Muppets.com Disney XD only for US?

[Luke]

..... and lets not forget, its us brits who co-made the show. If it wasn't for the UK there would be NO Muppets as we know them now as they wouldn't have got a show.

*waves union jack flag and runs off*

 

[MrsPepper]

..... and lets not forget, its us brits who co-made the show. If it wasn't for the UK there would be NO Muppets as we know them now as they wouldn't have got a show.

*waves union jack flag and runs off*

Yeah, there are lots of things that Americans forget.

I don't understand why it's not international; personally I think there's a better audience for the muppets in every OTHER country than the US, and it would be better to start elsewhere than use americans as the test audience. But it's not up to me.

 

[Luke]

I don't understand why it's not international; personally I think there's a better audience for the muppets in every OTHER country than the US, and it would be better to start elsewhere than use americans as the test audience. But it's not up to me.

I agree with that. The fanbase for Muppets is still a lot more established in Europe than it is nowdays in the USA, and the style of TV in Europe (while we do take a lot of US imports) would still probably be marginally easier to fit a Muppet series into the schedules than in America. TV has changed so much there and i think anything they put onto TV will probably get some harsh criticism just because its a puppet show and from way back. Disney are doing a good job trying to have people see them as "cool" again though so with a bit of luck they'll pull it off. Maybe the Muppets would have more chance if they hit on a succesful show in the UK and then exported it over ... like with The Office.

From what i had heard there were plans for the Disney XD Muppets site to be available to the UK, not sure what happened.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Yeah but on the other hand Euro Disney was not a big success when it first opened.

You got me there.

 

[BarbarianJ]

I think there's really still a big audience for the Muppets at both sides of the Atlantic. I may be mistaking but I don't think Henson targeted Americans or Europeans specifically with his puppet show. As far as I have come to know and understand the man (of course not in person -unfortunately- but from what I read about him) he was an artist first, who was given the opportunity to work out his dreams. That resulted in so much enthousiasm, care, love and dedication that it couldn't do anything else but appeal to people everywhere. Nationality simply wasn't part of that equation or only in a tiny way (there's still Sam ... ).

In the meantime ... as with so many other things ... a large enterprise -Disney in this case- has acquired the legal rights to what were once factories of plain imagination. The first purpose of those big firms is to make a profit. And I find it quite sickening at times, but they are feeding very hard on fans' nostalgia to do so. Most of the Muppets fans are about my age (or even a bit older) and we are just dying with nostalgia for the days of our carefree childhood. But instead of allowing the good days to continue with more imagination and creativity, the big men up there just see dollars (and euros) to be made. In environments like that, creativity withers and dies ever so quickly.

And I think that's what we are seeing. Disney isn't that small family company of enthousiasts anymore. It's a big mogul firm that still happens to carry the name of something out of the past. The Muppets were just caught in the maelstrom because they could be used to squeeze money from nostalgic fans. And so you end up with stupid "business" decisions like Disney XD being accessible only to the US because some big shot has decided that is were the money is for that application. No less, no more ...

Sometimes I'm just sitting here and thinking it's time again for a new Jim Henson, a new George Lucas, a new Walt Disney, a new Steven Spielberg ... if only to allow the creativity to survive.

Okay ... I think it's time for my pills now ...