The 10 Worst Muppets?

[Crazy Harry]

Most of these random 10 worst anything lists are usually wrong. I went in expecting to disagree, but was still amazed at how bad some of the choices were. Janice?

 

[Gelfling Girl]

10. Scooter-How dare they insult him? He did many things other than just the "15 seconds to curtain" cold opening. I could go on for hours but I still have nine other Muppets to talk about.

9. Wayne and Wanda-I actually kinda liked these two a bit, but there were still many other Muppets I much rather over them.

8. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew-Not arguing on this one. Team Beaker!

7. Mr. Poodlepants-I've never watched any scenes that involved him, so I can't give an accurate answer, but he looks scary to me, and not in a good way either.

6. The Bears-I don't really like nor hate these too much, but they did serve a decently important role in MTM.

5. Janice-*grabs nearest object that can inflict pain upon whoever wrote this list* Okay, "freaky looking" I guess I won't argue because my mom said that about all the Mayhem (except Animal, because "He's a cutie!" ) but "not funny," are we thinking of the same Muppet? And also, "blonde talentless airhead", *insert celebrity name here* isn't THAT bad...Oh, you were insulting one of the two greatest Muppets of all time? *throws random fruit at author of list*

4. Waldo C. Graphic-I'm not going to lie about it, he's the reason I stopped liking the Muppets when I was younger. He scared me when I was, like, two or three he scared me in MV3D.

3. Clifford-Eh...Never really saw too much of Muppets Tonight.

2. Robin-Aww...He's so sweet! How can somebody possibly dislike him?

1. Pepe-Not going to argue on this one. He was funny, but I still think we should be giving more attention to the classic characters instead of these post-Henson ones.

 

[muppetmonster]

This list is very inaccurate, but the only ones I agree with are the Bears and Clifford (sorry, was never a fan). I somewhat also dislike Pepe, but I somewhat like him at the same time, you know. Scooter, Robin, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and Janice do not belong on the list at all ........... at all!

Personally, if I was to make a list (excluding Elmo of course, because he is "Sesame Street"), it would be:

1. Bean Bunny (he is sweet, but I was never a fan of him for some reason; I guess he just seems to be the Elmo of "the Muppet Show" to me)

2. Clifford (never liked him)

3. Beauregard (I do not know, I know he goes way back, but I was very disappointed with him for some reason)

4. Bobo the Bear (he is o-k and I do somewhat like him in "Muppets from Space", but I have always considered Fozzie to be so much better, humor wise and personality wise)

5. Crazy Harry (this guy is hilarious, but his character never went anywhere, he just blows up dynamite sometimes, totally pointless, I mean anyone could do it)

6. Rowlf (I know I will get bashed for this, but I never liked Rowlf, I never considered him to be funny, and I never liked him personally. It might be because I am not a big dog fan, but I never liked Rowlf, sorry to say)

7. Uncle Deadly (I appreciate dark humor, but what is his purpose? Does he even have one?)

8. The Muppet Newscaster (he could have been better, but he seems as boring as the dentist (Guy Smiley?) from "Sesame Street")

9. Any of the pigs besides Miss Piggy (do I even need to say it?)

10. Scooter's Uncle (forget Scooter, his uncle is the unlikable one)

I know others may not agree with this list, but this is just how I feel, sorry.

Muppetmonster

 

[Drtooth]

How the Frog can anyone hate Robin? Comparing him to modern day Elmo is just incorrect.

When Muppet projects are hijacked for 15 minutes of Robin talking about Birthday cakes, then I'd agree.

So basically this article is 1 for 10. Mr. Poodlepants sucks, but I think that was the point. As for others...well Miss Mousey always rubbed me the wrong way, but apparently Kermit had a thing for her early on.

I remember liking Mr. Poodlepants when I was younger, but when rewatching MT episodes, he was just a flat character that only should have been used once.
Ad for Miss Mousy... it feels like there was a potential for a character there, but there was no personality to the character not to mention the UGLY design of the puppet. Giving her 1700's period clothing didn't help matters at all. I did like her "Don't Sugar me Up" song though. If she was used more like that, we would have had something there.

