In 2011, The Muppets was released in theaters. It was the first feature movie to be released by Disney. Muppets From Space in 1999 lacked a lot of the charm of the previous movies. Disney instead made TV movies once they purchased the franchise in the 2000s.
But by the time it was in theaters, Jim Henson had passed away 21 years earlier. Yet as one person noted online as they sat in a theater, most of the audience were in their 30s and 40s. And they were there with no kids. Only something like the legacy of the Muppets could bring out adults to see it in theaters.
It was very simple. They had grown up on the Muppets. On Sept. 5, 1976, the first episode of The Muppet Show aired. Henson and his fellow Muppeteers and writers had tried twice unsuccessfully to sell pilots to ABC. Lorne Michaels got them to perform The Land of Gorch on Saturday Night. Yet it was problematic from the start. Writer Michael O’Donoghue bluntly said “I don’t write for felt.” John Belushi called them the “Mucking Fuppets.” And writer Alan Zweibel said writing for the Gorch sketches was hated by everyone mainly because Henson didn’t want the more mature material.
Yet it helped set the stage for the five seasons of The Muppet Show on the ITV network in the United Kingdom. Lord Lew Grade a media mogul witb ITC Entertainment basically gave The Jim Henson Company (when it went by Henson Associates) carte blanche within reason. The concept was a variety show about a variety show creating a metafictional show. Kermit the Frog was the showrunner with Scooter as a production assistant always helping out the guest star. But unlike Saturday Night Live, the guest stars were a one-and-done deal.
And that was the beauty of the show. It could appeal to all audiences. Younger kids might have like the goofy characters and slapstick. Older kids and adults could appreciate the guest stars and jokes younger kids might not get. The show had fourth wall breaks and running gags that older audiences could get. The musical numbers, sometimes performed by the Muppet characters alone or characters with the guest star, seemed to appeal to all audiences. I doubt many younger kids knew who Joel Grey or Rita Moreno were but it’s possible their parents or babysitters did.
But watching the show as an adult, I realized it never did talk down to kids. You could understand why Statler and Waldorf, two cantankarous old men, sat up in the balcony box heckling a performance every now. You understood Miss Piggy’s prima donna behavior. While Sesame Street, which Henson and company, had a lighter comedic tone, The Muppet Show had an edge to it that very few family-friendly TV shows have done since.
That’s why dark parody shows and movies like Greg the Bunny and Meet the Feebles could never really understand. Puppets that are crass and vulgar only go so far. While the Muppets may not have swore or said vulgar things, the concept of the show existed in a world where the guest stars and the Muppet characters existed. Therefore crudeness was unnecessary. This would be the same concept that would make Who Framed Roger Rabbit so great.
This is what The Muppets were able to carry over into the movies. The Muppet Movie was a huge success grossing over $65 million in 1979. But its box office gross led to Grade branching out and producing some of the worst movies ever (Can’t Stop the Music, Raise the Titanic and The Legend of the Lone Ranger) which were all commercial failures.
Henson would branch out and make The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, which were commercial successes but became cult favorites. The Muppets lived on in several spinoffs such as Muppet Babies, The Jim Henson Hour, Muppets Tonight and movies The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treaure Island.
And even though Disney has made some foolish decisions, canceling the wonderful The Muppets Mayhem, I think future generations will continue to watch and enjoy The Muppets.
What’s your favorite Muppet? Please comment.
Zane Says 