets, others starring David Bowie - and to work on children's programs such as "Sesame Street," "Muppet Babies" and "Fraggle Rock."
Eisner, who took over as Disney CEO in 1984, continued to pursue the rights to the Muppets, and in 1990 Henson agreed to turn his characters, neither dead nor forgotten but certainly out of the spotlight at the moment, over to Disney.
But on May 16, 1990, the day that the deal was to be signed, Jim Henson died of bacterial pneumonia. Kermit sang "It's Not Easy Being Green" at the funeral, and the University of Maryland built a statue of the man and his frog friend. Eisner and Disney would remain Muppet-less for another 14 years.
During these years the Jim Henson Company continued to produce Muppet ventures, such as "Muppets Tonight," a revival of the Muppet show format that lasted only two years, "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Muppet Treasure Island." But in 2004, the Henson children decided that their father's characters needed bigger backing to pull out of their B-grade slump and sold the rights to Eisner and Disney for $75 million.
Already on his way out, Eisner said of the acquisition: "The irony is I've been trying to get this for 40 years. I'll still be rooting for them from the outside."
A future for the Muppets?
The senior staff of the Muppet Holding Company has not yet been replaced, and there's been no word out of Disney as to the status of all those Muppet projects - the Christmas special, the reality show spoof or that hinted-at feature film.
Eisner worked with people he trusted: his friends, his personal architect and the principal of his children's elementary school. And those he didn't trust soon found the door; Michael Ovitz was booted out of the Disney family after only 14 months as president with only a $140 million platinum parachute to break his fall.
Curtin was one of Eisner's favored ones; the whole Muppet Holding Company crew was, really. Axing the lot can easily be read as a statement by Iger - Eisner's out, and it's a new day for the mouse. That view doesn't really say much for the open arms that Disney could be holding out to its new characters, the ones that Eisner was so excited about, but it does seem most likely.
The alternative is that Iger wasn't pleased with Curtin's leadership. But that doesn't really fit with Disney's plan for the Muppets.
"Patience is the key here," Andy Mooney, chairman of Disney's consumer-products division, told The Associated Press. "We don't want to create a flash in the pan."
So why would Iger fire Curtin before those slow first moves were played out? Surely the Christmas special isn't already doomed.
It seems the Muppets got hit by a stray cannonball in a bout of political infighting, and Iger's statement as to who the big mouse is will likely knock the Muppet Holding Company off its feet, at least for a while.
Muppets' head writer dies
So, did you hear the one about Jerry Juhl? No? Well, it's too late now, because he's dead!
WOKKA WOKKA WOKKA!
Jerry Juhl was a puppeteer before they decided to put a frill around Kermit's neck to make him look more like a frog. Juhl, the writing genius behind every Fozzie joke, was the second Henson hire. Working on the early "Sam and Friends" with Jim and his wife, Jane, Juhl stayed with the Muppets after Henson's death and through all the off-and-on television shows. He died of cancer on Sept. 26 at the age of 69.
The case could easily be made that "The Muppet Show" wouldn't have happened without Juhl. In many ways Henson was just the taskmaster, the man with the idea to put these little felt bodies onto a television screen and throw them around. But it was Juhl who wrote the shows that sometimes hit - "The Frog Prince" - and sometimes missed - "Hey, Cinderella!" - and those shows that proved Henson's ideas could work.
And of course without "The Muppet Show," there's no "Fraggle Rock," no movies and no talk about a Disney revival of the characters.
But a better question might be whether, without Juhl, Gonzo would have fallen in love with Camilla the Chicken. In the first season - despite the inherent gumption of eating a tire while Flight of the Bumblebee played - Gonzo was a fairly drowsy character. And then he became a loveable spazoid, flew out of cannons, fell out of love with Miss Piggy and into a relationship with a chicken, and - here's Juhl's real mark on the characters: not punch lines but depth, desires, and a reason for the audience to latch onto and stay tuned in for decades - underwent an identity crisis.
In "The Great Muppet Caper," Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo are shipped to England. Fozzie's crate reads, "Bear," Kermit's reads, "Frog," but Gonzo's crate just says, "Whatever." John Cleese, in Episode 47, calls him an "ugly, disgusting little blue creature who catches cannonballs."
In "The Muppet Movie," Gonzo wonders if he could be from space. "We're flyin', not walkin', on featherless wings. We can hold onto love like invisible strings," he sings, sitting around a campfire with Rowlf playing harmonica and Fozzie strumming a ukulele. Twenty years later, in "Muppets from Space," his bowl of cereal confirmed his theory - later verified again by cosmic fish - and Muppet fans had the answer to a great running joke that wasn't really even a joke but 20 years of Juhl's character development and loving treatment of a pile of blue felt.
