posted
What is Miss Piggy's real name (as opposed to her stage name)?
This -was- revealed during the course of The Muppet Show, though the first and last name were divulged on different episodes.
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The Dixie Chicks have a GREAT cover of "Rainbow Connection" on the charity album Mary Had a Little Amp -- Amazon linkPosts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
The answer: Whenever a Fraggle sings a song or plays music, a magical creature of living light is produced.
In return for the gift of life, these light creatures fill the Fraggles with pep and the desire to be active.
This was discovered on the episode where Gobo was having trouble composing a song, so he asked -everyone- to stop singing. He intended to clear his head, but was shocked as the entire Rock grew darker and darker...and his friends got sleepier...
New question tomorrow.
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posted
J.P. Grosse. But he doesn't own the theater anymore. Scooter inherited it and it is now the Muppet Theater.
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posted
hmm, are you sure? ok, ok, i believe you. oh wait, thats right, some stuck up biznatch inherited it and tried to take it away from the muppets. good movie. i think whoopie goldberg really is god.
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posted
In the film "Muppets From Space" it was revealed that the Great Gonzo's odd looks and unclassifiable species were due to him being an extraterrestrial creature.
However, in the book "Of Muppets and Men: The Making of the Muppet Show" a far different explanation for Gonzo's bizarre looks was put forth. What was the explanation?
A slightly easier, bonus question: Who (according to the bear) wrote Fozzie's jokes?
posted
Ok Puffy, though I don't have the answers to your questions, I'm going to ask YOU a question. Has there been any buzz about getting Sesame Street on DVD? I was lamenting its absence the other day and found myself remembering some of this hilarity and all out brilliance...I actually got quite nostalgic. Do you know? Have you heard anything? I've only seen those obnoxious and really short "The best of..." collections on DVD. I own the best of Kermit and it was really underwhelming.
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Sesame Workshop tried rerunning "classic" Sesame Street episodes on the cable channel Noggin as Sesame Street: Unpaved...and apparently did not like the results.
For now, DVD releases will be limited to themed "Clips Showcases" and TV specials.
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posted
Thinking of old Sesame Steet episodes made me recall the vast difference in how they handled the passing of human cast members. When Mr. Hooper died, they dedicated a special episode to the subject on Thanksgiving Day the very next season.
When David's actor died? They just stopped mentioning him. Like he never existed at all.
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I've only been able to get my kids to watch a few episodes but there were some new characters: Zoe, Baby Bear (with a speech impediment no less), Goldilocks.
And I have to admit that I thought Fraggle Rock was a Canadian tv show because it was just a little too out there in strange-land. But I was also becoming a teenager at that point too so...
Fun trivia Puffy!
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posted
Sesame Street is still on, but as years go by certain episodes are "retired"...some of the segments are still repeated, but one is unlikely to see an episode where Maria is a teenager and single these days.
Fraggle Rock was a true "International" show. Each country it was broadcast in had its own version of "Doc" and "Sprocket".
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posted
I would only want Sesame street from 1974(?) to about 1990 or so. Is that too much to ask?
Thanks for the info. I wonder if we can start lobbying or something. I really want to have it for my (future and eventual) kids.
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posted
Sesame Street died when Maria and Luis hooked up. I'm sorry, but there's simply no question about it. Maria and David for-evah!
(Arguments can also be made for its sucking re: David's unmentioned death, Snuffy's visibility, and the addition of the "Elmo's World" segment.)
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posted
is snuffulufugus(sp?) still on there? god, that guy was great. or girl. was snuffulufugus a boy or a girl? for that matter, was bigbird a girl or a boy?
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posted
Wait a minute, they made Snuffy visible to everyone? Did they move Oscar into a penthouse, too? Sesame Street is dead to me now.
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posted
Big Bird is a boy, as is Snuffy. And yes, both are still on the show, but I haven't seen Snuffy in a LONG time. I think they've largely replaced him with a variety of elephants, probably because the elephants are single-person suits and Snuffy was such an uncomfortable costume. Plus, once Snuffy became visible, he ceased to be remotely interesting as a character.
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posted
wait, snuffy was invisible? i don't remember that, but then, i was, like, 6 at the time. i thought he always just walked out of the scene just as anyone else walked in.
one of my favorite moments was when BigBird sang the alphabet song out of order. I think that was the very first time i ever thought "outside of the box."