Now, to be more serious, my own personal list in no particular order (this includes a few SS characters as well):

• The Pigs from Muppets Tonight: Specifically David Hasslehog, Spamela Hamderson and the Twins. The celebrity pig parodies came off completely flat (whereas funnier parodies like Codependance day and Seinfeld Babies were at least clever and rewatchable) and as characters, they were even flatter. Andy and Randy had the potential to actually be multi-layered and funny, but came off as just "those 2 dumb guys," leading to jokes that got old fast.
• Howie the Rabbit (SS): Show of hands... who gives a flying frog about Howie the stinkin' rabbit?
• Elizabeth (SS)- a character who's annoyingly obsessed and proud of her cat. She didn't actually do anything funny with it (she could have easily taken an Elmyra Duff-ish stance loving her cat so much her cat doesn't like her), but she comes off as a less funny version of Humphrey and Ingrid being overly proud of Natasha.
• Miss Mousy- for realz.... for the reasons stated.
• The racist "Japanese" townsfolk from the Yokohama/Oklahoma musical number. I get that it was from a different time and all, but there's NO excuse to confuse OBVIOUS Chinese stereotypes with Japanese stereotypes (the imperial hair cues give it away). It's like doing a skit about Italian chefs that have French accents and make strudel.
• The Gill Brothers. I'm afraid I'm going to side with the audience after the Aunt Chovie number. YUCK!
• This Guy.... really the most boring Sesame Street sketch you've never seen. Does he even have a name?
• Horatio the Elephant (SS). Now, I LOVE Joey Mazzarino's characters and all, but this one is extremely weak, and has an oh SO annoying high pitched voice. And he was used oh so much until Joey got Murray Monster, a much, MUCH better character for him.
• Mr. Poodlepants... Again, I already stated why.
  and last and certainly least
• Nigel the Conductor. Nothing character with nothing to say and nothing to do... He was alright I guess in the Sex and Violence pilot... but I can see why he was phased out of the actual show after the second season.

 

[Beauregard]

3. Beauregard (I do not know, I know he goes way back, but I was very disappointed with him for some reason)

I...er...Rii-ght. *blink*

Bea{Yeah, I'd be the first to admit he wasn't developed in an obvious way, but watch the episode with him and the rats and Miss Piggy and if you don't cry...well, you're more a man than I.}regard

 

[D'Snowth]

1. Bean Bunny (he is sweet, but I was never a fan of him for some reason; I guess he just seems to be the Elmo of "the Muppet Show" to me)

Not to be a nitpicker, but Bean Bunny wasn't on TMS, he was the star of his own TV special, and then later kind of became a part of the core Muppet group, but nothing more as "the victim" as Steve Whitmire puts it (ala, someone slamming a door open him, etc). As for the Elmo of TMS? Never.

3. Beauregard (I do not know, I know he goes way back, but I was very disappointed with him for some reason)[/qupte]OH! BURN! ! !

4. Bobo the Bear (he is o-k and I do somewhat like him in "Muppets from Space", but I have always considered Fozzie to be so much better, humor wise and personality wise)

I have to agree completely with Bobo... he's sort of hit-and-miss. One thing I always wondered was why they changed his name for MFS?

 

[Beauregard]

• The Pigs from Muppets Tonight: Specifically David Hasslehog, Spamela Hamderson and the Twins. The celebrity pig parodies came off completely flat (whereas funnier parodies like Codependance day and Seinfeld Babies were at least clever and rewatchable) and as characters, they were even flatter. Andy and Randy had the potential to actually be multi-layered and funny, but came off as just "those 2 dumb guys," leading to jokes that got old fast.

I am with you on this one, though, especially Andy and Randy. They are just dumb with hard-heads. Unlike Beauregard, who was slow but sweet-hearted, these two were dumb AND loud.

However, they probably DO represent a segment of society...

I never felt like they were trying to become something or striving towards anything, though, which is something I feel that Muppets should be doing.

 

[Drtooth]

I am with you on this one, though, especially Andy and Randy. They are just dumb with hard-heads. Unlike Beauregard, who was slow but sweet-hearted, these two were dumb AND loud.

