If Jimmy Fallon didn’t already have the planet’s best house band, I’d say he should hire the Muppets, because, as seen in this outtake from their pre-Christmas visit to Late Night, the Muppets don’t only do Christmas Carols:
Vodpod videos no longer available.Although, when I first saw the link I was hoping it was going to be this version of “One.” Now, that would have been cool.
Filed under Mickey Mouse Club, Muppets, Virulent
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
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
The boys of the Beelzebubs aren’t the only ones who are able to make “beautiful” music with just their voices. Nope. Beaker, Animal and Swedish Chef can hold their own, as shown in the new holiday video from Muppets Studios, the “Ringing of the Bells:”
Doesn’t that just put you in the holiday spirit?
I had intended to post the Kermit/Robert De Niro duet of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from Saturday Night Live, but even though it was included in “A Very Gilly Christmas,” it’s nowhere to be found on the interwebs. Tragic. But, it’s true, it is better to give than to receive.
Anyone else feel like watching Home Alone now?
Filed under Muppet Mondays, Muppets, Virulent
For the past few weeks, starting with the days around Thanksgiving and the hoopla over the Muppet’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” video, I’ve been posting Muppet-related entries every Friday (I think). However, today, we usher in a new era of Muppet posts, “Muppet Mondays,”* a hopefully weekly addition to Jumped The Snark (however, this certainly does not preclude the possibility of posting Muppet-related material on days other than Monday).
The inaugural Muppet Monday post is not just a viral video, but something much greater than yet. Yesterday, even though I’ve been visiting Southern California for the last 12 years and have been living here for the past 7 months (to the date, in fact) I had yet to visit the original Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland. Well, that all changed about 36 hours ago. And sure, I enjoyed myself on the two Buzz Lightyear rides, was charmed by the Monsters, Inc attraction, was thoroughly spooked by Pirates of the Caribbean, and napped during the Finding Nemo submarine tour, these all paled in comparison to what was the clear highlight: Muppet*Vision 3D.
Continue: I see the show, my life is complete. Also, the Muppets & Disney, what could have been…
Filed under Mickey Mouse Club, Muppet Mondays, Muppets, Other people's stuff
Is this a tradition?!?
As I’ve previously mentioned, I normally will not tolerate any kind of Muppet mockery (stoned Kermit, for example). However, this protection over the brand also extends to employ of the actual Muppets themselves. It’s been almost 20 years since Jim Henson left us prematurely, and then ownership of our puppet friends has changed hands twice, first to a German company and then finally to Disney, so there’s cause for concern that the Muppets might be whored out for commercials not worthy of the Muppet name (and, no, I am not including the Pizza Hut spots. Those combine two things I love), or forced into new, edgy personas in an attempt to be more relevant; less Sesame Street and more Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. It was then with great trepidation that I watched a video posted by Gawker TV entitled, “Kermit is a Giant Slut on the Today Show.”
Fortunately, it was not as bad as the title indicated. The “lewd pop-culture reference” teased by Gawker seemed to me more like just a pop-culture reference, perhaps a biting one, kicking a tiger while he’s down, but not quite lewd.
Vodpod videos no longer available.In fact, I kind of prefer this segment to an earlier one in the show when Ms. Piggy made a rather obvious (and perhaps cruder) Swine Flu quip.
Vodpod videos no longer available.I’ll take relevant feline humor over lame porcine jokes any day of the week.
Good work, Muppets! Way to not debase yourselves to meet the normal Today Show level of discourse.
But it’s still good.
Twitter is all abuzz with Retweets about a new Muppet video uploaded to YouTube today in which our favorites perform their very own version of Queen’s classic “Bohemian Rhapsody” music video!
Pretty amusing, but how cool would it have been if it featured Kermit and Fozzie in the Mirth Mobile, head banging and lip syncing along, Fozzie in the Dana Carvey/Garth role behind the wheel and not knowing the words. Oh, well, I guess it would have looked like this, but with “Bohemian Rhapsody.” And maybe Animal going crazy in the backseat.
Got to admit it though, the Muppets sure look good in 1080p.
Filed under Crucial Taunt, Muppets, Virulent
Jumped The Snark 