Christmas special and Kermit's World Tour canceled

[Gonzo14]

does anyone know an air date, or is this not going to happen?

[GelflingWaldo]

does anyone know an air date, or is this not going to happen?It does not look like it is happening - mainly due to the sudden turn over in Muppet/Disney management early this fall. Maybe we'll see it resurface later on, or maybe not. But it does not appear to be happening for Christmas 2005 (as originally planned).

[rumtar_10165]

I wonder is this another myth from disney to kill our beloved frog like what it did to Gumby when he turned 50?? Or would we have to wait until next year?

[Telly]

Disney killed Gumby? Wow! Not that I care cuz I never did like Gumby.
Anyone have any idea what Kermit's Christmas Capers was supposed to be about anyway?

[Beauregard]

Hmmm...maybe capers at christmas time?

[rumtar_10165]

Disney killed Gumby? Wow! Not that I care cuz I never did like Gumby.
Anyone have any idea what Kermit's Christmas Capers was supposed to be about anyway?
no what happened was Warner Bros. bought Gumby and well they tried to bring him back. But what they did was used new voice overs for the old clips.
That is when gumby died.

[Erine81981]

Kind of like what they did with Telly's voice in the "Big Bird in China" video.

[Kimp the Shrimp]

Disney will kill the muppets

[Philip Kippel]

Disney will kill the muppets

NO, THEY WON'T!!!:mad:

[Fozzie Bear]

Stop the war-games over Disney killing the Muppets. They're doing a great job, just that the management changed hands and when that happens things which were on the backburners get cancelled or lost til later, but they never did really have enough time to get that started with everything going on--who knows? Maybe we'll see it next year.

I think Disney's MHC is doing great things with the Muppets, and it's great to see so much of them anymore!

[Luke]

I think they're doing an ok job, but we haven't really seen anything significant yet that Henson wouldn't have done themselves, we were beginning to see a lot of the Muppets with Henson as well before the sale. I think the question is more why they changed the management (who seemed to be doing ok) and whether thats gonna be a good or bad thing for the Muppets and the MHC. We shall see. Obviously too late for the Christmas Show, but they do still seem to be continuing with "Americas Next Muppet" so i really hope that happens.

[redBoobergurl]

I'm disappointed to see that the new Christmas special won't be happening. I do remain hopeful though that we'll see some good things in 2006 and maybe the Christmas special will be one of them. Guess I'd rather stay positive than not. :)

[beaker]

Maybe some fun unexpected/last minute cameos of Muppets on tv around xmas to tide us over?

[frogboy4]

It was a change in HBO management that brought an end to Fraggle Rock. Well, the newbies wanted to "kiddie" - up the show so Henson decided to go out on top with their standards in-tact. I'm sure other Muppet fans around here know the story better than I do.

I hope that does not happen here. The thing is, when management changes, the newbies want to make a mark and quash anything previously in the pipeline that might be successful. This ensures they get the credit and only die-hard fans (like MCers) know what happened. I'm not saying that's happening here - but it could be.

The Muppets were always Eisner's special project. As much as I've been miffed at him over the past few years, I kinda miss him now. :sympathy:

The biggest disappointment is the severe budget slash for Kermit's anniversary trip from 50 locations to a mere 3! (source TV Guide):zany:

[Fozzie Bear]

Welcome home, Frogboy!

I have to say I was worried about Eisner making the Muppets kiddie-fied, and Chris Curtain was doing a great job. I'm a little worried now. Kermit's world trip being cut back isn't a promising happenstance.

[Beauregard]

Hey there Jamie, good to see you around. But bad tidiings you bring...

[Kimp the Shrimp]

The biggest disappointment is the severe budget slash for Kermit's anniversary trip from 50 locations to a mere 3! (source TV Guide):zany:


what tv guide issue

[GelflingWaldo]

http://muppetnewsflash.blogspot.com/2005/12/disney-alters-some-of-muppets-big.html

[Beauregard]

Man that totally stinks...what is Disney thinking?

[Kimp the Shrimp]

today is the day the muppets died

[Erine81981]

today is the day the muppets died
Ok look, quit with the whole Muppets died. They are still out there and they are still making appearances on TV talk shows.

[Kimp the Shrimp]

Those Are Corprate Schills Not Muppets

[theprawncracker]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Why must this Iger guy be so evil?!?!?! He took Kermit's trip away! After the 50th DVD's were realeased WITH two entire pages in the packet dedicated to the trip! With might I add, more than three stops announced! Good grief this is horrible! No I won't get to meet Lisa!! :'(

But at least we can still look for "America's Next Muppet"...

