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Tag Archives: Disney
(Belated) This Thanksgiving We’re Thankful For Jason Segel
It dawned on us a couple of weeks back when we caught Forgetting Sarah Marshall on TV (and cemented this past weekend when we suffered through The Muppet Christmas Carol on The Hub), that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Jason Segel, as he’s almost single-handedly saved the Muppets.
Read on: The dark days of the Muppets and Segel as their Moses
Filed under Lady Holiday, Mickey Mouse Club, Muppets
This Could Only Be Better If It Somehow Involved Pizza AKA LOST & Kermit!
Many years ago two of my greatest, if not my two greatest, passions united in a music video. I speak of course of Weezer and the Muppets, joining forces for the “Keep Fishin’” music video. Unfortunately, by that time Weezer was already on their way to retroactively ruining the fanatical affection I harbored for them during my high school years. The union was still unimaginably cool, but would have required a little bit more freak out control if it was made just a couple of years earlier (or perhaps that’s the benefit of time talking, as well as the carnage inflicted by Make Believe and The Red Album*).
However, I have no such bitterness about this new, brain-exploding team-up, the latest in the “Lost Slapdown” series. Yes, as odd as it may sound, God (and Disney corporate synergy) have brought together Lost and Kermit the Frog.
But although this is a monumental, colossal cross-over, I will not be getting a tattoo commemorating this meeting of Kermit, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, despite what some have suggested.
Make sure to check out the other Lost-Muppet joint ventures, including Pepe auditioning for the role of the Smoke Monster, Rizzo infiltrating the writers’ room and the Swedish Chef, an apparent avid Lost fan, running the ABC cafeteria.
*For a truly thought-provoking and thoughtful look at the devolution of Weezer, specifically Rivers Cuomo’s fall from ironic yet genuine songwriter to hackneyed hyper-self-aware song-crafter, we urge you to take a look at Chuck Klosterman‘s** essay on the subject in his anthology Eating the Dinosaur. And just go ahead and read everything else in the compendium, because it’s all genius.
**And if Chuck Klosterman*** does anything with the Muppets I’ll flip out just as much, if not more. Even if it’s an essay comparing Elmo to Helen Thomas.
***Just realized that “Klosterman” contains the word “lost.” Whoa.
Muppet Friday (Somewhat Nostalgic Too): The Muppet Man Lives?
Vulture reports that Disney is in talks with The Jim Henson Company to produce The Muppet Man, a Jim Henson bioipic that made last year’s “Black List,” the compendium of Hollywood’s “hottest” unproduced screenplays. Yay! With the new Jason Segel-penned Muppet movie seemingly on the horizon, could it be that we’ll soon be treated to two Muppet-related movies? Maybe!
Burning question? Who will play Kermit in the biopic? (Tina Fey?) And, for the record, I am available to play the Swedish Chef.
The film will undoubtedly touch on Henson’s personal life and his non-Muppet ventures, so with that in mind, here’s a clip from Time Piece, Henson’s trippy, experimental Oscar-nominated short film from 1966:
Vulture Exclusive: Disney Planning a Jim Henson Biopic
Filed under Mickey Mouse Club, Muppets, Nostalgia Corner
Muppet Monday: VoluntEar Video and Peoples is Peoples
Only two Mondays into 2010 and things are already shaping up for the Muppets in the new decade. When we decided to institute Muppet Mondays we feared that we wouldn’t have enough material each week, or at least enough relevant material. But with Disney making the Muppets the face of their new volunteerism initiative, it seems like there’s a new Muppet story every day, and certainly no lack of content for Muppet Mondays. So thanks, Disney! And keep it up!
Speaking of Disney and Volunteerism, Disney was nice enough to post some rehearsal video of the new “Honorary VoluntEars Calvacade,” which, of course, stars Kermit and Miss Piggy (and, somewhat surprisingly, Sweetums). I was fortunate enough to get down to Disneyland last month, but it looks like I’ll have to make another trip (pilgrimage?).
However, while I previously emphasized the abundance of current Muppet news, I think for today we’ll highlight a classic clip, Pete’s insightful words of wisdom from The Muppets Take Manhattan:
Really makes you think, no?
Filed under Mickey Mouse Club, Muppet Mondays, The Big Screen
It’s Just Another Muppet Monday
First Monday of 2010 and already we have enough Muppet material to last a month. Talk about setting the bar high right off the bat.
