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Muppets Sold
Anonymous Coward writes, "Munich-based EM.TV and Merchandising AG has bought the Jim Henson Company for $680 million. They say that they won't mess with the Henson Co.'s "creative independence," thankfully. Now, if they'd just start running the old Muppet Shows again..."
"There's only one thing about this show I'd change."
"What's that?"
"The channel!"
"O-ho-ho-ho-ho!"
Man, I miss regular doses of Statler and Waldorf...
--
The Future: Some assembly required; batteries not included.
coming next week, the new jon katz article, "muppets - the tragedy of mergers"
personally, i can't wait.
-hemos.
I'm hemos., aka Jeff. Bates.. I help run this site, along with Rob. Malda.. I handle books, and generally posting storie
Check out the Odyssey Network (co-owned by Henson & Hallmark BTW)
Everyday at ~5 pm EST, they've old ones on.
Heck, what I want to know is the impact this is going to have on "Farscape".
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
::beats sig_11 over the head mercilessly::.. for God's sake, think before you post!!
- looking-for of, say, Labyrinth.
Jim Henson died in 1990 of pnemonia, right about the time Jim Henson Productions became 0wned by disney. And yes, the "new" muppets (i.e. pretty much everything since) has not had quite the same quality. his son has taken over the voice pretty well, the people around him have tried to carry on his style, but still there's a certain life to the muppets that died with Jim Henson. There was a level of depth to the "old" muppets that the people in charge now have trouble capturing. Which is why everything sense has had an extreme hit-or-miss quality, and why all the muppets stuff in the last ten years has stayed rather static-- they can try to emulate Jim's old style, but they can't change style the way Jim could. This is why you've seen _nothing_ from the muppet group in the last ten years coming close to the breathtaking innovation/novelty/creativity/what's-the-word-i'm
"a year or so ago.." bleaugh.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
No more "tickle me elmo", now it's "Tickle me merger"...
Elmo. I saw some Elmo muppet movie last night (kids had control of the remote) and wondered if that same doofus that destroyed my memories of Inspector Gadget with that bomb of a movie made this Elmo movie too. It was just plain mean spirited and supposed to be funny. I remember when the muppets were just plain weird and one never knew what to expect. It was exciting. Now, we get to watched stuffed animals beat up on eachother.
I guess times have changed and now we have things like the shoot-me-up-Elmo doll cartoon to reflect the crap we get from the movie studios.
At least it is not AOL-TimeWarner-EMI buying the Muppets. Don't know much about EM-TV, but it should be interesting to see what happens.
Wow! Are you out of it. :)
Jim died in the early 90's (I don't remember the date, but I remember what I was doing when I found out.) of some kind of lung infection. (Varying stories have been aired, however the most common is an advanced strep infection in the lungs). This was right during the aborted Disney/Henson merger. In the end it became a strategic alliance that has produced some pretty cool shows (Bear in The Big Blue House.).
The following is my opinion:
While the Muppets are not at the same level that they were when Jim was alive, they have put out some very good movies in the last few years ("Muppet Treasure Island", "Muppet Christmas Carol" and most recently "Muppets From Space" (my fav. one since Jim died).).
While it was a very sad day for muppets fans, Jim did want the muppets to go one after him. Citing their father's memory, his family pulled out of the merger deal (Disney refused to give them creative control if I remember right, I'm sure someone will correct me). And the muppets have been Jim-less for nearly a decade. But just like Disney with out Walt, or any organization with a dreamer at it's core it is very hard for the organization to carry on with the wild-eyed enthusasism(sp?) the dreamer brings.
(And doing a pretty good job too! Again, just my opinion)
Sorry my thinking is so disorganized, it's been a rough day!
RobK
"Someday we'll find it...."
Myddrin
Jim Henson (not Henderson) died well more than a year ago. The last project that he worked on was the Muppets go to Universal Studios, I believe, which was in production around 1989. I think that he died the next year. Every Muppets production since then has been done without him, with his son doing the voice of Kermit the Frog (for anyone who ever saw Henson in person, you may recall that he actually talked basically like Kermit; he changed very little to do the voice) Why do I know this? I was there in '89 watching the Indiana Jones action spectacular when Henson was filming. My uncle's nose is prominantly featured in a shot of Snow White sitting in the audience.
Not to nit-pick, but the Henson family pulled out of the merger talks before the merger was complete. Until now they have been a completely independent (but strategically allied) company.
Myddrin
Maybe I can now actually get myself a Muppet Puppet! When I'm at my desk sitting in a cube farm can get pretty boring and often I wish I had a Muppet Puppet or two to entertain myself with. *duck porographic flames* Unfortunately I've been unable to find any to purchase. Perhaps this will change that.
I wonder if anyone else have had such thoughts and managed to find any.
y'know, they _did_ try to ressurect the muppet "show" in a way about four, five years ago.. i can't remember the name, but i watched a couple episodes (the show was tragically put on at the same time as either the x-files or sliders, i forget which. Either way it was a very difficult choice as to which to watch, and i only chose the new muppets a couple times..) it had some really clever bits in it.. the first episode basically came down to the muppets in some kind of meeting, looking over the ABC fall scedule, and then suddenly realizing the time slot that begins in three minutes didn't have anything in it. and then basically trying to throw together a letterman-style talk show in four minutes. It really did feel a lot like the old-school muppet show, but wasn't as wasn't nearly as consistent. It was kind of hit-or-miss, and about half of the material was kind of dull, but when it hit it was really funny. The stock Mrs. Piggy/Kermit characters weren't technically part of the show being produced itself, but they kept wandering in and out backstage and interfering with things, seeming like a bunch of old people who think they know everything. which was kind of funny to watch. I can't really remember it well enough to pass judgement on it though, really..
