A Truly Muppetational Day

 The Knoxville Fanboy Expo really knocked it out of the park this year, and I had an incredible weekend getting to meet some amazing Muppet/Henson veterans such as Bill Barretta, Kirk R. Thatcher, Steve Whitmire, and Kevin Clash, but also one of my favorite comedians, Jon Lovitz. I got spend several minutes with Bill, Kirk, and Steve, not just chatting about Muppet matters, but the art of puppetry in general - these guys really make a longtime fan feel more like an old friend, which were the biggest highlights of my day. Unfortunately, I really didn't get to chat with either Kevin or Jon - their lines were kept moving at all times, but it was still such a treat getting to meet them in person. There were still a number of other icons I would have loved to have met also, including Paul Williams, Anthony Anderson, Jaleel White, and Danny Trejo just to name a few . . . but I ran out of funds (Paul Williams alone was a third of my budget for that day) . . . that, and I couldn't find some of their tables, considering the Fanboy Expo had guests occupying all three floors of the Convention Center this year, and I had never set foot into some of these areas before.

Pepe the King Prawn may be an little asshole (Bill's words, not mine), but Bill Barretta is definitely one of the nicest, friendliest people you could ever meet!

Kirk Thatcher said we were going for a PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES vibe when posing for our selfie.

Met Steve the first time in 2018. . . .

and again in 2024

I already met Steve Whitmire once before in 2018, but I couldn't resist meeting up with him again this year; still such a great guy. As you can see, I brought my old one-eared Ernie with me again.

Elmo and Splinter almost look like they're trying to photobomb my selfie with Kevin Clash, doesn't it?

Jon Lovitz didn't really seem to appear well that day; I don't know if he was feeling under the weather or what. Still didn't want to pass up the opportunity.

Some of Kevin Clash's disguinished colleagues such as Caroll Spinney, Alan Muraoka, Roscoe Orman, Emilio Delgado, and Bob McGrath had previously signed this mammoth book years before.\

MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND was one of my favorite Muppet movies as a kid (and the first one I saw in theaters), and was one I knew each of the Fanboy Expo's guests had worked on, so I had to have them sign this for me. And yes, Bill Barretta signed it in-character as Clueless Morgan.

All in all, one of the best days of my life, and definitely the highest point of 2024 for me. (I would have worn a Jim Henson t-shirt I have for the occasion, but it was hotternell outside, so I dressed cooly to keep from melting).

Oh, and in case anybody asks, no, those aren't actual Kermit and Elmo puppets at Steve and Kevin's tables, they were replicas that were gifted to them by other fans. Steve said that the Kermit replica was actually pretty close to the real thing in terms of size and construction.

Meeting Steve Whitmire

I thought I would never have the opportunity to actually meet a Muppet Performer in my life, let alone two in less than a year. After getting to meet some of the cast of SESAME STREET - including Big Bird and Oscar performer Caroll Spinney - last October at the Knoxville Fanboy Expo, I was really excited to learn that Steve Whitmire - known for such characters as Kermit the Frog and Ernie after Jim Henson's death, as long as Rizzo the Rat, Bean Bunny, Wembley Fraggle, and many others - would also be in my town, at the exact same Expo, this summer. Needless to say, I didn't hesitate to attend.

As with the Sesame cast back in October, Steve's visit included a Q&A panel that I took the time to sit in on, and even participate in (you can hear me ask about writers Jim Lewis and Joey Mazzarino). This time, however, because it was just Steve, and the panel was in a smaller room with a smaller crowd size, the panel was a lot more intimate and personal, with more questions coming from those attending, as opposed to mostly pre-planned questions as with the Sesame cast. It was really enjoyable to listen to Steve share the experiences throughout his career with the Muppets; he was thoroughly engaging throughout the panel:

Afterwards, I went down into the bottom floor where the convention was being held in two connecting ballrooms, and with the large crowd size, it took me quite a while to find Steve's table, but I finally did and got a moment to speak with him. When I introduced myself, I was surprised to see that he actually recognized my name! Well . . . sort of. We spent a few minutes talking about characters he performed, such as Bean Bunny (and why he went from the main protagonist in THE TALE OF THE BUNNY PICNIC, to basically being the victim of the other Muppets' brutality for being obnoxiously cute), as well as the art of puppetry in general. He was an incredibly nice guy, with a very warm personality, which made meeting and speaking with him all the more special, and as with meeting the Sesame cast last October, is an experience in my life that I will never forget and would never trade for the world.

My Final Thoughts on Steve Whitmire

Could it be? The first time in the history of since I started this Scarblog, I actually finish my thoughts?