Beau was dumb but lovable. He had a character and a personality, and he worked well with the other characters. Andy and Randy's best moment was with John Goodman and their entire role in that episode. If the characters were played up more like that and less like "Those dumb guys," they would have had something. Instead, they were there for cheap laughs. Like Bebop and Rocksteady on a really bad later season TMNT cartoon... they were there to just make jokes about being dumb and trip over things.

 

[frogboy4]

Andy & Randy were gorgeous puppets and had a few fleeting humorous moments, but most of the writing for them was "on-the-nose" with no subtext. That's the coolest thing about Muppets is they do have primary personalities but there are little things underneath that round out the characters. Andy & Randy don't have that. There's no balance. Even Beaker has a secret longing to be a singer. There's more behind the "Meep" and that makes him funnier.

 

[dwmckim]

In regards to this list, it's clear from some of the other articles he's written for the host site that he is a Muppet fan. Maybe not quite a "Muppet Freak" who knows of more characters to compile a better list but a fan nonetheless. I kind of get the sense though that the whole article is jumping on the back of some of the Muppets' current wave of popularity to draw some attention to the host site - which has worked - other places like afterelton and Entertainment Weekly have commented about the article pretty much saying that it's pretty off-base (while at the same time linking to it). It's an attention-grabber and there's a certain tongue-in-cheekness to it that is flying over people's heads especially here where, let's face it, we have a fair amount of people who are quick to getting emotionally worked up about stuff that rubs them the wrong way.

Some of his choices have that *** factor in them and i think its because of his limited knowledge of the Muppets - once he committed himself to the concept, it reads like "um...oh boy...now i have to come up WITH ten Muppets for the list". If you can think of about 50 Muppets off the top of your head, you're likely to have a weaker list than fans that can think of thousands.

An article like this is going to be very different from a general purpose pop culture site than one that has the same concept coming from a Muppet-based site.

And above all else, they're all one person's opinion. He gives his reasons for them and backs them up with clips and leaves his readers to agree or disagree...and disagree they do! The site's since added a poll asking if Pepe is cool or not since he got blasted for putting him at #1. Hey, as much as i love Pepe i fully accept he's a polarizing character partly due to his high profile if little else.

...and btw - while i love Robin, i also concede that he does symbolize the moments where the Muppets cross the line from heart to schmaltz. If there's an overly sweet sachharine number or moment to be done, Robin's the default Muppet to give it to. Bean's a different story. Once he graduated from his one-shot special and joined the Classic Muppet cast in JHH, they made his cuteness an overt parody to where the rest of the cast knew he was The Cute One and drove them crazy as a result. Robin's cuteness is more at face value. And yes, i was among those groaning with Robin started singing YET ANOTHER SLOW SAPPY number at the end of Muppet Christmas Carol. Paul Williams is normally great with the Muppets but MCC was not one of the shining moments in his career.

And sorry, but i just couldn't help getting a laugh out of...

I don't think there was a character Richard Hunt did that I hated.

#9 Wayne and Wanda. Never liked them. Have to agree there.

LOL'd at this since Wayne WAS a Richard Hunt character!

#6 The Bears. Only bear I have a problem with is the one the one that sang I'm a Believer with Mickey Dolenz.

Bobo...which was one of those bears!

At any rate, just some of my own comments on Muppets on the list i hadn't touched on already...

Scooter - i LOVE Scooter, especially more after Richard's passing then ever but during the last couple of seasons of TMS he did get a little boring as he settled too much in the straight man, organized one role.

Wayne and Wanda - a product of the gag-based writing that represented Jack Burns' first season stint as head writer. If they were moved away from their onstage running gag, they actually could have worked quite well...Wayne came back without Wanda after a year and he was used well in the times they brought him out and i wish he would have been used even more.

Bunson - the author cites that Bunson doesn't work because he's nothing without Beaker. But while Muppet Labs really took off in season two, Bunson was far from a flat straight man - there's this marvelous wild quirkiness to Bunson that always makes him a treat to watch (even in those first season appearances) There's this underlying kinkiness to him from the feel of a softened dish setting him all a quiver to his tsstsstss laugh to his burning desire to twiddle Phil Van Neuter's ears that just captures my heart whether he's with Beaker or not. It may be funny seeing Beaker suffer all manner of physical indignity but Bunson's reactions alternating between concern, amusement, or indifference are often what sells them.