Two weeks ago, Nicholas Stoller, co-writer of The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted and friend of the blog, was on the promotional circuit for his new comedy Neighbors. One of his stops was at Collider.com, where they asked him a few questions about the Muppets. His answers ranged from why he thought Muppets Most Wanted underperformed, and this interesting tidbit: "I know they’re working on something to get them back on TV. I have no idea where it’s at, but I definitely think so. I mean, they’re such rich characters, and it’s very easy to pitch on stories for them, and think of ideas for them. They don’t feel used up... I think there’s a big opportunity for that kind of variety show. You could do it partially live. There are all these things you could do with Muppets that you can’t do with a lot of other things." So that's potentially hugely exciting! We'll keep you posted on everything we were regarding Muppets on TV!
Turkey Hollow is a picturesque town where hundreds of years ago, unbeknownst to the citizens, a meteorite landed nearby a small brook on the outskirts of town. One Thanksgiving, while young Timmy Henderson practices his guitar, he’s accompanied by strange, unearthly, musical sounds. That meteorite wasn’t a rock at all but an egg holding seven furry, goofy monsters, each with a unique musical sound. After the initial shock, Timmy befriends the lovable creatures following him all around Turkey Hollow. Not everyone takes a liking to the visitors though and it’s up to Timmy to protect his new friends and save Thanksgiving!
The first season of Creature Shop Challenge was a major, major triumph. Not only did the premiere episode set a ratings record for Syfy, it was also creatively in line with the Henson spirit and is perhaps the best project out of The Jim Henson Company in twenty years. The show not only highlighted the history of the company (with the Skeksis Creature Brief in the best episode of the season) while also showing how the company and the Creature Shop are still relevant today. The team of artists assembled as contestants on the show are unendingly talented. The outpouring of creativity and fun on display in every episode every week was phenomenal and unlike anything else on television.
My favorite aspect of the show was the fact that we got to see Brian Henson and Kirk Thatcher and other important Creature Shop personnel on TV every week. It was really cool to get to know influential Creature Shop designers and builders through the show with the Master Sessions and guest judges every week. But how can you resist seeing and hearing from Brian Henson every week? The show only highlighted how incredibly brilliant, wise, and fun he is. I didn't realize how much I loved hearing Brian Henson's perspective on things until I was getting it every week. But the real MVP of the season was Kirk Thatcher, master Muppet director and creature designer, who showed up every week with a huge smile on his face, a goofy piece of wardrobe, and some sage-like advice for every contestant. He's a joy and I'm so glad this show has brought him into the mainstream.
The contestants on the show were all such unique, wonderful personalities that it made it hard to say goodbye to any of them when one would be eliminated. It was such a blast to see each of these creature designers in their element, rocking the buzz-saw or the sculpting tool or the paintbrush to create magic. The creature they made week to week were pure magic. They came alive and they were real--just like all great Creature Shop creations. Quite frankly, all of the contestants deserve to work at the Creature Shop and that's what made it so hard every time one of them was eliminated. The pool of talent assembled for this show was simply unreal.
My favorite creature designer, and seemingly everyone's favorite, was Melissa. She embodies the Henson spirit extremely well. She is optimistic, happy, talented, and never says die. I was very disappointed that she didn't win the job, but I'm hoping that somewhere down the line she is hired by Henson before somewhere else snaps her up. She's a joy and would bring so much to The Jim Henson Company stable. Plus, her talent is undeniable. Her creatures were almost always my favorite every week, with her swamp creature and her black-light bird standing out the most in my mind. I'm still incredibly impressed by the winner of the Challenge, Robert, who brought an intense talent week after week. All of his work was top notch from beginning to end.
While I adore the show, it isn't perfect. The biggest offense, to me, is that every week a horde of super talented "professional puppeteers" came to help perform the designers' creatures, and every week the names of these puppeteers was never mentioned. This is a slap in the face to these hugely talented individuals who gave life to the creatures. A simple name tag added in front of the puppeteers when they come onscreen would've been enough for me. What's worse is that it seemed like the producers actively avoided mentioning the names of the puppeteers. During the talking head interviews, the creature designers always referred to them as "my puppeteer" or "my professional puppeteer" and it seemed rather forced. This is the main issue I would fix if the show returns for a second season.
I would also love it if the show could somehow showcase other aspects of The Jim Henson Company. Yes, it is the Creature Shop Challenge, but I think it would be really exciting to show off the digital puppetry, regular puppetry, and other departments of the Henson Company. I'm sure that this season of the show really helped define for people what exactly The Jim Henson Company does, but expanding beyond the Creature Shop in a potential next season would help that even more. It would also be nice for host Gigi Edgley to have more to do. She's a delight and only seeing her once or twice an episode for a few minutes isn't enough.