At any rate, I'm sure you have read my previous post about Steve Whitmire's termination with Disney/Muppets Studio . . . much more has come forward since then, and while it looks like the situation has pretty much plateaued at this point, here are my final thoughts:

Disney/Muppets Studios, Cheryl Henson, Lisa Henson, Brian Henson, and Rick Lyon have all come forward with the same, or very similar stories regarding Steve Whitmire and his business conduct over the years, and through it all, Steve has defended himself in the wake of each new accusation. As this progresses, it's honestly becoming harder and harder for me to sympathize with Steve. I'm not saying that I think he got what he deserved, or that he shouldn't have fought for the integrity of the Muppets - I actually agree with him on several different points, as you have read in my previous post - but with multiple people coming forward and saying the same thing, there has to be some truth to it, which makes me wonder if perhaps Steve isn't being entirely honest himself.

My Unfinished Thoughts on Steve Whitmire

Boy, the world of the Muppets just can't seem to catch a break these days, can it? 2012 saw the loss of performers Jerry Nelson and Kevin Clash - Jerry having passed away in August after battling COPD in the final years of his life, and Kevin resigning from SESAME STREET in November after an unfortunate scandal tarnished his reputation. 2013 saw the loss of Jim Henson's wife and original performing partner, Jane, after quietly battling cancer. 2014 saw the loss of Jim and Jane's second son and fellow performer, John, who suffered a sudden heart attack. In 2016, performer and writer Joey Mazzarino left SESAME STREET (this after rising to the rank of head writer for Season 40 in 2009) over creative differences with Sesame Workshop's new staff. And now, in 2017, performer Steve Whitmire, who had notably took over Kermit the Frog after Jim's untimely death in 1990, has been let go by Disney.

I'm sure that a majority of the people who read Scarblog (if anybody even still reads this thing, since blogging has pretty much died in recent years) are either fellow Muppet Freaks or fellow puppetry aficionados, and as such, you're probably already familiar with this situation that's been in the news all week long, so I'm not going to waste any body's time and repeat all of the known sordid details, because you've probably already read about it yourself from various different sources. What you can do, however, is see Steve Whitmire's statements for yourself, as he has recently started his own blog to share his experiences with fans and friends across the globe:
http://stevewhitmire-muppetpundit.com/
Note: It's been speculated that this may not actually be the real Steve Whitmire behind this blog, so take it however you will.

What I am going to do, however, is offer up my own two-cents worth on why the Muppets seem to be struggling so much lately. . . . Actually, the Muppets haven't been struggling so much lately, rather, they've kind of struggled since Jim Henson's sudden death in 1990 - the struggle has just gotten more and more apparent in recent years because of the things that have transpired, and more. Since Jim's death, the Muppets have been in multiple hands over the past two-and-a-half decades: the Jim Henson Company retained them up until the late 90s when they sold the characters to German media company EM-TV, and when that failing company began going under in 2003, the Jim Henson Company bought back the Muppets, only to sell them again a year later to Disney, where they have remained ever since. This isn't the first time Disney has had their hands in the Muppets: Jim was already in negotiations to sell his company and all of its properties (minus the Sesame Street Muppets, which Jim promised to leave with what was still known as the Children's Television Workshop at the time) to Disney before his death, but because the deal was never finalized in writing (as Jim always prefered to do business with a handshake), the Jim Henson Company continued to own the characters and properties, while Disney distributed certain titles like THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL and MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND.

Bad concept.

Still, Disney didn't finally get complete control over the Muppets until 2004, and since they were so eager to get their hands on the Muppets, what did they do with them? Nothing. At first. Well, that's not entirely true: they did give us a TV movie in 2005 with THE MUPPETS' WIZARD OF OZ, and a TV special in 2008 with LETTERS TO SANTA, but other than that, Disney pretty much did nothing else with them. Years later, actor/filmmaker Jason Segel sought to remedy that, and shopped a script to Disney that eventually lead to the Muppets' first theatrical movie in over a decade in 2011: THE MUPPETS. THE MUPPETS, while met with mixed reaction from fans and critics, did well enough to garner a sequel in 2014, MUPPETS MOST WANTED; with the Muppets back in the public eye, Disney felt like they were ready to blow the dust off a new Muppet show they had previously shelved several years prior - a Muppet version of THE OFFICE, known as, well, THE MUPPETS . . . and the show failed, thus getting canceled after a single season. Meanwhile, there's certainly been some creative differences within the Muppet world: although he had long retired from the Muppets, Frank Oz strongly disliked the 2011 movie, feeling is was disrespectful to the characters and failed to capture the spirit of what made the Muppets so unique and wonderful in the first place. Not only that, but based on information that's floating around, it seems that Steve Whitmire has also not been entirely pleased with the way Disney has been handling the Muppets all this time, and this is supposedly what lead to his termination.

