Potential New Muppet Show

[DutchMuppet]

I also think that a new Muppet Show isn't a good idea. The Muppet Show is the best show ever but I think it will not be so good as the old one. The movies is a great way to highlight the Muppets. Muppets Tonight is a good exemple. I think it wasn't as good as it used to be. A weekly Muppet program could be great, but the main aspect is that the story must be good in it.

 

[Oscarfan]

I also think that a new Muppet Show isn't a good idea. The Muppet Show is the best show ever but I think it will not be so good as the old one. The movies is a great way to highlight the Muppets. Muppets Tonight is a good exemple. I think it wasn't as good as it used to be. A weekly Muppet program could be great, but the main aspect is that the story must be good in it.

So, what your say is that the Muppets shouldn't do another show because they can't do better than TMS.

Which is exactly why they need to do something different, format-wise. Which is exactly why MT, as you mentioned, didn't succeed, because it was trying to be TMS. They got cancelled just when they found how to structure it.

 

[Drtooth]

I'll third that.

Though I must say, I liked what Roger Langridge did with the Muppet Show format. Bigger back stage plots devoted to character, rather than guest star, and moving that action and plot to outside the theater whenever possible. Not to mention the concept of connected story arcs. There's something to that which could work.

What made MT great at the end was that very same concept. Keeping the celebrities and sketches, but focusing more on the character's. Look at the one where Bunsen has to make due without Beaker. That single episode had more laughs in it than most of the rest of the show before it. Plus, it gave us a seldom seen side of Bunsen. That's what I'd like to see if there was a Muppet series. Something that has root in The Muppet Show, Jim Henson Hour's Muppet portions, and the better half of Muppets Tonight. All with the feel of a short film.

 

[Mo Frackle]

Overall JHH was not what fans were expecting. They were expecting basically the muppet show of the 80s, and that's why there were negative reviews, heck NBC kicked it off after 10 episodes, and a Cosby Show episode filmed to promote JHH aired AFTER the show had already been canceled .)

The cancellation of JHH had to do with the fact that nobody was watching it. JHH was placed in unsuccessful time slots, and because the series aired during the networks' "pilot" seasons (as opposed to getting a major premiere in the Fall), it barely got any attention. Had JHH been syndicated like TMS, it's very likely more people would have seen it.

 

[D'Snowth]

Had JHH been syndicated like TMS, it's very likely more people would have seen it.

Maybe, maybe not, syndication is a gamble, because there isn't any kind of nation-wide schedule to follow, since it varies from market to market, from station to station. That wasn't the case with TMS, obviously, but it is the case with most syndicated programs, individual stations will air the show at any given time of the day or night, which can make it difficult for the show to really earn a following, as some people see it, and others don't.

Some shows were able to survive and earn a following in syndication, ala TMS or THE GREAT SPACE COASTER, while others were doomed to fail due to lack of audience such as D.C. FOLLIES.

 

[Muppet Master]

I'll third that.

Though I must say, I liked what Roger Langridge did with the Muppet Show format. Bigger back stage plots devoted to character, rather than guest star, and moving that action and plot to outside the theater whenever possible. Not to mention the concept of connected story arcs. There's something to that which could work.

What made MT great at the end was that very same concept. Keeping the celebrities and sketches, but focusing more on the character's. Look at the one where Bunsen has to make due without Beaker. That single episode had more laughs in it than most of the rest of the show before it. Plus, it gave us a seldom seen side of Bunsen. That's what I'd like to see if there was a Muppet series. Something that has root in The Muppet Show, Jim Henson Hour's Muppet portions, and the better half of Muppets Tonight. All with the feel of a short film.

I think the MT episodes that succeded with its own format, and not TMS-like were
Epsiode 208: The Cameo Show
Episode 210: The Gary Cahuenge Show
Episode 211: Andie MacDowell
Episode 212: Johnny Fiama Leaves Home
Not to say the rest of the show sucked, I liked the rest of season 2 and season 2 a lot too, but these 4 episodes were the best, almost as good as TMS. Like the GC episode, it didn't reley on a fancy smanshy guest star to be the center of the show, NO! There was a legit plot and some classic sketches, and Fiama getting beat up LOL. The Andie MacDowell one wasn't about how Andie can sing and dance, yadda yadda yadda, it was about Bunsen going to a mid-life crisis with Andie serving as a hilarious side character. The Cameo Show had to do with Bobo killing Arsenio Hall and the search for a guest star, NOT the muppets trying to make the guest stars sing. Last and Best is Johnny Fiama Leaves Home, that episode I swear is just as good as TMS. It's all about something OUTSIDE the studio and all that good stuff with a mixture of a story told with hilarious skits in between including "Tales From the Vet", "The Real World Muppets", and "Politics and Pundity". That last perfected episode was the pride of MT. I guess if the rest of MT were like those episodes there might've been a season 3.

 

[Drtooth]

The cancellation of JHH had to do with the fact that nobody was watching it. JHH was placed in unsuccessful time slots, and because the series aired during the networks' "pilot" seasons (as opposed to getting a major premiere in the Fall), it barely got any attention. Had JHH been syndicated like TMS, it's very likely more people would have seen it.

That's what I've been saying since frog knows when. JHH should have been a syndicated or cable show. First off, it demanded an hour worth of network time, which is somehow an imposition, so right off the bat they wanted to throw it under a bus. Secondly, it was either 2 different shows under an umbrella title or a full hour long special. Somehow, I think NBC was absolutely terrified of anything that inconsistent. And third, it would have taken time to find an audience. And while they thankfully gave that sort of shot to Cheers and Seinfeld (two of the network's biggest hits I might add), they weren't willing to give a second chance to this show. Budget seems to be the biggest factor. So I have all faith that NBC wanted the show to take a dive.

But yeah, unless it's a preschool friendly non-canonical animated prequel, the Muppets have never done well on a major network. And don't give me the "PBS is a network" thing.