Muppets Tonight!

[ryhoyarbie]

Is there a particular reason why there weren't more classic characters involved in this show? After all it was The Muppet Show 2.0. Most of the characters that were featured were brand new and people seemed they were complaining about the lack of older characters to help run the show besides Kermit, Gonzo, and Rizzo, not to mention some of the characters were just plain dumb, a la Bill the Bubble Guy.

Although Frank Oz wasn't there all the time, I did find it odd that Jerry didn't really do any of his characters such as Robin, Floyd, Crazy Harry, Pops, and so forth. He seemed to be underused.

 

[lds1987]

I have never heard of Muppets Tonight, but from the way you put it, it sounds like it was a sort of let down.

 

[frogboy4]

I liked Muppets Tonight and do miss it a little bit, but it did have its issues. One in particular was the heavily featured new cast additions taking over classic character roles instead of being phased in.

Clifford: Host (Kermit's former role)
Rizzo: Production assistant (Scooter's former role)
Gonzo: Veteran Muppet (He almost seems to take more of a Fozzie "second banana" position)
Seymour & Pepe: Staff (The best most Muppety additions. They were one of the two successful comedic duos on the show.)
Johnny & Sal: a self-deluded almost Link-type persona, but as a humanoid crooner paired with his monkey assistant. (The other successful comedic duo on the show.)
Bobo: Security guard (A funny backstage character in the classic tradition.)
Andy and Randy Pig: Crew (Overstayed their welcome.)
Kermit the Frog: Producer (He's aloof and uninvolved most of the time - very different from the Muppet Show or the Henson Hour. The show's greatest mistake.)
Spamela: Resident Diva Pig (Upstaged Piggy in a way Annie Sue never did. Funny, but overexposed and made fans miss the real deal.)
Nigel: Director (Funny, but given little opportunity to shine. Eugene was his assistant.)
Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Animal, Sam, Bunsen, Beaker and other classic cast: guest appearances (but seemed to be more heavily used toward the end.)
Van Neuter & Mulch: Resident scientists (Mulch is a classic character and the duo was funny at times, but they eclipsed the more familiar Bunsen & Beaker duo.)
Jowls, Zippity Zap and the Muppets Tonight Band: Replaced the Electric Mayhem (Very understated characters and a poor decision all around.)
David Hogselhof, the Swinetrek cast, Mr Poodlepants, Bill the Bubble Guy and others: Took over for Link, Strangepork, Marvin Suggs, Lew Zeland and other, better classic bit-part characters.
Ernst Stavros Grouper: Station owner (the JP Grosse roll, but JP was strangely a lowly crew member.)
Beauregard, George the Janitor, Janice, Rowlf and other classic characters: popped up inthe background from time to time.

I'm forgetting several characters here, but that's the gist. Again, a good show, but Kermit should always play host and the Electric Mayhem should always be the house band IMHO.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

I didn't know Zippity Zap was part of the house band. He never played with them in some of the episodes I saw. But I like Zippity. I believe he's supposed to be a frog, maybe a frog representing the cool factor like Floyd and Clifford.

I have never heard of Muppets Tonight, but from the way you put it, it sounds like it was a sort of let down.

I believe most if not all the episodes are on youtube. I was watching the second episode the other day that had Garth Brooks as the guest star and the last song featured Rowlf the dog on the piano and saying "oh yeah" and laughing. That was the first time Rowf had said something since the depature of Jim Henson who performed the character before. It was a "big step" in my opinion.

 

[frogboy4]

I didn't know Zippity Zap was part of the house band. He never played with them in some of the episodes I saw. But I like Zippity. I believe he's supposed to be a frog, maybe a frog representing the cool factor like Floyd and Clifford.


I believe most if not all the episodes are on youtube. I was watching the second episode the other day that had Garth Brooks as the guest star and the last song featured Rowlf the dog on the piano and saying "oh yeah" and laughing. That was the first time Rowf had said something since the depature of Jim Henson who performed the character before. It was a "big step" in my opinion.

Maybe Zippity wasn't part of the house band. I always felt he kind of was since his look and voice fit into the whole zydeco music style the house band played.

That part with Rowlf was the high point of MT for me.