Most notably, the Muppets appeared on last night’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (which begs the question, at this point, does EMHE really require the “Home Edition” designation. Do people even remember the original Extreme Makeover, a less dirty, less Foxier version of Fox’s The Swan?). Even better than renovating a home and changing a family’s life is that the Muppets got to work with Sam Champion, who boasts the 2nd best weatherman name, just behind Storm Field (interestingly, however, Champion might be the front-runner for best overall name. It’s fascinating and complex how these things work). As usual, the Muppets demonstrated their unique brand of mayhem, as well as their extra-large hearts inside adorably tiny bodies. Coming on the heels of their work with Habit for Humanity, the Muppets now seem to be the go-to team for carpentry (speaking of which, as it is now 2010, make sure to check out Disney’s “Give a day, get a day” list of participating programs. Surprisingly, being an extra on The New Adventures of Old Christine is already all filled up. Even more surprising is that Disney considers being an extra on a CBS sitcom an acceptable form of volunteerism). But really, will ABC just give the Muppets their own show already? Yes, Muppets Tonight didn’t set the world on fire. And yes, America’s Next Muppet didn’t make it to air. But just because that didn’t work out doesn’t mean that the Muppets don’t deserve another crack at it (and, please, the opportunity should be on ABC, not The Disney Channel. And if not on ABC, maybe they should put Kermit and Co. in a gritty cop drama and send them to FX).
Check out the full show here, and an exclusive clip below:
Vodpod videos no longer available.In other news, it was just announced last week that the Muppets film debut, The Muppet Movie, was included on the list of features to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Finally, the government takes a real step to preserve a national treasure (also, many thanks to my roommate who righted a wrong and gave me The Muppet Movie on DVD for HanuChristmas. I’m embarrassed to say that I only had it on VHS (although, I might as well just have waited until they perfect/release the technology to imprint it on my brain)). I guess, unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama cares about the Muppets.
And, finally, I thought it really fitting/kinda sad that Amazon offered me these recommendations today. It’s not that they’re wrong. It’s that they’re so right.
Filed under Century 21 Reality, Mickey Mouse Club, Muppet Mondays, Muppets
Muppet Monday: How the Muppets Are Already Improving Your 2010 (And Why Even Disney Knows That Kermit is Superior to Mickey)
We’ve well-documented how the Muppets are just dominating the end of 2009. However, will it continue in 2010? Well, that remains to be seen, but they’ve already made it so your 2010 will be a little better.
A few months ago Disney announced their “give a day, get a day” promotion, whereby if you volunteer for a day at a participating organization you’ll then receive a free one day ticket to a Disney park (I’m sure there are some annoying restrictions, but I’m not going to do all the work for you), and soon followed up with a series of commercials starring the Muppets touting the promotion. Interesting that they’re using the Muppets and not Mickey and the gang (Disney first made the announcement by having their characters volunteer in five cities, sending Mickey & Co to four of the cities, and assigning Kermit and Miss Piggy to LA, the biggest media market of the five), but when you think about it, it does make sense. Mickey, and the other full body suit characters, can’t talk, can’t emote, and has no expressions beyond hand gestures and head nods. The Muppets, on the other hand, feel living and breathing. You sometimes forget they are not real animate creatures, instead a hand surrounded felt and rubber and glue-on eyes. But while Kermit can speak genuinely and effectively about the importance of Habitat for Humanity, if Goofy attempted to do the same thing it would seem, well, exactly that. Goofy.
Below you can see the Swedish Chef wreaking his usual brand of havoc with Iron Chef Cat Cora, and then check out the additional spots with (ABC stars) Taye Diggs (maybe the only man with the power to make Miss Piggy forget about Kermit), Teri Hatcher, James Denton and Sara Ramirez.
The promotion starts January 1st, 2010. So while we expect big things from the Muppets next year, they’ve already gone ahead and made an impact on the next decade. Hopefully this also means that if you give a day, you get a day with the Muppets. A larger presence at the Disney parks is far overdue, and, as Disney has implicitly admitted, Kermit can do more good than Mickey could ever imagine (and, in case you didn’t know, Mickey’s imagination is ridiculous).
Filed under Analysis, Mickey Mouse Club, Muppet Mondays, Muppets
Jumped The Snark 