Grumpy
09-21-2008, 05:40 AM
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, September 21, 2008
The New York Times
BURBANK, Calif. – Poor Miss Piggy. Like most aging stars in Hollywood, that prima donna pig, along with most of her Muppet pals, has struggled to find substantial roles. Almost nobody under the age of 30 remembers "Pigs in Space." What's a down-on-her-luck puppet to do?
Walt Disney Co. feels her pain. Since it bought Miss Piggy, Kermit and crew in 2004, executives have struggled to figure out how to put them to work. Efforts in 2005 to rejuvenate the furry creatures created by Jim Henson sputtered as the Muppets got lobbed between corporate divisions.
Now Disney is giving it another go. This time the Muppets are getting the Hannah Montana treatment, being blasted into every pop-culture nook and cranny that the company owns.
"We think there is a Muppet gene in everybody," said Lylle Breier, a Disney executive who is the new general manager of Muppets Studio.
Disney Channel is presenting new specials – the first ran last month, the second will be shown in October – in which Muppets interact with High School Musical stars and the Jonas Brothers.
A stream of comic videos is in production for Disney.com, where a new Muppet channel recently made its debut, and videos have been unleashed on YouTube. NBC will broadcast a Christmas special in December, and special skits will arrive on certain ABC DVD releases.
And then there is the merchandise: Muppet clothing at Urban Outfitters and Limited Too stores; a Muppet boutique at FAO Schwarz.
Disney does not want to create a flash in the pan, but creating any flash at all is the challenge. With the exception of a guest appearance here and there, the characters have largely been in cold storage for the last three years. Ms. Breier said recent focus groups indicated that some children could not even identify Kermit and Miss Piggy.
It has been a rough decade for the Muppets. After Mr. Henson's death from a rare bacterial infection, at 53, in 1990 his five children took control of the company. The last Muppets movie, Muppets From Space, sputtered at the box office in 1999.
The next year Mr. Henson's heirs sold the family business to the German media company EM.TV and Merchandising for about $680 million. But as the German conglomerate slumped under crushing debt and an insider-trading and fraud investigation, the Muppets stagnated. The Henson children later bought back the classic Muppets and the characters from the HBO series Fraggle Rock for $78 million (before selling the classic characters to Disney in 2004 for $75 million); the Sesame Street Muppets were sold to Children's Television Workshop.
But even Disney has struggled to rekindle the Muppet spark.
Gently attaching the Muppets to today's touchstone issues – healthy living, the environment – is one way Disney hopes to make them more relevant to the young and the trend conscious. Hence Miss Piggy's donning of workout gear and Kermit's recent appearance on ESPN (yet another Disney outpost) chatting with athletes about being environmentally friendly.
At the same time maintaining the core DNA of the characters is crucial. Miss Piggy, as a result, does not suddenly become a vegan; she communicates about exercise by talking about how she hates to exercise. Kermit does not pontificate on going green; he listens to others talk about it in his humble, unassuming way.
The New York Times
The New York Times
BURBANK, Calif. – Poor Miss Piggy. Like most aging stars in Hollywood, that prima donna pig, along with most of her Muppet pals, has struggled to find substantial roles. Almost nobody under the age of 30 remembers "Pigs in Space." What's a down-on-her-luck puppet to do?
Walt Disney Co. feels her pain. Since it bought Miss Piggy, Kermit and crew in 2004, executives have struggled to figure out how to put them to work. Efforts in 2005 to rejuvenate the furry creatures created by Jim Henson sputtered as the Muppets got lobbed between corporate divisions.
Now Disney is giving it another go. This time the Muppets are getting the Hannah Montana treatment, being blasted into every pop-culture nook and cranny that the company owns.
"We think there is a Muppet gene in everybody," said Lylle Breier, a Disney executive who is the new general manager of Muppets Studio.
Disney Channel is presenting new specials – the first ran last month, the second will be shown in October – in which Muppets interact with High School Musical stars and the Jonas Brothers.
A stream of comic videos is in production for Disney.com, where a new Muppet channel recently made its debut, and videos have been unleashed on YouTube. NBC will broadcast a Christmas special in December, and special skits will arrive on certain ABC DVD releases.
And then there is the merchandise: Muppet clothing at Urban Outfitters and Limited Too stores; a Muppet boutique at FAO Schwarz.
Disney does not want to create a flash in the pan, but creating any flash at all is the challenge. With the exception of a guest appearance here and there, the characters have largely been in cold storage for the last three years. Ms. Breier said recent focus groups indicated that some children could not even identify Kermit and Miss Piggy.
It has been a rough decade for the Muppets. After Mr. Henson's death from a rare bacterial infection, at 53, in 1990 his five children took control of the company. The last Muppets movie, Muppets From Space, sputtered at the box office in 1999.
The next year Mr. Henson's heirs sold the family business to the German media company EM.TV and Merchandising for about $680 million. But as the German conglomerate slumped under crushing debt and an insider-trading and fraud investigation, the Muppets stagnated. The Henson children later bought back the classic Muppets and the characters from the HBO series Fraggle Rock for $78 million (before selling the classic characters to Disney in 2004 for $75 million); the Sesame Street Muppets were sold to Children's Television Workshop.
But even Disney has struggled to rekindle the Muppet spark.
Gently attaching the Muppets to today's touchstone issues – healthy living, the environment – is one way Disney hopes to make them more relevant to the young and the trend conscious. Hence Miss Piggy's donning of workout gear and Kermit's recent appearance on ESPN (yet another Disney outpost) chatting with athletes about being environmentally friendly.
At the same time maintaining the core DNA of the characters is crucial. Miss Piggy, as a result, does not suddenly become a vegan; she communicates about exercise by talking about how she hates to exercise. Kermit does not pontificate on going green; he listens to others talk about it in his humble, unassuming way.
The New York Times