New Muppet series in development for Disney's 2019 streaming service

[Oscarfan]

Despite how they're being handled as of late, I can't really imagine the Muppets in the hands of any other media company other than Disney right now.

 

[Duke Remington]

Imma take a step back a bit on this. My gut reaction was "GRRRRRRR!", as I'm sure every other Muppet fan's would've been.

But I'm now seeing two factors:

1. All the Muppet performers are probably committed to Sesame this year for the 50th anniversary stuff (the tour, appearances on other shows, possibly the movie as well). So, really not much Disney can do unless they can base a whole series around, I dunno, Yolanda and Mo Frackle.

2. All the stuff they announced today, I'm pretty sure, is all going to be there when the service launches day 1. If there's going to be any new Muppet content, I'd rather it not get lost in the shuffle of other stuff and can properly get promoted.

All the more reason why they need to have understudy performers for Disney’s Muppets. I now see this as being why they wanted to multi-cast the characters back in the mid-2000s as an attempt to get them in the public eye more...and why a certain ex-Muppeteer should’ve trained understudies rather than blacklist less-experienced performers.

 

[Oscarfan]

All the more reason why they need to have understudy performers for Disney’s Muppets. I now see this as being why they wanted to multi-cast the characters back in the mid-2000s as an attempt to get them in the public eye more...and why a certain ex-Muppeteer should’ve trained understudies rather than blacklist less-experienced performers.

Yeah, no.

Aside from some special cases, Disney doesn't do that the Mickey Mouse crew. Nor should they with the Muppets.

 

[MuppetSpot]

All the more reason why they need to have understudy performers for Disney’s Muppets. I now see this as being why they wanted to multi-cast the characters back in the mid-2000s as an attempt to get them in the public eye more...and why a certain ex-Muppeteer should’ve trained understudies rather than blacklist less-experienced performers.

Even with that, there’s other puppeteers that don’t have any obligations with Sesame like Bill B. and Dave G.

 

[Duke Remington]

Yeah, no.

Aside from some special cases, Disney doesn't do that the Mickey Mouse crew. Nor should they with the Muppets.

I see what you mean and agree, but what I really mean is that they should follow a model similar to what Caroll Spinney did when Matt and Eric were understudying Big Bird and Oscar with him respectively. Up until Caroll’s retirement, Caroll and Matt took turns performing Big Bird while Caroll and Eric took turns performing Oscar until Matt and Eric finally inherited those roles completely.

That’s obviously what Disney and Henson wanted other Muppeteers to do, especially one who will not be mentioned.

 

[Duke Remington]

Universal wouldn't be a wise decision, considering they basically did the same thing to the Chipmunks that Disney's been doing with the Muppets all these years. More like what Eisner tried to do with the Muppets and to the Hensons (and SS) after Jim's death.

I kinda blame Eisner for killing Jim in that regard.

 

[Grumpo]

Uhm. Just so I can be sure everything is on the right track, can somebody tell who are the current understudies for Gonzo and for Rowlf?

 

[MuppetSpot]

No one as far as we know

 

[Duke Remington]

No one as far as we know

Let’s hope they’re in the process of training understudies/potential successors behind the scenes as we speak to ensure the longevity of the characters and avoid the same roadblocks they faced when Jim and Richard died.

 

[DARTH MUPPET]

Universal wouldn't be a wise decision, considering they basically did the same thing to the Chipmunks that Disney's been doing with the Muppets all these years. More like what Eisner tried to do with the Muppets and to the Hensons (and SS) after Jim's death.

How about hand the Muppets off to another Disney Division like Lucasfilm? Lucasfilm is doing a great job making star wars content for Disney and not just Movies but also TV shows, Books, Comics and Video Games and VR could be a wise idea! imagine Muppets treatment under Kathleen Kennedy...