[unclematt]

50 locations to 3. Stuff like that gets me so mad. Give the frog, and more importantly, Henson the respect they deserve.

[Beauregard]

Agreed. It all stinks, but it's not the end of the Muppets,Kimp, not trying to put a smilie face on things, but they are stil there. They are getting in the public eye more than they have for the last...well...forever ish. Sure, they are cheesier, and more commercial, but they are not dead. Most definatly not. And, it may sound cheesy in itself, but we are here. Fanart and Fanfiction shows that these characters are far more than foam, they have heart and soul. That can't be drained from them by cancelling a trip.

[Luke]

It could turn out ok, it could not. It's very worrying that the management changed from people who were Muppet friendly and had a lot of plans, believed in the brand to people who clearly just see them as a franchise they've been handed on the side and are sceptical about them actually being worth investing money and effort in. I've always said that if the first few projects don't work i can see them just putting the Muppets away and bringing them out every few years for a promotional hyped revival to shift a new DVD/item of merchandise etc. Let's hope that from whatever thinking they are doing (and they're taking long enough) they actually come back with a hit show because it seems the Muppets desperately need one to ensure they do have some kind of future.

[Kimp the Shrimp]

they said the public won't notice

thats because they never publized the tour

[beaker]

today is the day the muppets died

The day it says "Disney's Muppets" on the packaging, then we can proclaim the death of the Muppets and call upon Crazy Harry to issue a jihad fatwa on Disney...I mean a boycott.

The Muppets will be around forever in one form or another just like Sesame Street, were just kind of in the vestibule waiting room of the janitorial closet right now.

[frogboy4]

I have to admit that neither the trip nor the addition of yet another Christmas special (so soon) really interested me. Maybe the brass is listening to fans and plans to invest in better-suited projects. And just maybe they decided it was a bad idea to have multiple performers for Kermit during his trip (I so hope that factored in). There are many possibilities. I hope the new CEO will understand that most Muppet fans are dedicated to the characters and performers, but fickle when it comes to sub-standard product. Those DVDs were a little upsetting. :sympathy:

[Luke]

I'm glad they are keeping "Next Muppet" in development. With the publicity of "Idol" i can see a lot of people digging that as a spoof and it being huge. I know it's not really what Muppet fans wanna see but it may be what they need to earn their stripes at Diz. I don't like the CEO change, it signifies more to me than just a re-think of how effective things are. The other guy was "less Disney" and more creative. The new guy is more of corporate Disney tool who may have just been put there to strip down the Muppets to the bare essentials needed to keep some cash coming in.

[Fozzie Bear]

I unstickied this thread since this project isn't happening any longer.

[Kimp the Shrimp]

it will sink into the abyss like the muppets on disneys roster

[Fozzie Bear]

Well, let's give the Diz a little time here, though. Even "I" was concerned about what they'd do with the characters and they ended up doing a lot. Maybe they'll have something big planned--like a theatrical release??

[Luke]

I agree but then again, The stuff they've been coming out with in the past year has been very substantial. Lets face it, before then I don't remember seeing any re-releases that were even worth looking at, and there weren't much to look at at that!
I think the line of merchandise that's coming out now is definately quality and hope that it continues to release in the numbers it has been.

Yeah, this is the thing. All the "Big Things" they have done have been merchandise related (other than From The Balcony). There have been a few publicity appearances but Henson would have done them anyway. The Muppet Holding Company is part of Disney Consumer Products, not any of the main Disney production departments and it does seem they have bought the Muppets mainly to sell merchandise and to re-release stuff from the library onto DVD as part of Buena Vista. I think with the old management they did have an urge to build the franchsie and get things into production but it does seem like the new managements plan (and what Disney had in mind all along if new projects weren't financially viable) is just to stick the Muppets in theme parks, re-release stuff and hock plenty of merchandise at the Disney Stores. I guess if we're lucky we might get the occasional TV project to promote the other stuff even more but it won't be the main concern. With Henson and what is vital to bringing the Muppets back to anywhere near what they once were is for the characters to be most important and for the merchandising to come second but just them being part of DCP makes it obvious that's not what's gonna happen with them.

:zany: :zany: :zany:

[spcglider]

The whole switch-out at MHC was quite a revelation to me, but then again I probably should have known it was coming. I knew Eisner was packing his bags and what else does a new CEO do besides fire eveyone who was loyal under the last CEO?

Its a territory thing.

It was a solid 1-2 punch as it happened the day after I returned from the LA auditions (which I maintain were mis-represented) and extremely close in temporal proximity to the passing of Jerry Juhl.

