{"id":74,"date":"2011-04-11T08:57:27","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T13:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/?p=74"},"modified":"2011-04-11T08:57:53","modified_gmt":"2011-04-11T13:57:53","slug":"its-time-to-play-the-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/its-time-to-play-the-music\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s time to play the music."},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Times has an interesting article<\/a> on the history of the Muppets franchise and how, essentially, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been almost destroyed several times over by mismanagement since Jim Henson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a huge Muppets fan. HUGE. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe me? Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our wedding cake.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While the article refers to MUPPETS CHRISTMAS CAROL and MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND as bombs, I liked both movies.\u00c2\u00a0 Liked, but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily love.\u00c2\u00a0 They both have their moments.\u00c2\u00a0 Odd as this may sound, I believe one of things that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s led to a sense of disembodiment for the Muppets is the strange decision to put Kermit into the background.<\/p>\n

In both the aforementioned movies, Gonzo has a more prominent role and the disastrous MUPPETS IN SPACE centers around him.\u00c2\u00a0 MUPPETS TONIGHT (which I did love, if it was a little uneven) gave hosting duties over to Clifford. (I like Clifford a lot but, again, I kept wondering why Kermit wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t featured more.) \u00c2\u00a0I think in most people’s minds, Kermit is the heart and soul of the Muppets. It’s always been peculiar to see him relegated to second banana duty. (Full disclosure: I’ve never been much of a Gonzo fan. \u00c2\u00a0He tends to irritate me. So my analysis may be biased a bit. But you can’t deny a correlation between the downward spiral of the Muppets and the sudden, inexplicable prominence of Gonzo….)<\/p>\n

I agree with the article that the Muppets are best when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being themselves, not when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking on roles in THE WIZARD OF OZ or such. I have high hopes for the movie that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming out this fall. \u00c2\u00a0It sounds like the people working on it have returned the Muppets to their roots. \u00c2\u00a0Definitely a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

I still watch episodes of the original Muppet show and wonder why they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t more prominent in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s culture.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something timeless about the sketches. (OK. Not all of them.\u00c2\u00a0 The Mummenshanz?\u00c2\u00a0 Seriously?) \u00c2\u00a0Or maybe nostalgia provides a sheen that mimics timelessness. \u00c2\u00a0Sales on the DVDs have been iffy at best.\u00c2\u00a0 I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it.<\/p>\n

Well, I sort of do. I think this article hits on some ugly truths.\u00c2\u00a0 And an ugly reality is: can the Muppets unique style and brand of humor compete with evolving tastes and technology? DOCTOR WHO essentially re-invented itself when it rebooted in 2005, shedding the shaky sets and awful SFX for cinematography and spectacle more in tune with 21st century audiences. \u00c2\u00a0 BATMAN was been re-imagined so many times, it makes the original comic books look cutesy and quaint by comparison. \u00c2\u00a0Is there such a revamp that can make the Muppets hip again? Or are they destined to become memories of a different time with a different sense of humor, going the way of Little Orphan Annie<\/a>, Captain Kangaroo<\/a>, and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie<\/a>? \u00c2\u00a0And will such a reboot remove what made the Muppets who they are?<\/p>\n

A lot is riding on this new movie. No pressure, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times has an interesting article on the history of the Muppets franchise and how, essentially, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been almost destroyed several times over by mismanagement since Jim Henson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a huge Muppets fan. HUGE. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe me? Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our wedding cake. While the article refers to MUPPETS CHRISTMAS CAROL and MUPPET TREASURE […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}