Your Thoughts: Lady Gaga and The Muppets Holiday Spectacular on ABC

[D'Snowth]

The commercials were like 5 minute long. Or am I just over-analyzing things?

No, commercial breaks are five minutes long now; have been for a few years now.

 

[galagr]

As a MUPPET special, yes, this would be bad. Terrible, even. But as a LADY GAGA special FEATURING the Muppets, well, I thought it was pretty good!

Keep in mind, my expectations going into this were pretty low but, still, I thought they did a great job.

Yes, as a Muppet fan, I only watched the Muppet parts. And you know what? They were pretty well written. They, for the most part anyway, stayed in character the whole time (except for Piggy, not even gonna touch on that subject). Not just that, but they had quite a few laughs in there, too. Speaking as a fellow sax player, I found Zoot's line about using the same reed since '62 hilarious. I can't go a week without chipping or losing my reed.

Speaking of Zoot, the Electric Mayhem got a bit more screen-time than I expected. And this is the REAL Electric Mayhem, not Animal with the other band members in the background. And Lips! LIPS IN A NATIONAL HOLIDAY SPECIAL.

My only gripes about this special are very few and nitpicky.

Kermit and Lady Gaga's talk before "Gypsy". *sigh* This was gut-wretchingly awkward. I think they were trying to make Lady Gaga and Kermit seem like old friends, but it really seems more like high school crushes talking to each other.

Lips. Yes, I celebrated his appearance above, but this is just a minor nitpick. I see his mouth moving. But nothing is coming out. C'mon, Steve! Lips hasn't gotten a line in over three decades.

Lastly, the "sneak peek" of the movie was just the trailer with one different clip. Meh, I'll live.

Like I said above, this a special co-starring the Muppets. No fan is going to see this special and say "Uggh, I'm soooo not seeing the movie because of this". If anything, this holiday special is something to be celebrated.

The Muppets are in a NATIONALLY BROADCAST SPECIAL WITH AN A-LIST CELEBRITY. Not to mention, Lady Gaga has a huge fanbase. The Muppets may have just gained a few fans. This will definitely help with spreading the word about Muppets Most Wanted.

 

[MuppetsRule]

It's Gaga's first christmas special, give her a break.

Although, the Muppets coming onstage to say hi to Elton like old friends would have been cool.

Come on. She's a seasoned performer. It's not like they pulled somebody off the street to do this so-called holiday special.

 

[kathy26]

I thought the special was cool I loved all the acts and also in the finale I saw the purple freckle if anybody notice

 

[The Count]

Huh... Maybe it's my visual impediment or maybe I'm more of an optimist Walter most of the times when it comes to Muppet productions/appearances, but I kind of liked this special.

Sign me up for a passenger seat on the Lady Gaga bandwagon, I rully came to like her music.

Because of the interaction between her and Kermit, Gypsy was the song I liked the most. Also, the conversation between them reminded me of the similar one that took place with the frog and John Denver that has all the funny puns about Kermit's life in the swamp.
Venus was my #2 fave song, it helped set the tone for the rest of the special. Liked the duet with Gaga and Elton John, Gaga and the Jets.

Other highlights for me included the two singing segments featuring the Leprechaun Brothers, laughed at the version of Jingle Bells. Was surprised to notice the wealth of Muppet characters included like Big Mean Carl, Sam, Lew, Zoot, and Bunsen and Beaker. That led to one of the funniest moments when the Muppets are brainstorming ideas for the finale, the bubble wrap dress coating Beaker... And then Animal just launches excitedly into popping the bubbles from the bubble wrap.

As for the Christmas songs... Baby It's Cold Outside was well performed, finally got to hear it in its entirety. BTW: Anyone have a MUP3 of the version of that song sung by Miss Piggy and Vince Gil from the CMA's? I find that version superior to the original between Piggy and Rudolph Nuriyev only because I can understand the former more clearly.

Santa Baby, that was the one moment that did in fact disappoint me. It was pretty much entonation for entonation the same track from the Green & Red Christmas album, the only difference being that Piggy had to browbeat the backup singers during the sequence. Also, the finale wasn't much of a finale when you consider it was a reprise of the song Applause with additional little Muppet outtakes sprinkled here and there.

Oh, and before I forget... Aunt Ru, looks like you may have some competition for Gonzo's affections as he pretty much hooked up with Kristen Bell. Heh, spreading sugar on everything, falling into an inert coma, comatose. Good banter.

So I guess in the end of schemes this reviewer gives the Lady Gaga and The Muppets special 3&½ 's out of 5.

Good night. *Goes to find where the heck that pumpkin pie was stored in the fridge.

 

[dwayne1115]

I kind of think because of the show having Lady Gaga as the star people where bound to find problems with it. The Muppets did what they know how to do best, which is put on a show. They where funny, witty, charming, and the Muppets.
I do think that if they gave the Muppets a little bit more control, and treat it more like a Muppet type show it would have flowed more. I think that is what they where trying to do, but it was clearly a Gaga show. If the Muppets had center stage it would have been more themed towards the holidays, with more Christmas music.

That being said I do think that this is another step on the ladder for the Muppets to have there own weekly show.

 

[antsamthompson9]

Let me say this: The Muppets were what made this special great. In other words, I loved the parts with the Muppets. The non-Muppet parts, not so much.

 

[LamangoNumber2]

Someone asked when did the Chef get married. He was married since Popcorn. And the new Bobo puppet is great. It's more mobile than the giant stiff one they used in From Space and Letters to Santa, an more expressive, though I still miss Sack Bobo.

 

[dwayne1115]

One thing for sure it looks like Lips is slowly making a come back, or something like that.

 

[Oscarfan]

Someone asked when did the Chef get married. He was married since Popcorn. And the new Bobo puppet is great. It's more mobile than the giant stiff one they used in From Space and Letters to Santa, an more expressive, though I still miss Sack Bobo.

He's had that ring since as early as Studio DC.