This has bugged me since I first saw it and still does. Sorry if you're reading this and it's a treasured childhood memory. The Muppets should be doing their own―well, you know what I mean―interpretations of songs. If The Muppet Show were going to do a version of "Penny Lane" they'd never just restage the Beatles' promotional film. So why is Kermit just doing David Byrne moves in a David Byrne suit?
On balance I think it's good that Muppets Tonight existed, if only because it gave Prince a change to perform for children. But the mixture of Henson's absence and the meddling of American TV networks seems to have caused standards to slip.
2 comments:
Have to agree with you about this one - it's awful . Just because somebody is able to manipulate Kermit's head, the entirety of the performance just makes you sad. Besides, the weird twitchiness that was fun when done by David Byrne, a Kermit head only serves to remind us how much we miss Jim Henson. Especially since Henson's Kermit is at least as personal a puppet to him as Edgar Bergen's Charlie McCarthy or Sharri Lewis's Lambchop was to them.
We never did watch Muppets Tonight but we did have a quick look at (the artist formerly known as) Prince when he arrived at the studio(?) He was a very sweet guy who's also sadly missed.
Great header btw :)
You're very much right. I'm sure Steve Whitmire was a good puppeteer on his own terms, and Jim Henson was a mentor to him. He was Wembley Fraggle, among other things. But some people just can't be replaced, and in this character Henson was one of them. Which in this case puts one bad idea on top of another.
I only watched a little of it. My opinion of it would have been higher if I hadn't had memories of the original. A lot of the guests were game at least. Prince built up an imposing image throughout the 80s but it turned out he was willing to make fun of himself.
Seemed right to tie it back to the song.
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