Muppets/L.A. Times article

[RobintheBrave]

One thing to keep in mind--not everything done by the Hensons since Jim's death has been bad. I know a lot of people who have seen very little of The Muppet Show, but love MCC and MTT. In fact, you would be surprised how many people I've met who consider MCC a special holiday tradition. So I still believe the Muppets are capable of doing great things today.

What is it going to take to make it happen? If I knew, I'd be applying to the Muppet Holding Company right now.

Robin the Brave

 

[Gorgon Heap]

I have come to love MCC and it has become a Christmas tradition for me. But that was a Jerry Juhl script, mind you, and Jerry is no longer with us. Since MCC, I think every project has gotten progressively worse. MTI wasn't quite as good as MCC IMO, and MFS was nothing to write home about. MT! was badly executed. AVMMCM aimed at the old glory and in some places got it right, but it still had major flaws. And KSY was abysmal, the worst Henson project I've ever seen and lacking the traditional balance of Muppet humor, instead playing to the lowest common denominator across the board, wimping out in places, and overblowing everything else, from the awful human acting to the in-your-face direction and script.

The Muppets need help, badly, but I don't know if Disney is the one to give it to them. We'll probably have an indication when we see how they handle Pixar, whether the quality of their product slips under direct management from Disney.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[TheJimHensonHour]

I've said it before and I will say it again and will agree with Frank Oz for once the muppets back then had been really funny infact allot more funny then they are today thats more than a fact...but you know they either need to try and find people who are as funny if not more so then jim, frank, and the rest..
I also think a big factor is most of the new people are from America and do not have that strange goofy British background we also need some witty british writters to work with the muppets....
either that or they need to get with the times now with that I don'y mean having Kermit and gang act like jerks and swear and such but have them come incontact with todays world update the muppet show...no I don't mean like muppets tonight but yes more infact like the jim henson hour(muppet central) which was way before it's time I think anyway.
Disney has the money to do this so why don't they I think they need a real fan to write new material for the muppets. Some one who really believes in the works of Jim Henson and his visions and dreams and being a true believer.
Not to toot my own horn but the muppets have been by my side since my first thoughts came to be I sure would love to work with the muppets.

 

[TheJimHensonHour]

If I knew, I'd be applying to the Muppet Holding Company right now.

Robin the Brave

if I knew how I would! lol

 

[beaker]

The great hope for a Muppet revival goes far back online as far as even when MC started. I remember in the fall of 1998 we thought 1999 would be the big Muppet comeback. Then march 2000 hit with the EMTV deal and we were all crushed. 2002 seemed promising with hopes of a prime time Fox show, lots of merch, and stuff on the horizon...then 2003 Henson got the rights back, bu tby Feb 2004 we've been in a stuck holding pattern.

If any good came out of all this, it's that JHC is able to focus in on and bring about stuff that would have not to long ago been pure dreaming(Dark Crystal 2, Fraggle Rock the movie, etc)

I want to stay positive about Muppet developments, but as fans hopefully we'll be tossed a few nuggets of faith this year. The Muppets can be just as edgy and irreverent in their own way, as well as hip and timely. It just has to do with the writing. Oh and folks, the second th emain Muppets start being performed on tv and shows/features/etc by their non signature performers...well, then we know the worst has come. So yeah, there's still hope perhaps. The Muppets will be around for more millennias, it's just will they toil and linger in obscurity for some time to come?

 

[MGov]

Oh and folks, the second th emain Muppets start being performed on tv and shows/features/etc by their non signature performers...

The characters are already performed by their "non-signature" performers.

 

[spcglider]

Well, I can tell you this:

As a Disney shareholder I get a corporate report every so often and the most recent one has NO mention of ANY Muppet projects whatsoever.

That's bad.

If Disney was serious about pushing the Muppets, they'd be gushing to their shareholders about how the Muppets are poised to take the world by storm and generate bazillions of dollars.

But they aren't.

They are too busy settling in with their new bedpartner PIXAR and the Muppets are getting sent to the card-table in the corner instead of being invited to the main table with the adults.

Meanwhile, a serious but impotent group of suits continues the attempt at quantifying the Muppets so they can slot them into a comercial money-making formula.

You might as well try to cage the wind.

That's what I'm seeing.

-Gordon

 

[mrsieve]

What I can't understand is that Disney is missing out on the chance to introduce the Muppets to a new generation.

 

[wes]

What I can't understand is that Disney is missing out on the chance to introduce the Muppets to a new generation.

Yeah but Disney also knows that the Muppets are not as great as they once was (do to Jim's death) and they know they are taking a chance if they try to revamp the Muppet.

Not to mention that this generation is different then our Generation. If Disney brings them back to the lime light, they will haveto be revamp to fit the current Generation. Not that I wouldn't like to see a New muppet show based on the old Heck yea, but I don't se that happening.

I think they should invest in new preformer in the muppet style like they did with Bill Barretta his charater are awesome!

 

[Miladyelfn]

"Kermit, Fozzie, Piggy, and most of the others have become so juvinille it's almost embarrassing to watch them."

Thank you for telling it like it is! And if updating the Muppets for a new generation means turning them into crappy corporate cash cows (how's that for alliteration!) like the stupid Pizza Hut ads, then maybe we should be happy Disney isn't doing much with them. I don't want a Miss Piggy who looks and acts like Jessica Simpson! GRRR! and I know lots of kids who like the classic muppets-why do we have to always skew things toward the lowest common denominator! Take the higher road!