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..."

Comments

Reruns are on cable

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out the Odyssey Network (co-owned by Henson & Hallmark BTW)

Everyday at ~5 pm EST, they've old ones on.

if only

[mcc]

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