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So Sesame Street is suing over adult muppet film.

Gingerbread Demon

Gingerbread Demon

Yelling at the Vorlons
Premium Member
Mods if this is in the wrong forum please move it I wasn't sure where to post this as it's fantasy.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-...ers-of-happytime-murders-muppet-movie/9805072

So this happened

The son of Jim Henson Brian Henson made a movie using puppets called the Happytime Murders. It's R rated in the USA and has puppets, drugs, murder.

The makers of Sesame Street however are not too happy about this and are suing and asking for damages and a jury trial.

The trailer for the movie has muppets drinking alcohol, swearing, using drugs, and offering themselves for sex, uses the tagline "no sesame, all street".

So I wonder if this film will be seen by anyone before the court case happens?



Link below to movie trailer.

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Well, you know, since Sesame Street doesn't own the Muppets and are not suing to shut down the movie and only upset about the supposed use of their show's title in some advertising....I'd say reading the whole article would be a good start.
 
Serveaux said:
Well, you know, since Sesame Street doesn't own the Muppets and are not suing to shut down the movie and only upset about the supposed use of their show's title in some advertising....I'd say reading the whole article would be a good start.
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Yeah but they are saying it's going to hurt their brand. I read the article I just don't think they have a case.
 
Sesame Street is worried that viewers would think they are behind this thing? That makes zero sense. What kind of dumbass would actually think that?

Fucking lawyers. :rolleyes:
 
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I'm not the least bit surprised they sued. I saw the trailer and it was really offensive...and even worse, not terribly funny, but hey, some might enjoy it. But then, then giant letters for their tag -line, "No Sesame, All Street. " I turned to Hubby and said, "There's a lawsuit."

Seriously, how did the studio not see that coming?
 
Or, maybe the filmmakers hoped to get the ire of Children's Television Workshop with that marketing tagline, because now more people know about Happytime Murders. They change the marketing, and they got some free publicity out of it.
 
Mr. Laser Beam said:
Sesame Street is worried that viewers would think they are behind this thing? That makes zero sense. What kind of dumbass would actually think that?

Fucking lawyers. :rolleyes:
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They probably don't want Sesame Street associated with it. Especially since it's made by the Hensons, the puppets look like classic Muppet type characters, some of the puppeteers might actually work in both projects (since both projects were associated with the Henson Company at some point), and it's clearly playing off the innocence of Sesame Street for shock value. They probably just want any connections to not be used as marketing.
 
There's a relatively adult puppet show already on TV. Can't remember what it's called, but it's along these lines. I remember watching an episode and not being particularly impressed.
 
Awesome Possum said:
They probably don't want Sesame Street associated with it.
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But anyone with a functioning brain cell would already KNOW that Sesame Street isn't associated with it. This thing is as un-Sesame Street as it's possible to get. It's bloody obvious that the two aren't even close to being related.

Then again, that's common sense, isn't it? And as we all know, lawyers are the enemy of common sense.
 
"He's servicing a client." :barf: :lol:

I saw this trailer before Solo on Saturday. Well, at least it's got Melissa McCarthy in it.
 
^That's not exactly a selling point for me. :lol:

"It's a run-down shack in a bad neighborhood, but at least it's also on fire."
 
First off, I may be living under a rock but I don't remember when uncensored R or NC-17 grade trailers started getting cut, let alone getting put on Youtube unflagged.

I really think everyone has their own line beyond which something crosses over from raunchy to tasteless and obscene. I find the older I get the more often this kind of humor crosses the line, and I'm the sort of guy who still has fond memories of Scott Baio bursting bras open in Zapped, but that stuff seems tame compared to this.

I also feel that society is moving in two contradictory directions. On the one hand, sexuality for its own sake is being presented as the norm rather than the exception, and on the other, (male) sexuality is being pathologized to an almost puritanical extent.

If we want to have a freewheeling society, then so be it, but the mixed messaging speaks to a sort of cultural schizophenia.

Now, Brian Henson in particular has done live shows that went in a decidedly AvenueQ direction under the rationalization that Jim Henson's Muppets were always a little subversive. And yet at the same time, the rebooted Muppet Show died in part because the public didn't like the way the characters were pushed too far in a hard PG-13 direction.