That having been said, I have nothing but good hopes for the Muppets under the Disney umbrella. I may be proven wrong in that faith, but I prefer a positive attitude over a gloomy one.

The "missing christmas special" will eventually surface if it was produced. If it was only half-finished, it will become one of those "hunt it down" video items that we all love searching for so much.

-Gordon

[Beauregard]

Ouch, Luke, that is a very painfull (but with a definate ring of truth to it somehow) thing to say....

Merchandice...we like it, but not just it!

A tv special to create/promote merchandice.

Eech, are these Muppets or Elmo?

*shivers*

It does not sound good...I can only hope you are (no ofence) wrong Luke...

[GelflingWaldo]

Don't take this as Disney's personal attack on the Muppet fans. This happens all the time - something is planned or announced but never comes to be. It has happened so many times in Muppet history - from the Jim Henson days all the way up to the Disney days. It is always sad when something doesn't happen, but the 2005 Christmas special was lost in the shuffle of Disney changing.

Look, here are just a few of the news stories Muppet Central has reported that never came to be...

http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/1998/060598.shtml - New Muppet Movies
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/1998/013098.shtml - The Tim Curry Show
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/1998/011198.shtml - Neverwhere
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/1999/102799.shtml - Astro Boy
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/1999/100699.shtml - Dark Crystal Prequel
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2000/030600.shtml - New Muppet Show
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2000/020100.shtml - The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2002/030702.shtml - FOX's Muppet Show
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2002/010802.shtml - Jim Henson's Frog School
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2003/102703.shtml - Fun-4-All Sesame Toys
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2005/091705.shtml - Kermit's Christmas Capers

This is nothing new - in the Muppet world, or in the entertainment world...things just change sometimes.

[beaker]

I'm with Frogboy4, I don't think the loss of Where in the World is Kermit or a quick on the fly xmas special was neccesarily a bad thin. The corporate shuffle on the Muppet Holding Company is troubling, and shows the extent of the post Eisner house cleaning Iger is willing to do.

As for just using the Muppets to hawk merchandise...I noticed not one Muppet thing has been for sale at any Disney or Disney related store. Heck even Bear in the Big Blue House, which they still put out merch for; says "Disney's Bear".

A part of me sees happening what we feared after the Disney buyout: keeping the Muppets almost soleley for milking the retro merchandise factor, corporate house cleaning that wipes clean most Muppet projects, bowing to completely typical faire(the reality tv angle), looking toward a revolving door of performers for any character, and not announcing that much news to be excited about.

On the bright side, I can see how the reality tv show; as Luke says, is what sells and what could be the Diz' best shot at gettingem back into the puppet eye. America is dumbfounded by anything relating to "reality tv", so go for it I say. As long as the show isnt about human performers auuditioning to be replacement muppeteers for the main muppets.

Now, if you're like me and love all the "Muppet" franchises(legal company seperation be darned) from the Muppets, Sesame, Fraggle Rock, and Bear; then this is good. As it allows for JHC/HIT to focus on getting Fraggle Rock back into being with a movie, possible new show and lot's of merchandise...Sesame WS to focus on Sesame, and Disney to focus on the Muppets and Bear, then it's good. Again, I point to the fact Fraggle Rock the movie and Dark Crystal 2 would never be happening if the buyout hasn't happened. So all I myself can do is look toward a silver foam and fleece filled lining.

[Luke]

Don't take this as Disney's personal attack on the Muppet fans. This happens all the time - something is planned or announced but never comes to be. It has happened so many times in Muppet history - from the Jim Henson days all the way up to the Disney days. It is always sad when something doesn't happen, but the 2005 Christmas special was lost in the shuffle of Disney changing.

It's not about them cancelling just the Xmas show. It goes deeper than that - it's about them cancelling more or less everything because the new management see's the Muppet franchise differently, and the style of the people they now have in place. Them now being in charge, what they've done immediately and just the fact the Muppets were put under Disney Consumer Products kinda gives us a few clues as to why Disney have bought the Muppets and what the new management want out of them. Sure new projects are cancelled all the time, but this has a lot more significance.

It's not all doom and gloom - streamlining things and just milking one project and really hyping it may be just whats needed if something like "Next Muppet" is successful but i think it will probably mean the Muppets really have to "work" for Disney straight off - wheras the old management and also Henson seemed much keener to try lots of things. I think Wizard Of Oz kinda raised alarm bells at Disney and it's probably partly why they aren't keen to splash their cash on loads of other Muppet things that might not work either.

