Muppets Tonight what went wrong?

[GonzoLeaper]

I don't know what went wrong for Muppets Tonight! necessarily. I agree that it had a large expectation to live up to ("The Muppet Show") and that made it hard. And it certainly tried to be an updated version of that show. For my part, I love The Muppet Show and Muppets Tonight! I thought they were both great. (And The Jim Henson Hour and Little Muppet Monsters and Muppet Babies and Fraggle Rock (puppet and cartoon series) and Sesame Street are all great too, for that matter.) Basically, there really isn't any Muppet production that I've flat out disliked altogether.
I generally like most of the new additions to the cast in Muppets Tonight! Yes, I would have liked to have seen more of the classic characters, but we did get to see that Gonzo and Rizzo pairing that was so big in the '90s- and I do love that. And Kermit still appeared pretty regularly. And Piggy and Fozzie still made appearances, along with Animal and definitely Statler and Waldorf. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker still had some great appearances on the show too. A number of others were more just in the background though. But new characters like Seymour and Pepe, Johnny Fiama and Sal and Bobo the Bear were great. Clifford was funny too- I like his character on the show. And Bill the Bubble Guy and Big Mean Carl and Nigel the Director and Andy and Randy Pig were great too. Mr. Poodlepants was just plain weird- but that's perfect for the Muppets! I've seen the whole series and I love it- it's all good as far as I'm concerned.
I'd love to see Muppets Tonight! out on DVD soon- right after Season 4 and Season 5 of The Muppet Show get released. (And then I'd love to see all of The Jim Henson Hour get released to DVD- and Muppet Babies.)

 

[Drtooth]

There is something to the comment that it was trying too hard to be the original show. That's partly right. I'd say the true problem was it trying to be the original show in the wrong aspects, and it was trying to be its own thing on varying levels of success. They wanted to modernize the series, but still try to keep the variety aspect. And that aspect, while true to the Muppet Show just felt awkward in the 90's, made even more awkward with the strange combination of a late night talk show and a sketch comedy show. The further the show deviated from that format, the better it got.

Any future Muppet program could take a cue from what really worked, those behind the behind the scenes character development moments. Worked beautifully there and the Muppet Show Comic Books. No reason it wouldn't work on a weekly series.

 

[Muppet Master]

Honestly I'll be glad if Disney releases all 22 episodes as "The Muppet Show Season 6" if that's the only way. I bet, though many people have never heard of MT.

 

[rexcrk]

I've been watching this on YouTube for the past couple days now, I've gone through the first eight episodes so far, and I'm actually *really* enjoying it. Might partially be because I *am* a '90s kid lol and I feel like I can relate to it more. I like how it has more to do with the off-stage goings-on than just skit after skit.

I think they did a really good job of utilizing great new characters, but throwing in our old favorites once in a while. I like how there's not a lot of Miss Piggy lol (really not a fan of hers... sacrilegious, I know), and I love Sam the Eagle's segments whenever he's on. And I love how Kermit still announces the guest star at the beginning of each show.

The guest stars always look like they're having a lot fun too I've noticed... not that I can blame them. Who wouldn't have fun with the Muppets?

I dunno, I'm giving them a bit of the benefit of the doubt though. The '90s must've been such a hectic time, what with the deaths of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt, and Frank Oz moving away from performing, so I think they did a pretty **** good job of putting on a great show, despite all these setbacks.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

and I love Sam the Eagle's segments whenever he's on. And I love how Kermit still announces the guest star at the beginning of each show.

Oh yeah- I love the Sam the Eagle- he had some great bits on the show too.

 

[WalterFan1234]

I don't like Clifford being a big character. He's good for cameos, but as a main character he's a little annoying

 

[Muppet Master]

Honestly, I don't think much did go wrong with MT. For the most part the episodes had hilarious sketches, some songs, and a backstage plot. You know, one thing MT did better than TMS was the backstage plot. Not saying they were better or worse, but the show was better at telling a story than being a variety-show which is where the show succeeds (especially late in season 2 which accounts for some of the best muppet moments in history). So with this, then do I think MT is better than TMS? Absolutely not! While MT is a wonderful show it wasn't exactly good at being a variety-show. Having unfinished sketches and songs was one of the show's biggest problems. Though it wasn't too much of a problem for me, but still if you're going to write a song or sketch in the clip then why would you not finish it? It's like MMW, showing snippets of acts, but switching scenes too suddenly. Again, not much of a problem for moi, but I can see how that annoyed audiences to death. So why was it so unpopular? Well, it wasn't the problem with the show, it was the audience that was the problem. Why? Well, after Henson died, more or less the public disapproved of the muppets. So, when a "new muppet show" came out, without even watching t everyone just says it sucks! The people who actually watched it just hated it simply because KERMIT WASN'T THE HOST, SO WHAT!!! Even if Kermit was the host, all he'd do was introduce the guest star and say goodbye to them. He still had crucial roles in the episodes, and it's a lousy excuse for not liking a show. I don't care if Digit is the host, I wouldn't judge it! People just saw that their little green buddy wasn't the host and switched it off or watched it, oblivious to all the funny and awesome parts of the show, but looking at the show through hate goggles, in other words, they didn't give the show a fair trial, they didn't see Kermit and immediately started telling everyone how terrible the show was. Yes, there was also the problem that Piggy and Fozzie appeared in less than half the episodes of the season, but NO ONE COMPLAINED IN MCC WHEN THEIR ROLES WERE NEARLY CAMEOS. Another reason everyone judged the show was because they expected to be TMS. How can a show be like such a classic comedy. Obviously, you can never duplicate the success of one show like that. Also, it wasn't helpful that ABC doomed the show putting it on Fridays at the 8:30pm timeslot, which is a death time slot. Putting a show at that time and date is just suicide for ABC even today (anyone thinking of the neighbors). Clearly the show didn't get a chance. In the end, judging the show for no reason and a belated time slot easily led the show to its demise, but even so I still call it one of my favorite shows.

 

[Mad Monty fan]

Nigel made a comeback in the 2011 film, but he didn't speak and was relegated as a background character.

 

[Muppet Master]

Nigel made a comeback in the 2011 film, but he didn't speak and was relegated as a background character.

In other words he did nothing, and it can hardly be called a "comeback", more like they grabbed a bunch of muppets from their box or whatever to use for the big finale, and they happened to take him out as well (most likely NOT intentional).

 

[Drtooth]

I dunno, I'm giving them a bit of the benefit of the doubt though. The '90s must've been such a hectic time, what with the deaths of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt, and Frank Oz moving away from performing, so I think they did a pretty **** good job of putting on a great show, despite all these setbacks.

The show was mainly to restructure the brand, and there is a lot of it that's uneven because everyone involved wasn't sure of what they were trying to do. Were they imitating The Muppet Show, were they going on their own thing, were they doing a mix of both? I really feel the newer characters, well... ones that weren't pigs that is, were in their element, but the older ones felt awkward. Henson wasn't exactly sure of what to do with Kermit at that time, and they put Clifford as the host. Format wise, I don't see Kermit hosting a late night show, which is what they were trying to emulate (and then not, it's confusing). So Clifford was a good choice, though I think it could have easily gone to Gonzo with Rizzo as his sidekick.

But once they knew what to do with the show, it was brilliant. It's a shame that happened just as it got cancelled. But it really was a journey to find the Muppets' voice post Henson and Hunt, with Frank's foot out the door.