The show really wasn't very developed enough though. They were just going out and experimenting, trying to see if they could hit anything that worked. You could tell they were trying really hard, but they didn't always pull the show off the way it should have been. And ABC didn't give them a chance to experiment until they got it right; they pulled the show after about a half a season, and it never got developed to the point where it fufilled its potential. I dunno. There was some kind of rumor floating around that a second season was made but only shown in Hawaii or something wierd like that, but i never found out what was going on with that..
It would be nice if they could somehow recapture the spirit that made everything Jim Henson did so wonderful-- the kind of creative, almost-edgy, almost-dangerous feel to everything he did that what he was doing had never been done before. Whatever else you may have to say about the Muppet Show or early Sesame Street or any of his movies, the fact is you were never quite sure what was about to happen.
As opposed to, say, Muppets in Space, where you could tell _exactly_ what was going to happen, and nothing was unpredictable. That was just sad. Muppet Treasure Island/Christmas Carol was more or less ok, as if the people working on it were violently trying to honor Jim's memory with something wierd, but Muppets In Space felt more like they were burying Jim.. the whole movie just seemed hollow, empty, on autopilot. LIke the soul and the mind of the Muppets were dead but the body was still moving. The hamster was gone but the wheel was still spinning.
i want to see them go back to unpredictability.. i'd like to see something truly different from the muppet franchise again. I'd like to see something as mold-breaking as Labyrinth or Dark Crystal was come out of JH Productions again.. i doubt i ever will.
Really they ought to hire the people who did Sifl and Olly.. -_- That was probably the coolest, most funny thing i've ever seen on a television. And they definately have Jim's wierdness down.. -_-
"cindy crawford's taking off her robe..!!!" <---if you can identify where this came from, give yourself a cookie.
-mcc-baka
Five to one, baby, one in five.. no one here gets out alive, now
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
The website to check time and all:
http://www.odysseychannel.com/
Do you think they might actually start making, gasp, products with the muppets on them? No say it isn't so.... I always thought JHP was a charity...
</sarcasm>
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
FOOL!! do NOT take the muppets lightly!! we will destroy you!! :D this is VERY important to some of us; the Muppets take on religion-like importance for some of us. It's even as important to some of us as, say, linux. Perhaps ordinarily you could get away with slightly uninformed posts, but not this time!! THIS TIME YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR!! 4N1M4L \V1LL 0\VN J00 817C|-|!! PH33R!!! AAAUUUUUEGH
What do you mean "relaxed"?? Why were you expecting this to be relaxed? Weren't you paying attention a couple months ago during the "who's your favorite muppet" poll? that's the most heated, impassioned discussion i've seen on slashdot yet. : D There are _strong_ feelings around here on this subject; you best watch yo' step, homeboy
-mcc
"my belly button blew up!"
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Cap City/ABC (read: DISNEY, plus almost every single newspaper in the US, even your little local town-based rag is most likely owned by them...) already has the US rights, it's right there in the article:
The Jim Henson Co. also has production agreements with the American cable company Odyssey Channel, Capital Cities/ABC and Sony's Columbia Tristar Home Video in the home video arena.
I remember the big hoopla when Disney optioned them, and ran a "Muppets in Epcot: Epcot Becomes Almost Interesting" special.
This company has a major investment in Odyssey, which unfrotunately isn't on my cable network. I do, however, get Disney, and "Muppets Tonight" is a really good, high-quality, true-to-the-original show.
All the stuff you and I remember was LSD inspired. It's pretty obvious if you catch a re-run. These days it's all crack inspired. When you're competing with the Power Rangers, you gotta do the crack...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Wrong. They WERE sold. From the press release issued by The Jim Henson Company: " have signed a definitive agreement under which EM.TV will acquire 100% of Henson in a cash-and-stock transaction notionally valued at $680 million." Sure sounds like "sold" to me.
Complete press release is here.
Muppets from Space had me in stitches. It had the genuine vintage muppet feel about it. It was great to see Fozzie again but I particularly loved the Hispanic-sounding prawn.
;o) although the UK version here has a different actor than the US version, he's a very intense-looking chap with a Scouse accent called Kevin Buala, IIRC.
As for Bear in the Big Blue House...well it's strictly for toddlers. But it has such a cozy feel to it that I can't help watching if one of the kids has it on. The bear is somehow friendly and invitingly cuddly - yet without being cloying like "Barney" which by contrast always makes me want to puke. More than that, it makes me want to kill something. Something big and purple.
For the record, I'm also a fan of "Blue's Clues"
Did you want to know all that? No, I think not. Sorry, too tired for anything more intellectual tonight. Hard day at work and all that.
Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
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The muppet is called Gareth and I don't think anyone would want to buy him.
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Make use of your spare CPU time!
Marky is a muppet.
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Make use of your spare CPU time!