[frogboy4]

Regarding the Muppets' current popularity - the Muppet Show DVD was a hit on its debut according to Amazon (#1 its first week I believe).

I think this new development over at Disney really is much more about ego and personal agenda. That's the way of showbiz, but if there's anything the Muppets understand - it's perseverance in the face of adversity. :)

By the way - if there is any reason that Kermit's 50 destination journey wouldn't be noticed, I believe it would be that Good Morning America is a far distant 2nd place in the morning show ratings. Disney brass should consider cleaning house there first. :eek: Ouch! Harsh, I know, but Disney really needs to make certain the Muppets get a healthy amount of exposure on NBC and CBS.

The Today Show and the Muppets have always been a perfect fit - even if it is problematic to Diz. :p

[Lynnette]

The biggest disappointment is the severe budget slash for Kermit's anniversary trip from 50 locations to a mere 3! (source TV Guide)

what tv guide issue

Yeah...what TV guide issue? Anyone know where I could read the info?

-Lynnette

[Fozzie Bear]

It was all over the 'net at both MC and TP when the news broke that MHC cut the trip down because they didn't "think fans would notice."

That was kind of insulting!! Apparently, they don't ALL read MC just yet.

[Beauregard]

I know! A quick glance here from time to time would see a seething nest of fans ready to bite their toes, throw muffins, or generally give Disney execs a wedgie.

[muppetperson]

It's not about them cancelling just the Xmas show. It goes deeper than that - it's about them cancelling more or less everything because the new management see's the Muppet franchise differently, and the style of the people they now have in place. Them now being in charge, what they've done immediately and just the fact the Muppets were put under Disney Consumer Products kinda gives us a few clues as to why Disney have bought the Muppets and what the new management want out of them. Sure new projects are cancelled all the time, but this has a lot more significance.

It's not all doom and gloom - streamlining things and just milking one project and really hyping it may be just whats needed if something like "Next Muppet" is successful but i think it will probably mean the Muppets really have to "work" for Disney straight off - wheras the old management and also Henson seemed much keener to try lots of things. I think Wizard Of Oz kinda raised alarm bells at Disney and it's probably partly why they aren't keen to splash their cash on loads of other Muppet things that might not work either.Wasnt "Muppets Wizard of Oz" a success, winning the time slot and Disney had plans to do repeat screenings?:confused:

[Kimp the Shrimp]

The tour was poorly advertised and publizaized

[Fozzie Bear]

MWoO did win its time slot, although many reviews were bad. The DVD is TONS better!

[mummytomb]

I live in hollywood and the saying is: "If you want something to die, put it on friday night."
It won in it's time slot because it was the only thing with a solid fan base. that doesn't mean it did well over -all.
I'm sure it didn't.

[Luke]

I live in hollywood and the saying is: "If you want something to die, put it on friday night."
It won in it's time slot because it was the only thing with a solid fan base. that doesn't mean it did well over -all.
I'm sure it didn't.

Yeah exactly, it was a poor project that Disney were commited to before they even bought the Muppets. It had all kinds of casting and scripting problems that made the end result truly awful. Sure some hardcore fans will dig anything "Muppet" but we aren't the only target audience and the general industry consensus was that it was viewed as a very poor quality production compared to other Muppet stuff. Disney knew this, knew that the promotion they had done wasn't going down well (and scaled that back) and i guess expected it to do badly. That would be why they moved it to a slot where nothing much else was on that would have much impact on the ratings or steal potential viewers away from it. That's why as the previous poster said it won its time slot, but i'm sure they would have liked lots more viewers considering the money spent on it and it being the Muppets return project - which obviously they needed to make "look" like a success or it would have been a big PR disaster for them but overall it was a pretty crappy movie and i would say not even in the quality bracket of MFS or VMX. It wasn't the right direction for the Muppets to take - the thought to go back and do a "story" type MTI/MCC thing was ok but they just went way off track with the script and the casting/direction. Way too wacky and non-Muppety for most people - if Diz thought it was that good they would be going ahead with follow up's which they aren't. They seem to be going back to the idea of doing nostalgia stuff - specials, TMS revival and possibly trying the reality thing but they are said to be unsure about that. I think the reason they would do it is because its guaranteed to get publicity being a spoof of the idol shows.

[Fozzie Bear]

I have MWoO on DVD, and it's really very good. The television version of it STUNK to high heaven, though.

I feel like they could be doing a LOT more good things with the Muppets. I don't think they necessarily need to do another "The Muppet Show," but I did love that the VMX film was using the Theater as a central location for the story.

[oznowicz]

Hopefully Disney will revitalize the franchise and not just pillage the library like EMTV tried to do