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posted
I would love to see some of the really early episodes, from back when Oscar was orange and Grover was greenish brown, but what I'd most like would be a DVD containing all of the animated sequences created in the first decade of production.
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posted
Here is a site that provides what looks to me like an accurate sketch of the show's history. It confirms all of the points I was aware of, so I assume it's correct in the bits that were new to me.
I wasn't aware of the reasons behind the decision to let adults see Snuffy:
quote:Snuffy was originally conceived as a nod to imaginary friends children often have. However, the Children's Television Workshop ended this running gag in light of high-profile stories on pedophilia and sexual abuse of children that had aired on shows such as "60 Minutes" and "20/20" in the mid-1980s. The thinking was, if nobody believed what Big Bird says, children who were sexual abuse victims might be afraid to report what happened, since the adults would not believe them.
Despite the Children's Television Workshop's intentions, some longtime fans of Sesame Street said the revelation of Snuffy to the outside world created a suspension of disbelief. It is sometimes cited as a moment when Sesame Street "jumped the shark."
posted
Snuffy was made visible -- if I recall correctly -- while the show was reworked to appeal to younger viewers and it was thought that encouraging kids to believe in invisible friends was a bad move.
(Edited to add: ah, I was wrong. Should have typed slower.)
Sesame Street is no longer a brilliant teacher. It's now a colorful babysitter. Not as much emphasis on problem-solving and interpersonal relationships, much more on a fiercely annoying little red thing.
posted
Dude. Snuffy made real because of sexual abuse? And I didn't even know about the death of the actor that played David. He was cool.
Noemon, I would be very interested in such a DVD collection as well. A lot of the animated shorts and songs and whatnot really meant a lot to me as a kid. And I agree, Narnia, that that is about the time-span I would be interested in as well.
If they ever release the old episodes, there is no doubt in my mind that there will be lots of buyers.
Elmo does absolutely nothing for me. But as I had a daughter who was in love with him for a couple years, I cannot hate him, either. I have fond memories of sending a crawling 7 month old on "find Elmo" searches. We would put him in a remote, hidden part of the room, and she would crawl till she found him. She couldn't sleep without him. Thankfully, the Elmo-love has fallen by the wayside.
Edit: What I can't stand about Sesame Street anymore is the repeating formula. Seriously. Baby Bear's Super-Hero-Guy gets *really* old after awhile. And I dislike Baby Bear *far* more than I dislike Elmo. Ugh, and that finding Ernie thing? What's up with that?
Sesame Street was great in it's day because you never knew what was coming. It kept you guessing. Now it just kills brain cells.
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posted
In thinking/remembering about Sesame Street, I've had "Ladybug Picnic" running through my head all afternoon! Ack!
I also really liked the pinball looking segment where it counted to a snappy tune 1,2,3--45-6,7,8--9-10-eleven, tweeeeeelve
Apparently the counting songs did it for me. Any other songs you remember that tend to stick in your head?
Edit to add: For me, Elmo was cute at first but I went into overload when he was everywhere all the time!
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posted
Lower Case N is a classic in my mind, as is D!D!D!D!.
My favorite animated sequence was the trippy "Just remember everything you passed, but when you go back, make the first thing the last". I have no idea what the actual title for it might be. Anyone remember what I'm talking about?
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posted
Puffy, what are the answers to the trivia questions about Gonzo's looks and who wrote Fozzy's jokes? I don't remember.
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posted
Lower case N is one of the best songs ever.
I love Captain Vegetable as well as Captain Breakfast. I also love their spoof puppet of Chubby Checker who sang some of the best songs on the show: "Tell me WHY do you always do the opposite of what I do?" "A rock's not alive No no no! and a sock's not alive no no no!."
Kermit's fairy tale news reporting was genius. "Rapunzel, rapunzel LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!!" and I still remember the 10 Commandments of Health song. One of the best IMO.
The animated shorts were also delightful (lower case N, ladybug picnic, the 11 song) and all of the Ernie and Bert skits are branded into my very brain forever. I think my favorite was when Ernie kept trying to think of things to count in order to fall asleep that wouldn't wake up Bert. I laugh just thinking about that.
Ah....*sigh* All of that is such a huge part of my family culture and childhood, I really really want to have it preserved.
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posted
thinking back on all of the Sesame Street stuff made me start thinking about Pinwheel Playhouse. anybody else remember that show? it was great. probably not up to par with SS, but still, it stuck with me, that's for sure.
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