Your Thoughts: Puppet Up Special on TBS

[Luke]

I am really starting to like this puppet improv stuff, never thought i would, never liked it without puppets .... but this is fun, this is different. I think they might be onto something here. Well done Brian et all. Now come back to the UK so i can see it live.

 

[beaker]

All I gotta say is Waffle the cow-monkey and DJ Koala, two of the coolest
looking new generation Muppets. I never liked Animal Jam but I lovved the puppet designs, and am glad they are using em' for Puppet Up, as well as the Armadillo and Lester Possums. Now if only they brought in a random Frackle that'd be spiffy.

 

[D'Snowth]

All I gotta say is Waffle the cow-monkey and DJ Koala, two of the coolest
looking new generation Muppets. I never liked Animal Jam but I lovved the puppet designs, and am glad they are using em' for Puppet Up, as well as the Armadillo and Lester Possums. Now if only they brought in a random Frackle that'd be spiffy.

I hate to admit it but Animal Jam kind of freaked me out a little bit, especially that dancing elephant that always showed up at the end of each show. Go figure.

 

[beaker]

I hate to admit it but Animal Jam kind of freaked me out a little bit, especially that dancing elephant that always showed up at the end of each show. Go figure.

Well yeah, the format SUCKED...noone does that kids in the audience setup, heck the movies UHF and Death To Smoochly, and the show Greg the Bunny made fun of that 60's era stuff.

Bozark was a bit weird, but the DJ's(especially DJ Panda and DJ Koala) and Waffle are some of the best post 1990 Muppets Ive seen, hence why Im happy theyve been given a new lease with puppet up.

 

[Luke]

I LOVED Death 2 Smoochy, and yeah it is fun to send up those kind of shows with the kids around all these deadly serious showbiz people.

I never thought much of Animal Jam. I liked the idea of a show that actually entertained kids while excercising them and getting them ready for school in the morning, but the characters and format of Animal Jam just weren't strong or entertaining enough.

.... Puppet Up! is improv after all, and the Henson Company seems a bit more open to interaction with the fans now, maybe you should try emailing one of the puppeteers and asking em if there's any chance of bringing out a Frackle! I think the Armadillo will be Disney now though right?

 

[beaker]

I LOVED Death 2 Smoochy, and yeah it is fun to send up those kind of shows with the kids around all these deadly serious showbiz people.

I never thought much of Animal Jam. I liked the idea of a show that actually entertained kids while excercising them and getting them ready for school in the morning, but the characters and format of Animal Jam just weren't strong or entertaining enough.

.... Puppet Up! is improv after all, and the Henson Company seems a bit more open to interaction with the fans now, maybe you should try emailing one of the puppeteers and asking em if there's any chance of bringing out a Frackle! I think the Armadillo will be Disney now though right?

Actually they've been using Joe The Armadillo and a ton of Muppet puppets from all sorts of various pre 2004 buyout Muppet properties.
I think they can pretty much use any puppet they want it seems like.
If this was pre 2004, everyone would be calling Puppet Up a new Muppet show To me Puppet Up is like Mopatop, in that obscure forgotten Muppets are being seen again, which is aces with me. I think Waffle, DJ Koala and the rest of the made for preschool show puppets belong on more edgy faire anyways.

I think every kid needs to exercise regularly and learn about animals, but I agree...that format for Animal Jam was horrid. Doesnt it stink to see great puppets made, but used on a lame show?

 

[Luke]

Actually they've been using Joe The Armadillo and a ton of Muppet puppets from all sorts of various pre 2004 buyout Muppet properties.

I thought they hadn't used any that had been in Muppet productions, KSY being one of those and Animal Jam not being one of those. Did Disney get KSY? Can't remember, but guess they must have. Anyway cool if they can use it. I think they could do with a wider variety of puppets to use in this, and they oughta get Karen Prell (and Bill Baretta) permanently on the roster of puppeteers doing this show. I know they have both been involved and it's early days yet but i hope they will be brought in a lot more - the show will be all the better for having Bill AND Brian.

 

[Beauregard]

I have to say, I've watched various sketches from here...and I havn't laughed once. I havn't even smiled. To me, it's annoying and un-funny. The presenter makes me cringe, the audio is very quiet and (though the puppetry is great) the puppets arn't that exciting and there's no...chemestry in anything.

Just my thoughts.

Beau

 

[Luke]

I'll agree with you on the puppets not having much character and also the chemistry thing. We haven't seen any clips of Brian and Bill working together though, and i thought Brian and the lady had some chemistry. The others didn't have much though at all. I thought the original intro sketch with Brian and the female puppeteer with the dog was funny. I thought the hot dogs was lame, and the other sketch thats on here, George Michael, mildly funny. As i said i think they are starting to do some good work and i think might be onto something.

I think they oughta get Brian's main character from the intro presentation to be the host rather than having a human host, cos i thought he was good introducing the concept and the human guy just looked out of his depth and was flat. They oughta have advance notice of who the host is going to pick and what they'll be asked to do (yes i know its improv, but they can have some basic ideas) so like the audience are given suggestion cards before they go in or something and get picked from that. Perhaps the actual sketch should be worked out prior, but the puppeteers have to work in certain lines, extra characters or props thrown in by the audience. The puppeteers did a lot of improv training, but i'm not sure they all work together that well - they definitely need Bill and Brian together and have a strong lead puppeteer in each sketch.

 

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

I thought they hadn't used any that had been in Muppet productions, KSY being one of those and Animal Jam not being one of those. Did Disney get KSY? Can't remember, but guess they must have.

yeah Disney got KYS, MFS & MTM, well they got Henson's stake, so there STILL co-owned (and relased) by Sony! so insted of being a Henson/Sony things its NOW a Disney/Sony thing....yeah, I would think that the Frackle puppets would be own by Disney since there such a part of the Muppet Show. What about Disney owning the Jim, Jerry & Oz look-alike-Puppets/Muppets? would disney own them too?! i ALWAYS wondered about that myself!