One of the co-creators of TBBT is co-writing a pilot presentation for a proposed new Muppet TV show to be shown to advertisers. Titled "Muppets 2015", it's supposed to go straight to series for ABC upon the advertisers approval. Spinoff Online| ABC Eyes 'Muppet Show' Revival Fingers, flippers, feathers, and hooves crossed!
Could be fun if it works, but I'm skeptical. The last attempt at a revival, Muppets Tonight, was pretty weak. And when The Muppet Show was around, variety/sketch shows with celebrity guests were still a popular format on TV. These days, we don't really have shows in that vein anymore, except Saturday Night Live (and maybe Whose Line Is It Anyway?, after a fashion). I'd feel better if someone from Muppets Most Wanted were involved. I felt The Muppets was mediocre, too much about trying to justify the Muppets' existence to a new audience and too much about building up the Walter character at Kermit's expense, but Most Wanted was a much better movie, rivaling the classic Muppet films.
Didn't Muppets Most wanted not do so great? Weird time t think about bringing them back to TV, not that I'm complaining.
Muppets 2015? Talk about planned obsolescence. I just hope it's darker and grittier, with a long-term arc featuring frequent shocking deaths of major characters, and a stunning betrayal by someone who they thought was a loyal friend. And stuff.
The Muppets viability as a movie series is probably finished after "Muppets Most Wanted". Youre right- it struggled to break even at the box office. "Star Trek" & "The Muppets": belong on television!
I'm still waiting for that Muppets superhero spoof where they could make fun of all this. Where's the Great Gonzo when you need him? And with Disney owning both the Muppets and Marvel, they could have some interesting twists and cameos, maybe even classic heroes in Muppet form
I don't know that they can catch the lightning in the bottle of the original muppet show. The Muppet Show was just one of those oddball phenomena that I think would be hard to consciously try to recapture. The other thing is at the time it was also having a go at all the variety shows on at the time which don't really exist today. The closest is probably The Tonight Show under Jimmy Fallon but it's not really quite the same.
^Right. The one Muppet revival that Jim Henson himself was involved with, Muppet TV on The Jim Henson Hour, wasn't about replicating the old variety-show/vaudeville format, but about updating it for the MTV generation, putting the Muppets in charge of a TV station rather than a theater. If he were still around, he'd probably be trying to do a show with some sort of Internet or social-media focus. Henson was always an innovator and an early adopter of new technologies and storytelling formats. The Disney-era nostalgia for recreating the Muppets the way they used to be wouldn't have sat well with him at all.
This show doesn't appeal to me, but honestly, I think they're going to do a good job updating the content of the show while keeping the format and the charm.
Absolutely, but you've also got to bear in mind that the Muppets have established themselves as a cultural icon in the years the show has been off the air - a new show with the usual gang will still be hugely entertaining methinks, but your initial point I do agree with to an extent.
The original Muppet Show was of course filmed in the UK, after US networks failed to pick up the pilots. The UK ITV franchise ATV picked it up.
I can see it now. Agent Coulson appearing in a cameo role, wanting to get a team together. A dysfunctional team, at that. Hysterics ensue. Kermit, amid the chaos, trying to reign in his gang, shouting out, "Everybody! Everybody! We've got a world to save! Then deep voice..."A world to save!"
I hope it goes to series. The Muppets belong on television. Plus Disney could basically use it to market any project they want with weekly special guests (Marvel and an update of the Star Wars episode), although I'm certain some people would basically volunteer to appear on it. NPH would likely wait outside the studio until they put him on, he builds his own puppets as a hobby and is a big Muppets fan.
I hope it goes through, but I also hope they've got some really good writers for that show. Henson had a very good mixture of touching sketches and ones that made you wonder what on Earth they were smoking that week.