 

[tiggergirl19]

I miss watching Muppets Tonight! and it didn't last that long on tv, which suprizes me for anything muppet. I think that it was on for only one season, but ABC didn't renew it for any more shows after the first season. I loved it because it's a family show, and having it on a Friday night made it seem like a Friday night with the family. I hate that other networks aren't showing anything muppet now. Are people just muppet haters in today's world or have they forgotten how wonderful the muppets are when they watch them? I think that when Muppets Tonight was made, the muppet makers and meuppet perforers wanted to have new muppets in the new show, not just the muppets that everyone knows by heart.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

Are people just muppet haters in today's world or have they forgotten how wonderful the muppets are when they watch them?

Nope. Quite the contrary, from all the responses I've seen from the Bohemian Rhapsody everyone loves the muppets and would love to see the muppets return to television. But, tv networks are a different breed now than they were in the 70's when the Muppet Show was on the air. You have cable which also has their own shows which tend to be better than the network shows.

But if another muppet show that was perhaps set back in the muppet theater were to come on regular television, I'm sure it would do great and be a welcome breath of fresh air from all the junk the four networks push out now.

 

[beaker]

I think it was just the JHC still kind of in an awkward footing, trying to experiment with formats. There's really only been three official Muppet Show series; the 76-80 original, the very short lived "Muppet Television" in 1989 as part of the Jim Henson Hour(not to be confused with the horrific 2005 French Muppets TV series)
and of course Muppets Tonight.

However, after seeing the "Muppets Take Over The Today Show", Muppets.com skits, youtube skits, etc I say no better time than next year to bring in an amazing and smart series. Now that offbeat laughtrack-less shows like The Office, 30 Rock, Eastbound and Down, Always Sunny, Community, Parks and Recreation, etc are huge I could see something like that *or* maybe a new take on a variety show format.

 

[Drtooth]

I think it was just the JHC still kind of in an awkward footing, trying to experiment with formats. There's really only been three official Muppet Show series; the 76-80 original, the very short lived "Muppet Television" in 1989 as part of the Jim Henson Hour(not to be confused with the horrific 2005 French Muppets TV series)
and of course Muppets Tonight.

MT was a very tricky show. I really enjoyed it and I'd buy it up right away if it was released on DVD. But the format and the state of the Muppets at the time lead to a bunch of obstacles they had to work out. They were coming out of a time when they weren't sure how much they wanted to use Kermit (his secondary roles in MCC and MTI kinda tell that tale). Not to mention that Frank was busy with other stuff... so you figure,... this was the first show without Jim and Richard with Frank's foot out the door. Kermit and Waldorf were recast, but none of Jim's others were yet, same with Beaker and Richard (Statler reverted to his previous performer) ... and the not always available Frank meant no Fozzie and Piggy among others when he wasn't there. They were almost special guest stars.

Plus the format. It wanted to be SNL and Jay Leno (back when he was fresh and we didn't hate his guts) and became like so many things it shouldn't and didn't get to become what it should have been.

Now, right off the bat, the pigs were definitely the worst characters on the show. They were either flat caricatures or Andy and Randy, who never evolved out of those two dumb guys type characters. Poodlepants and the rest seemed like one time use characters they had to throw in constantly to fill out skits.

The thing with the show was that the skits that worked terribly were very obvious... when they managed to pull stuff off, they did it beautifully, and most of the best recurring segments were UK only.

 

[beaker]

The thing with the show was that the skits that worked terribly were very obvious... when they managed to pull stuff off, they did it beautifully, and most of the best recurring segments were UK only.

I finally got around to downloading all the MT episodes and the alternate international versions...and yeah, you're right about the hit or miss quality. Some episodes I didn't even bother putting to dvdr as they just seem that bad. Though I do really like the Sandra Bullock episode. And yeah, from time to time they did have these really amazing skits(Kermit spoofing David Byrne's Talking Heads "once in a lifetime" from the Stop Making Sense movie is my favorite, followed by the Doglion shave and a haircut/mahna spoof, Seinfeld Babies, Codependence Day, and that coffee musical number)

Btw, what are some of your favorite skits/episodes? I liked that fish boss guy, what was his name, Gruper? As well as Bohemeth in the suit and tie.