As I said, after two lukewarm theatrical movies and a failed TV show, it seems as though the Muppets are facing new struggles right now - why? Well, before we get into that, let's take a look at something else: In 2015, longtime Henson/Muppet rivals, Sid & Marty Krofft, made a triumphant return with a new preschool show on Nick Jr. - MUTT & STUFF - co-produced with Cesar Milan; the series became a smash hit, and after enjoying an inaugural season of 40 episodes (impressive, when you consider most Krofft shows from decades past generally lasted 17 episodes), it was renewed for a second season with another generous amount of episodes: something that seldom happened to previous Krofft shows. That same year, Nickelodeon also began airing ALVINNN!!! AND THE CHIPMUNKS; initially produced for just two seasons, this series also became an unexpected hit for the orange network, that it's since been renewed for an additional third and fourth season (the third just began airing this summer). Like the Muppets, these others have also been around for decades: the Kroffts practically dominated Saturday Morning television in the 70s and into the 80s with a string of psychedelic kids shows like H.R. PUFNSTUF, THE BUGALOOS, LIDSVILLE, SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS, LAND OF THE LOST, THE LOST SAUCER, FAR OUT SPACE NUTS, and several others; meanwhile, the Chipmunks have been putting out squeaky albums and singles since their creation in the late 50s, and they've also successfully starred in a number of TV shows, TV specials, and movies.

With success like that, how is it the Muppets aren't really enjoying that same level of success in this modern age of entertainment? What is the big difference here? I think it all lies in the handling of these properties. Sid & Marty Krofft have the creative freedom to make MUTT & STUFF the way they want to, without a lot of interference from Nickelodeon, and likewise Bagdasarian Productions has complete creative control over ALVINNN!!! AND THE CHIPMUNKS as well (this after they had very little input with the string of live-action/CGI movies that Twentieth Century Fox had control over); MUTT & STUFF has the Krofft charm that their previous shows had, and the Chipmunks certainly sound and act more like the way we knew and loved them than they ever did in those Fox movies. In short: the creative forces behind these shows are in control . . . this isn't happening with the Muppets, and in fact, just the opposite has been happening. With the exception of THE MUPPETS' WIZARD OF OZ and LETTERS TO SANTA being directed by Muppet director Kirk Thatcher, Disney seems to be going out of its way to avoid bringing in actual Muppet writers or directors to handle new Muppet titles: aside from Jason Segel and his writing partner Nick Stoller doing the screenplay for THE MUPPETS (Nick also wrote MUPPETS MOST WANTED), Disney also brought in FLIGHT OF THE CONCORDS director James Bobin to direct both of their theatrical movies; as for the 2015 series, Disney brought in writers from shows like THE BIG BANG THEORY, THE OFFICE, and MODERN FAMILY. It seems to me that Disney feels the need to try to bring in people from other successful mainstream shows to try and give the Muppets more of a mainstream appeal, in hopes they'll achieve mainstream success, but that isn't what the Muppets are about at all (why do you think ALVINNN!!! on Nick is doing better than those terrible Fox movies?): a new Muppet show would have been most excellent if it didn't try so hard to be "The Big Muppet Modern Office Family Theory" - I mean, really, the mockumentary format has overstayed its welcome; not all sitcoms have to follow that format. The Muppets have never been about trying to follow the zeitgeist of what mainstream entertainment is, so why try to conform them to that? Jim Henson was a one-of-a-kind creative genius who always did his own thing in his own way; Sid & Marty Krofft are a dynamite duo who always did things their own way; Ross Bagdasarian & Janice Karman are a power couple who try their hardest to ensure the Chipmunk franchise retains its integrity.

That's right kids, if you're not careful, the evil people from the
networks and major studios will take your creations away from
you!

Why can't Disney take a hint and realize that perhaps the key to the Muppets' success is to just let the Muppets do their own thing in their own way? Because Disney is what Lloyd Kaufman would refer to as a Devil-Worshipping International Media Conglomerate (and ironically, so is Viacom, and they own Nickelodeon, which has been letting Krofft and Bagdasarian do their own thing in their own way, so go figure), and what's the main objective for Devil-Worshipping International Media Conglomerates? Money. Matter of fact, this is what almost all of Hollywood has been reduced to: money-making machines. Why do you think so many movies are turned into franchises and become infected with sequelitis? Money. If entertainment properties don't bring in a satisfying amount of profit or revenue, then it will pretty much just be discarded. Again, THE MUPPETS 2015 series did poorly in the ratings, and as such, it got canceled and was not renewed for another season . . . and why did it do so poorly? Because this wasn't the Muppets as we know them, this was the Muppets trying too hard to be something they're not. Hollywood thought it was doing itself a favor by assuming all creative control over shows and movies themselves, but that has ended up with just the opposite results. Why has MUTT & STUFF been so successful? Because Sid & Marty Krofft have creative control over their own show. Why has ALVINNN!!! AND THE CHIPMUNKS been so successful? Because Bagdasarian Productions has creative control over their own show. So, again, this begs the question: why can't Disney take a hint from one of its rivals, and perhaps start letting the Muppets just do their own thing? The results could very well be surprising.