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acroyearMuppets return to TV, woo hoo! | The Disney Blog:
This August 3rd, set your DVRs to the Disney Channel to record “Studio DC: Almost Live.” The Muppets look to return to form in a half-hour, music-filled sketch comedy show that will feature many of The Disney Channels current slate of stars, as well as a few surprises. Announced celebrities include: Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, Ashley Tisdale, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song and Phill Lewis. Some of the Muppets returning include the big names like Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear, as well as some of the more familiar minor characters.Update - yeah, it's NYRF weekend, so I'm gonna have to program the vcr/dvd and hope I get it right, and/or hope for the repeat or torrent...bleh
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Date: 2008-07-29 02:44 pm (UTC)I hope somehow the power of the Muppets can rise above Disney's attempts to tank them with their merchandising machine. Sigh. I miss The Muppet Show, even though I've bought every DVD set they've thus far released. I'd love to see it return in the old format, but I don't think production companies are particularly interested in making television that appeals to adults as much as, if not more than, kids the way The Muppet Show did, and they're certainly not interested in old-format variety shows like TMS and Carol Burnett, more's the pity.
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Date: 2008-07-29 03:22 pm (UTC)It should be...interesting.
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Date: 2008-07-29 03:35 pm (UTC)they tried that with the muppets tonite stuff years ago and it simply didn't work.
plus, there's the whole Disney Channel's target market that it has been HUGELY successful in promoting. Really, for Disney, this is the final chance at a working integration between the Muppets and the rest of the property. Muppets in the parks has only had 1 attraction (a brilliant one, of course, but showing its age), and Muppets in the films have been going steadily downhill in quality and sales.
See, the thing about Disney Channels lineup today is that is really is a Mickey Mouse Club without all of the pressure of having one. Adding the muppets to that lineup can only been good for them because it'll put them into what is already a success rather than having them try to carve it out. Yes it means early on the target is more kids, but kids grow up and sometimes can demand their fandom grow up with them and have it actually work. Again, consider the Mickey Mouse club model when its a success - audiences continued to flock to Annette and a few others after the show was over.
Once this first Disney Lineup is a success and its got an audience for the characters again, they can stretch out to others.
but again, in the 1970s you could manage to get Roger Moore to stop by the studio for a week for a couple thousand. Today, don't ever expect Craig or Brosnan to do it. Same with classic rockers. Between the agents over-pricing appearances and the financial demands on licensing ('cause all DVD and repeat/syndication licenses are all worked out in advanced rather than waiting for the release to come), such appearance deals get extremely expensive and out of the budget for a cable show.
In the old days, a retired actor like George Burns or many of the Broadway stars they had could look at the muppets and go "why not, it might be fun". Today, the actor's agents simply won't let them do that anymore.
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Date: 2008-07-29 03:37 pm (UTC)mind you, part of that is the whole "variety star", which hollywood has tried to drive to extinction as rapidly as possible. the few that survive and are encouraged all, oddly enough, live in New York and not Hollywood (i.e., the cast of Scrubs, or many of the past and present cast of Law and Order).
I wrote earlier once, the phrase "multi-talented" is simply not one ever uttered anymore. damn shame, that.
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Date: 2008-07-29 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-29 05:27 pm (UTC)plus, Broderick and Lane have the Disney connection (including Broderick working for them on the Music Man remake a few years back)...trouble is, that other factor: they're all probably too damn expensive now.
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Date: 2008-07-29 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-29 10:50 pm (UTC)