Performed by...
Seymour is an elephant who worked at KMUP Studios throughout the run of the series Muppets Tonight. Seymour was first and foremost the performance partner of Pepe the King Prawn. The duo would take any chance they could to get a role on the show. Whether they were doing their "Elifino" gag, impersonating Miss Piggy, or hosting a cooking show, Seymour and Pepe were always inept. They are best known for their intro jingle, "I'm Seymour," "I'm Pepe," "We're two of a kind!" "I'm a little bit forward," "And I've got a big behind."
In the first season of Muppets Tonight, when they weren't shamelessly attempting to perform on the show, Seymour and Pepe worked as elevator operators for the studio. During this gig they made Martin literally Short and confused quite a few other guest stars on the show as well. Seymour and Pepe's elevator operators role was significantly underplayed when compared to their performance aspirations. 
In the second season of Muppets Tonight, Seymour and Pepe were promoted to employees of the KMUP commissary. Their attempts at cooking usually failed--especially Seymour's, whose grape balls caught on fire. Thankfully it led to a fun song from Dennis Quaid. In another episode, Seymour was attacked by a giant squid and in another he squashed a musical ant and ruined Rick Moranis' big "High Hopes" number.
The 30th Anniversary website for Fraggle Rock has officially launched with a wealth of new information about what to expect from the show's upcoming anniversary promotions. This includes wall graphics in June, an all-encompassing collector's book in July, and (most exciting) a so-called "Classic Music Collection" in November, plus much more! This is only the beginning of the excitement, so be on the lookout for more!
But wait, there's more right here! A friend of the site alerted us the fact that select clips and episodes of Fraggle Rock would be playing on the TVs at the kids entertainment chain Chuck E. Cheese's. Our friend let us know that a partnership with The Jim Henson Company allowed for episodes of Fraggle Rock (and Pajanimals) to be shown in the restaurants. There's also talk of some Fraggle prizes being available for kids as well. So if you've got kids and they've been clamoring to go to Chuck E. Cheese's... now you've got a Fraggle-ish reason to go!
The Jim Henson Company is developing a brand new reality competition series for the Syfy Network. The Jim Henson Creature Shop will feature Brian Henson as a judge. Check out the press release from Syfy for more info: "For generations the craftsmen at The Jim
Henson Creature Shop have brought to life imaginative, lovable and
memorable characters that have enthralled audiences around the world.
Now, aspiring creature makers will have an opportunity to win the job of
a lifetime – an apprenticeship with the Creature Shop. Teams of amateur
creators will face off to build elaborate and awe-inspiring creatures,
ranging from animatronic monsters and fantastical puppets, to life-like
beasts and beyond! Creations are judged by Brian Henson – son of Jim
Henson and Chairman to the Henson empire – along with top industry
experts. Executive producers: Brian Henson (The Jim Henson Company) and
Joseph Freed."
Performed by...
Dr. Phil van Neuter is a scientist, and host of "Tales from the Vet," a recurring sketch on Muppets Tonight. In the sketch, Dr. Van Neuter presents scary, animal-themed, stories, with assistance by his brother-in-law and Igor-like sidekick, Mulch. He makes you wonder about what sort of vet tech school he went to! But the stories, which include "Taylor, the Turkey Who Loved Thanksgiving" and "Percy, the Pork-Eating Pig."
Dr.Van Neuter has occasionally presented special editions of the segment, such as the time he read a fan letter asking about how he met his wife, Composta Heap (including his rendition of the song, "She Blinded Me With Science"), or when he and Mulch brought Arsenio Hall (who had died right before the show started) back from the dead. Perhaps the most memorable Dr. Van Neuter segment occurred when Mulch accidentally played a video from a Christmas party, where Dr. Van Neuter made a fool out of himself by getting drunk on eggnog.
After Muppets Tonight ended, Dr. Van Neuter continued to appear for a few years. In Muppets from Space he was a brain surgeon for C.O.V.N.E.T, where he almost sucked Gonzo's brain out with a Quadrilobal Brain Probe, until the lab rats interfered. It was revealed here that he hated rats, but he got over it by the end of the movie. Dr. Phil Van Neuter later showed up at the MuppetFest Fan Convention in 2001, where he had his only interaction with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. His last appearance occurred later in 2001 when he was among the Muppets who showed up for a week of Family Feud.