The subversiveness was best done through careful innuendo, a wink here, a nudge there, but nothing as overt as squirting fluids all over the wall. I think that's the problem with today's sensibility is that it's far too literal, whether it's movies or song lyrics or whatever. Nothing is left to the imagination anymore. (That hymen joke is right up there with the vaginal fart joke in female Ghostbusters in cringeyness.)

Technically speaking parody is protected by fair use which is why there are XXX Trek parodies. So this movie can attempt to shield itself behind this. But at the same time, it's really up to those who own the trademark to determine whether something is damaging their brand or not.

I felt that CBS/Paramount had a case against The Orville, for instance, especially in regards to the level of sexuality in that show, which also had its share of bodily fluids right in the pilot. But this one, especially with the tagline mentioning sesame street, is even more on-the-nose.

Anyway, I really really miss the milder days of the 80s sex comedies, back when the tone was playful and not just attempting to shock. It was all exploitive but it seemed somehow...more good-natured.
 
mos6507 said:
First off, I may be living under a rock but I don't remember when uncensored R or NC-17 grade trailers started getting cut, let alone getting put on Youtube unflagged.

I really think everyone has their own line beyond which something crosses over from raunchy to tasteless and obscene. I find the older I get the more often this kind of humor crosses the line, and I'm the sort of guy who still has fond memories of Scott Baio bursting bras open in Zapped, but that stuff seems tame compared to this.

I also feel that society is moving in two contradictory directions. On the one hand, sexuality for its own sake is being presented as the norm rather than the exception, and on the other, (male) sexuality is being pathologized to an almost puritanical extent.

If we want to have a freewheeling society, then so be it, but the mixed messaging speaks to a sort of cultural schizophenia.

Now, Brian Henson in particular has done live shows that went in a decidedly AvenueQ direction under the rationalization that Jim Henson's Muppets were always a little subversive. And yet at the same time, the rebooted Muppet Show died in part because the public didn't like the way the characters were pushed too far in a hard PG-13 direction.

The subversiveness was best done through careful innuendo, a wink here, a nudge there, but nothing as overt as squirting fluids all over the wall. I think that's the problem with today's sensibility is that it's far too literal, whether it's movies or song lyrics or whatever. Nothing is left to the imagination anymore. (That hymen joke is right up there with the vaginal fart joke in female Ghostbusters in cringeyness.)

Technically speaking parody is protected by fair use which is why there are XXX Trek parodies. So this movie can attempt to shield itself behind this. But at the same time, it's really up to those who own the trademark to determine whether something is damaging their brand or not.

I felt that CBS/Paramount had a case against The Orville, for instance, especially in regards to the level of sexuality in that show, which also had its share of bodily fluids right in the pilot. But this one, especially with the tagline mentioning sesame street, is even more on-the-nose.

Anyway, I really really miss the milder days of the 80s sex comedies, back when the tone was playful and not just attempting to shock. It was all exploitive but it seemed somehow...more good-natured.
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I kind of agree here...

I like when there's a hint of something and it's left up to the imagination to work out what happened, or was about to happen. But yeah it's right in your face and there.

I thought I might see this one when and if it comes here just for the shits and giggles but upon thinking about it more I decided there would not be that many shits or giggles, it's just not that funny.

I'm curious about your Orville comments. How do you think CBS/Paramount had a case against them? It wasn't just the sexuality was it?
 
It looks like fun. It's the sort of humor you see in puppet slams all the time. Our most recent Halloween slam piece featured a two-foot cock shooting whipped cream all over my wife.

With Brian Henson and co. involved, I have some faith that the film will deliver characters and storytelling to go along with the silly string.

I expect they'll remove the Sesame Street references in the marketing and carry on.
.
 
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Ah, The Happytime Murders. I've been looking forward to that.

I can kind of see why Sesame Street would not want their name associated with it, however. :rommie:
 
Are they going to sue the play Avenue Q? They have muppet looking puppets that sing my favorite song, The Internet is for Porn.

The internet is really really great.... for porn!
 
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