Well, there’s more than just Muppet movie casting news these days. No, what we’re getting now are actual photos from The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made, and not just promo shots of Jason Segel and the gang, but photos from the set. Behold, the Henson Company Studios in Hollywood transformed into Muppet Studios, a once thriving studio that has fallen into disrepair. It’ll be Segel’s character Gary, and his roommate, the new Muppet Walter, who ostensibly rally the Muppets to reunite and revive the studio.
(one of our greatest regrets from our time living in LA is not trying to take a tour Henson Studios, or at the very least stopping at the gate on La Brea Ave and attempting to bribe the guard with pepperoni pizza).
We assume. Because for the second time in three issues Entertainment Weekly features a Muppet a full color Muppet photo across two pages. The first appeared in the recent “Reunions” issue, a Muppet Show cast photo, and the new issue of the magazine offers the first glimpse of the gang (along with Jason Segel) in their upcoming return to the big screen, The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made.
(click to enlarge)
The image also presents our first look at Walter, a new tech-savvy, young Muppet who reportedly plays Segel’s roommate in the film. He could also possibly be Guy Smiley’s illegitimate son.
One concerning omission in the photo: Pepe the Prawn is nowhere to be found. He doesn’t appear in the first photo, but that was appropriate because he joined the Muppets many years after the Muppet Show (for the Muppet Show redux Muppets Tonight), but he’s arguably been the most popular Muppet of the past 10 years or so, and the only new Muppet since the Muppet Show to truly become a core member of the Muppet troupe. It’s probably just an innocent mistake, but until we see another two-page spread in the Christmas issue, we’ll be holding our breath.
In last week’s Entertainment Weekly (on stands now) the Muppets, as the cast of the Muppet Show, reunited to talk about their old show, as well as, most importantly, their upcoming return to the big screen with Jason Segel. To be fair, it’s not like the Muppets needed to be reunited, as they’ve been pretty much working non-stop for 40 years (we’re also not sure there was any compelling reason to bring the casts of The West Wing, Will & Grace and Alias back together after like 4 months apart, but that’s a different complaint for a different blog), but any national magazine publicity is good national magazine publicity.
(click to enlarge, so you can see how they managed to sneak Mickey Mouse in the background)
And read the brief interview with Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, and Gonzo here.
In things-that-I-love-meeting-other-things-that-I-love news, reports indicate that Rashida Jones is close to joining Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller’s forthcoming Muppet motion picture, The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made (in addition, the adorable Amy Adams and the cute Chris Cooper are also in talks to come on board). Now that Jones appears to be in, we can only assume that Paul Rudd will not be far behind. And when you have Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones there’s a pretty good chance that you’re eventually going to see Judd Apatow and at least one member of The State. Rudd, we all know, is one of the key faces of Apatowian comedy, as well as frequent a collaborator with State members David Wain and Ken Marino (see: Role Models, Diggers). Jones, in addition to appearing in the Apatow-esque I Love You Man with Segel and Rudd (plus State member Tom Lennon), had a small role in Apatow’s masterwork Freaks and Geeks, and has shown up in State related productions Stella, The Ten and Wainy Days. So from there it’s only a matter of time before Jones, Rudd, Segel, Apatow, The State and the Muppets all team up. We already know that The State and the Muppets have a history together:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
One complaint: Sources say that Jones would portray an ABC exec in the movie. Between her roles on The Office and The Social Network, we think we’ve seen enough of her in business attire. No more blazers!
Sesame Street has long been in the pop culture parody business; in fact that’s basically it’s whole model, come up with concepts that will educate children but also entertain adults. But lately, they’re becoming kings of the genre, with Mad Men, 30 Rock and, most recently, True Blood parodies. And now they’ve moved even further from the mainstream with their version of Old Spice’s “Smell Like a Man” campaign:
Between Grover and Justine Bateman we’re feeling really uncool.
There may have been bigger Muppet news this past week (and, indeed, over the last few weeks), but outside the confirmation that Jason Segel will also star in the upcoming Muppet movie (as was assumed for some time) this is the coolest Muppet News Flash in recent memory. Check out one Muppet fan’s tribute to the Electric Mayhem:
And while we’re on the subject, take a gander at our friend Eliot’s amazing ink memorial to Bea Arthur, the goldest of The Golden Girls (Eliot is the father of Atticus, the pup of recent Jimmy Fallon fame)
Since we covered the big Muppet movie(s) news last Friday, for this Muppet Monday post I just have a brief thought/question about the Muppet-verse going forward. In Muppets From Space Gonzo learns that he is not a weirdo or a whatever but an alien. However, I never really considered this official canon (not that the movie wasn’t good, but just that I didn’t buy the alien explanation). So the question is, as the Jason Segel-penned The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time inches closer to production, will Gonzo maintain his alien status, or will it be brushed under the rug like Terminator 3?
*Indeed, Muppet Wiki entry on Gonzo notes that his alien origin has been disregarded. Let’s see if that holds.
The Muppets are proving themselves to be the Leonardo da Vinci of modern media, moving effortlessly between movies, TV, community service, comics and cultural relativism*. Dudes are just hitting it from all angles right now. They’re like Miley Cyrus times four, with actual talent and vast more human emotion and independent thought.