Ryan Dosier - September 24th is always a special day in the lives of Muppet fans, and this year is no different. 2011 marks 75 years after the birth of Jim Henson. Jim is responsible for everything you see here on this webpage and we truly wouldn't be anything without his being born on this day 75 years ago. Emotions are an odd thing on this day as well. We feel sad that Jim isn't here, but we feel happy that 75 years later, we're still talking about this kid from Mississippi who took his mother's coat, sewed up his dream, and created a legacy that continues to grow and inspire every day.
When we were kids, my brother and sisters and I were always allowed to stay up late to watch our father’s appearances on The Tonight Show or The Ed Sullivan Show. No matter how late it was or how young we were, my mother would wake us up and trundle us down to the living room television. We’d be giddy—like Christmas. When he came home, he’d head down to the garage where he had a workshop, and repair everything that we broke while he was away—or build a dollhouse for one of my sisters. Jim never stopped making things.
Jim often had a little lesson about the important things in life: How to be a good person. How to believe in yourself and follow your dreams. And above all, how to forgive. If anything was stolen from one of us—like when the car was broken into—he would always say, “Oh well, they probably needed that stuff more than we did.”
BRIAN HENSON 
During the 1980's, Brian began to work outside of The Jim Henson Company, preforming Jack Pumpkinhead in the film Return To Oz and Audrey II in the Frank Oz directed Little Shop of Horrors. Brian worked often with the Creature Shop, preforming Hoggle in Labyrinth and the reccuring role of the Dog in The StoryTeller. He also appeared in The Christmas Toy, as Cruiser, a taxi-driver toy, and appeared occasionally on Dinosaurs.
After Jim Henson's death in 1990, Brian took over The Jim Henson Company as president, chairman, and CEO in 1991. Brian's work with the Muppets grew as well, directing The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, as well as various episodes of Muppets Tonight. When reruns of The Muppet Show aired on the Odyssey network he recorded several introductions that were played in front of them.
On Muppets Tonight, he also became one of the core Muppet performers with characters such as Dr. Phil van Nueter, Seymour, and Sal Minella, his most popular character. These characters have not appeared for some time, although Sal did have a cameo in "Bohemian Rhapsody," but he was not performed by Brian. Brian also performed Scooter, Janice, and the Newsman in a few appearances in the early 2000's.
In recent years, Brian's role with the Muppets and Disney has dissipated as he focuses most of his energy on projects with The Jim Henson Company. He is currently executive producer of the Henson-produced Sid the Science Kid and has directed several episodes, but his brainchild is the popular Henson Alternative series Puppet Up! and Stuffed and Unstrung which features Brian and many Henson puppeteers as they put on improvisational shows live in front of an audience.
Parks and Recreation's Rashida Jones, one of the human leads of the upcoming The Muppets movie, talked to MTV's Movies Blog about the picture and her involvement. She called the experience "...surreal and awesome and really fun." (Duh.) Jones also mentioned her special involvement with Kermit in the movie, saying that she even requested for him to be off-camera with her, treating him like a real person on and off camera. (You mean he's not a real person?) But what really excites this Muppet fan is this paragraph: "They have successfully addressed the fact that [the Muppets have] kind of been gone a while and the fact that this generation doesn't really know who they are...I think they did a great job of balancing what was and what should and will be." If that isn't a fantastic endorsement for the movie, I don't know what is!
Roger Langridge's final arc of The Muppet Show Comic Book, "Four Seasons," has been tossed around with release dates since Christmas time with very little in the way of actual updates on the likelihood of seeing the arc released. Well, unfortunately, our good friends over at ToughPigs have a reluctant and disappointing answer. It's all very complicated and annoying, but the main point is that at this time there are no plans to release the arc. The best way to possibly see this arc released is to send a bunch of tweets to Disney Comics on Twitter (@DisneyComics), telling them how much we'd love to see this final arc of this fantastic book released.
Remember a few weeks ago when Neil Patrick Harris interviewed Brian Henson at the San Francisco SketchFest? Well, photos of said event have finally surfaced over on the Henson Alternative Wiki. There are some incredible pictures of both Brian and NPH fooling around with some Henson puppets and they both appear to be having a fantastic time. (Once again, duh.) This once again makes me wish I could have been there for this awesome event!
Friend of the blog and fun guy Cory Edwards has an incredible charity auction going on now on his blog. He is auctioning off a signed copy of the Fraggle Rock Complete Series set, autographed by Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and Karen Prell, along with their Fraggle characters including Boober Fraggle, Wembley Fraggle, Red Fraggle, World's Oldest Fraggle, Large Marvin, and more! If I had the money I would most certainly bid on this incredible collector's item... so I really hope a caring Muppet fans gets this great piece to add to his or her collection! 
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