Muppet Time

[scarecroe]

Has anyone thought of putting together a guide for the series of "Muppet Time" shorts that were done for Nick in the mid-90's?

According to the timeline, ten of them started airing in 1994 and then 30 more went into production the next year.

What kinds of jokes did they use? How long were they? Did they use classic characters? How many new characters were there? Who wrote them?

 

[Salmoto]

All I remember from this series was that Robin would introduce each segment with "It's Muppet Time!" I probably only saw 3 of the segments. ne was with silent monster-like characters, the other two were with the two little pigs. The two little pigs were preschool age ougs that looked exactly the same as Andy and Randy did in Muppets tonight. Only they were given little kid voices courtesy of Kevin Clash and Joey Mazzarino. They'd do cute things like talk to eachother after dark from their bunkbeds and playing games with theri imagination.

 

[WiGgY]

I think I remeber the Kokomo video and the Whipe Out video being two segments. I'm not sure. Seems so hazy.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

The Muppet Time segments were written by Jim Lewis and Craig Shemin.

secret squirrel

 

[scarecroe]

Originally posted by Secret Squirrel
The Muppet Time segments were written by Jim Lewis and Craig Shemin.

I figured they two must have been involved and wondered about Kirk Thatcher too. I think I like Craig Shemin's stuff, but I don't know if I've been exposed to enough of it. I know he's done a lot of stuff for print over the years and wrote some stuff for the Muppets Inside CD-ROM. He was a great MC on the second day of MuppetFest, even after Kirk's stint the first day. Whatever happened to Craig's website?... something about monkeys.

Gee whiz, I sure wish there were more Muppety things on TV today. It drives me nuts to know that things liek The Muppet Show and Muppet Time were on just a few short years ago. And now, nothin'

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Additional to his CD-ROM work, Craig Shemin wrote for "The Wubbulous World Of Dr Seuss," "Jim Henson's Dog City," "Donna's Day," and was instrumental in "Telling Tales With Tomie DePaola," which was axed before it reached its potential.

He co-wrote "The Muppet Show Live" with Jim Lewis, and during his time as a staff writer contributed to countless Muppet TV appearances and print interviews.

Also, Craig puppeteered Waldorf in the final production number in "The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson." His Movie Monkey website has ceased operation.

secret squirrel

 

[scarecroe]

Hey, that's a great trivia bit about him performing Waldorf... who'd've known? Props to his work over the years, especially "The Muppet Show Live" which was just magical. Now *there's* a video I'd love to see Henson release... along with a documentary on MuppetFest including video clips from the discussion panels.

 

[beaker]

Dang, Craig Sherman wrote some of the material on Muppets CD-ROM? That's some of the best Muppet material in the last decade!

And I would have to agree...it is sad at the lack of Muppet programming stateside. Internationally you have Hoobs, Mopatop, International Sesame, Bambaloo, etc. Here...well at least Sesame is still on.

I remember when I first got cable Nick Jr. devoted a whole block of programming to the Muppets each day. There was Muppet Time shorts with Andy and Randy, Robin, the bears(the MTM cave/Bobo looking ones), Muppet Babies, and The Muppet Show. Man, what happened? *me, who is glad I dont have cable anymore*

Also, why cant they put back Fraggle Rock on cable? Its been years since Hallmark, Disney, and TNT had em on.

 

[pezbalubah]

Did Muppet Time take place after they stopped using the name Muppet Matinee? I remember when they ran out of Henson specials for Muppet Matinee, they started airing Muppet Babies and the Muppet show together as part of Muppet Matinee. The only shorts I remember seeing were the music videos as well, but I don't think those were new at the time.