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The Muppet Mindset

Duke Remington

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I read that, and I couldn't comprehend how the cancellation of soaps could affect the Muppets.
Same here. I, too, can't see those soap opera cancellations having any effect on the Muppets. They're all handled by seperate departments/divisions anyway.
 

frogboy4

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I read that, and I couldn't comprehend how the cancellation of soaps could affect the Muppets.
I agree with you.

While I understand the concern, the fact is that Muppets fit much more easily into the Disney mold than soap operas.

The cancellation of ABC's soaps is not about soaps at all. This is about television viewers and advertisers and TV as a radically changing beast. Daytime television is just one of many other casualties. Watch what NBC did to Law & Order. They canceled the original and completely dumbed-down the rest of the spin-offs. One will be axed soon and the others are in trouble! Everything is centered around reality programing, contests and game shows. They're cheap and gain a heckofalot more viewers. It's about money.

The only way I can see this really affecting the Muppets is that they'll have an even harder time finding an audience on network television, but that's not news to us. I can see this also as disrespecting a long-standing enterprise. I don't think that's likely to happen to the Muppets unless the film performs poorly. :embarrassed: I don't think that'll happen.

The bottom line - the same people who buy products advertised on soaps will just as easily buy them from some reality show in the same slot and those programs only cost a fraction of a soap's budget to produce. Heck, nightime television is a harsh world where things that are very popular are axed for not being popular enough.

The Muppet films aren't all that expensive to make compared to other special effects films so I think they have a better chance working on the same page with Disney. I'm saddened for soap fans, but I 'm not worried for the Muppets.
 

dwmckim

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I read that, and I couldn't comprehend how the cancellation of soaps could affect the Muppets.
Same here. I, too, can't see those soap opera cancellations having any effect on the Muppets.
I apologize, everyone. The final publised version ended up edited in such a fashion that the relationship between the two ultimately was largely left absent. (It's a tad embarassing having a report published titled "How Soaps' Cancellation May Affect the Muppets" when the "how" was essentially not really there!) The version that got published was very disjointed and random and i would be equally as confused as everyone else if i was reading it fresh.

The original expanded unfiltered version of the report is now at http://muppetfreak.blogstream.com for all those who were left scratching their heads in confusion.
 

Drtooth

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I agree with you.

While I understand the concern, the fact is that Muppets fit much more easily into the Disney mold than soap operas.

The cancellation of ABC's soaps is not about soaps at all. This is about television viewers and advertisers and TV as a radically changing beast. Daytime television is just one of many other casualties. Watch what NBC did to Law & Order. They canceled the original and completely dumbed-down the rest of the spin-offs. One will be axed soon and the others are in trouble! Everything is centered around reality programing, contests and game shows. They're cheap and gain a heckofalot more viewers. It's about money.

The only way I can see this really affecting the Muppets is that they'll have an even harder time finding an audience on network television, but that's not news to us. I can see this also as disrespecting a long-standing enterprise. I don't think that's likely to happen to the Muppets unless the film performs poorly. :embarrassed: I don't think that'll happen.

The bottom line - the same people who buy products advertised on soaps will just as easily buy them from some reality show in the same slot and those programs only cost a fraction of a soap's budget to produce. Heck, nightime television is a harsh world where things that are very popular are axed for not being popular enough.

The Muppet films aren't all that expensive to make compared to other special effects films so I think they have a better chance working on the same page with Disney. I'm saddened for soap fans, but I 'm not worried for the Muppets.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I never was a soap fan, but as a cartoon fan, we're seeing the same cowardly, cheap, and pathetic moves out of these billion dollar entertainment conglomerates. No one watches anything but die hards sure... but then when they replace that programming, they never get the big audience they want to get... in essence losing 2 groups.. the fans of something who would do anything to keep turning in no matter what and a potential audience that frankly doesn't exist. Why would someone watching something popular stop watching it for something that's a cheap ripoff? That's like saying, "WOW! Instead of Coke, I can start drinking those off flavored dollar store tonics!" (finances not withstanding).

Television is changing, yes... but I'm starting to wonder... is the swing to new technologies the reason why it's changing, or is the reason why it's changing causing the swing to new technologies? I find the latter to be true. There's less and less worth watching and worth caring about now. If a show is immediately popular (the only kind of programming they want), it usually can't keep up the popularity for very much longer... it happened to Heroes, and they didn't even know what direction to take the show in... and when they finally found themselves in a good place... canceled! Canceled for stuff EXACTLY the same as it, only without any real fans. it's do or die... or more like do AND die... unless it's slave labor cheap reality garbage.

Now, a Muppet movie and potential ones would be safe (to a point... let's see how this one goes first), but a TV show seems completely out of the question at this point. That's the only connection I see... but then who are we kidding? If it wasn't for syndication, the Muppet Show wouldn't have flourished. A new show would NEED that kind of vision to help it along the way. I still think NBC wanted to disregard the Jim Henson Hour at the time, and it's a shame and a half that they did! The only weekly Muppet program to survive mainstream broadcast television was Muppet Babies! :rolleyes:

But again, this movement to other media isn't worth it to me. There's nothing all that great online that can totally replace a half hour- hour long show with a budget, watching a movie on a phone isn't half as fun as seeing it in the theaters with an audience, and there is no call for the forced extinction of television shows and wondering why no one watches TV anymore. Mark my words... these anti-visionaries will do the same to the internet, making it just as overregulated and mundane as everything else.
 

minor muppetz

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I apologize, everyone. The final publised version ended up edited in such a fashion that the relationship between the two ultimately was largely left absent. (It's a tad embarassing having a report published titled "How Soaps' Cancellation May Affect the Muppets" when the "how" was essentially not really there!) The version that got published was very disjointed and random and i would be equally as confused as everyone else if i was reading it fresh.

The original expanded unfiltered version of the report is now at http://muppetfreak.blogstream.com for all those who were left scratching their heads in confusion.
That makes a bit of sense, though I also honestly don't see many people boycotting the Muppets. If not for that post I wouldn't have associated any soap operas as a Disney property, and I don't know if there are as many people who like both the Muppets and soap operas (I only like Muppets).
 
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