Sure, they’ve always pounded the pavement when it comes to the traditional media, boasting a vault full of films and TV specials and music albums. But lately they’ve shown to be experts at exploiting popular YouTube videos to create their own. Right now the Muppets at the forefront of what I like to call viral video deconstructionism. Starting with their attempts to usurp the iconic skateboarding dog, and most notably in their “Bohemian Rhapsody” music video, they’ve deftly played with what we’ve come to call internet memes (at least I think that’s right. Still not quite sure what a meme is. Ask Urlesque). And they continue this trend now with what might be the most subversive video yet: Beaker (who has sort of become the go-to Muppet for these videos) performing a meepfelt version of “Dust in the Wind,” only to be crowded out and ultimately sabotaged by those YouTube pop-up comment boxes. Beaker, shine a light and we shall follow.
Very delayed but very exciting Muppet news: while most of our Muppet Monday posts have focused on the recent rise of Muppet visibility in Disneyland and on TV, as well as a few classic clips, we finally have some Muppet movie news!
Vulture reports that Flight of the Conchords co-creator James Bobin has been offered to direct a new Muppet movie in the works for Walt Disney Pictures. However, there might be a snag, as Bobin has apparently also been asked to helm Bridesmaids, a Kristen Wiig penned (and we’re assuming starring) comedy produced by Jumped The Snark legend Judd Apatow. But really, do you think Bobin should attach himself to a movie described as “two women battling to plan their friend’s wedding party?” I think the Casey Wilson-penned Bride Wars kinda covered this ground, and between that and 27 Dresses, I’m not sure that the discerning comedy masses are clamoring for another slapstick/rom-com wedding flick (although, if it’s more like Baby Mama, then maybe I’ll revise that statement). Plus, would you choose to work with a bunch of petulant divas* over the seasoned professionals that are the Muppets?
But maybe you’re thinking to yourself that Bobin should choose Bridesmaids for the chance to become part of the Judd Apatow fraternity and secure on a place on my chart. Okay, fair. However, this Muppet movie will be based on the script penned by Jason Segel and his Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller. Both men have several ties to Apatow, so Bobin can join team Apatow either way, and if this movie is produced it’s definitely going on the chart. So, James Bobin, if the main factor in deciding which movie to direct is earning a spot on the Judd Apatow chart, then I can assure you that if you take the reins to the Muppet movie you’ll get your due. Plus, you have about an equal chance of working with Paul Rudd on either movie (actually, with this in mind, the odds might actually be a little better with the Muppets)
And with that out of the way, you can make a measured, smart decision.
A couple weeks ago I decided to check out the Paley Center here in LA (formerly known as the Museum of TV & Radio). I assumed it would be basically the same as its NY brother (and my assumption proved mostly correct, as the West Coast branch actually has a little less to offer), but with The Muppets at Disney World scheduled to screen at 4pm I figured it would be worth a trip. Except that when I arrived I realized that I had been looking at the NY schedule, and the most attractive screening option was an old episode of the Carol Burnett Show. So I decided to try my luck with the video archives.
With the Muppets still on the brain I resolved to see what kind of treasures the library might offer, knowing that the Museum had put together several special Jim Henson events. Indeed, I found a series of compilations celebrating the life and work of Henson. Amongst these was an episode of The Jim Henson Hour that featured a short film I had heard of but never seen: Dog City.
Now the Paley Center has been rendered almost obsolete by YouTube; the web offers a wider selection videos, often better in quality, on demand, and with the added benefit of being viewable from your home computer instead of on an old NTSC monitor at a video carrel in an eerily quiet and sterile media room. Not to mention you don’t have to wear ratty, flaking headphones that have already been used by innumerable strangers (that must be a health hazard). But there are a few items, a couple rare gems that you can’t find on YouTube or even weird Polish websites. Dog City is one of these such rarities.
Dog City is Jim Henson’s take on film noir, but in this scenario it’s classic hard-boiled crime drama inspired by paintings of dogs playing poker. And with main characters named Ace Yu and Bugsy them, it has no shortage of corny, Abbott and Costello style jokes. Except that, with Henson’s Muppet alter-ego Rowlf the Dog playing the piano and breaking the fourth wall as our narrator, the jokes are delivered with a full-on wink at the audience and they actually work. I usually get bored during musical numbers in Muppet productions, and this was no exception, but I found the rest of the movie quite enjoyable, even with the VHS quality picture and its sometimes cranky tracking. Since the movie is almost exclusively available at the Paley Center, the best we can do here is present the trailer:
Three years later Henson would turn Dog City into a Saturday morning cartoon, “Jim Henson’s Dog City” changing Ace Yu into Ace Hart, a more standard noir detective. Luckily, the show still offered some traditional “real world” Muppets, as Dog City is animated by Eliot, a Muppet German Shepherd, and his friends and neighbors serve as inspiration for the animated canines.
So while the Paley Center has become a bit of a ghost town, made nearly irrelevant by the Internet, it can still be worth a visit, if only for that one special show.
Jumped The Snark 