Category: Muppets

MUPPET-IZING THE ‘WIZARD’
Follow the Road of Yellow Brick.
It’s not an English-as-a-second-language exam. It’s actually a line in “Wizard of Oz,” airing tonight at 8 on ABC.
The phrasing is to prove that the TV movie is not based on the 1939 Judy Garland classic film.
Rather, it’s based on the children’s book written by L. Frank Baum, meaning that a lot of things you remember from the movie aren’t there. For instance, Dorothy wears silver slippers, not ruby ones.
And, oh yeah, the singing Muppets.
The movie stars Ashanti, who won a Grammy in 2002, as Dorothy, surrounded by Muppets, including Kermit the Frog playing the Scarecrow and Miss Piggy playing all four witches ó yes, in the book, there were four.
Fozzie Bear plays the Lion looking for courage, and The Great Gonzo plays the Tin Thing (beak and all) in search of a heart. For the adults, there’s a Quentin Tarantino cameo, and Queen Latifah plays Dorothy’s Auntie Em.
This isn’t the first time Muppets have taken over a previously filmed story. In 1992, they made “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (with Kermit and Miss Piggy as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit) and in 1996, there was “Muppet Treasure Island,” where Kermit battles pirates as Captain Smollett.
Those movies had pretty good music, too √≥ Ziggy Marley is on the soundtrack for “Treasure Island” √≥ but doing the “Wizard of Oz” provides a great excuse for the felt-y group to revive some old chestnuts, “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green” and “The Rainbow Connection.”
We’d like to see the crew in more adult fare (imagine “Apocalypse Now” with the Swedish Chef yelling, “de hurden, de hurden”) but till then it’s Piggy √≥ the Witch is in the House.

KERMIT OF OZ
THe Muppets are invading the Land of Oz.
The famous story of a Kansas girl who finds out the hard way that there’s no place like home has been adapted for the Muppets.
Kermit is the Scarecrow, Fozzie Bear the Cowardly Lion and Gonzo the Tin Man (or “Tin Thing,” as they say here).
Miss Piggy? Why she is the Wicked Witch of the West, of course.
Queen Latifah plays Auntie Em to singer Ashanti’s Dorothy in this contemporary retelling of the original L. Frank Baum book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
ABC takes great pains to emphasize the movie is based on the 1900 book, not the 1939 Judy Garland film, which strayed broadly from the book.
“The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz” airs May 20 on ABC, but the movie is unusual enough to get a live, sneak preview next week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Disney Relaunches Muppets on Web Site
LOS ANGELES – Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and their pals are starring in their own Web site ó the first in a series of new creative efforts launched by The Walt Disney Co. since buying the Muppets in April.
“Today is the first day of the Muppets being back,” said Chris Curtin, general manager and vice president of Muppet Holding Co., the group formed by Disney to manage the characters.
The site, which debuted Wednesday, features games, biographies of the Muppet characters, screensavers and news about current projects, including the new film “The Muppets Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” slated to air on ABC next May.
The movie is the first since “It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie,” which aired on NBC in 2002. It features singer Ashanti as Dorothy, Queen Latifah as Auntie Em and director Quentin Tarantino in a cameo role as himself.
The film had been proposed some time back to ABC executives, but was not approved until Disney bought the characters.
The characters have been grouped together under The Muppets Holding Co., which is teaming with Disney’s film studio, television network, Internet operations and other divisions to create new films, videos and TV shows in the future.
The sale to Disney, announced last February, also includes a four-year consulting arrangement with The Jim Henson Co. to provide strategic advice on the use of the characters and a three-year production deal to develop movies, television shows and other projects using the characters.
The deal does not include the Sesame Street characters, which were sold earlier by EM.TV to the Sesame Workshop.

MUPPET MADNESS
Muppets Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker named the United Kingdom’s favorite screen scientists in an online poll conducted by the BBC.

Tarantino and Latifah Meet the Muppets on ABC
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Quentin Tarantino is an Oscar-winning writer-director, Ashanti is a Grammy winning singer and Queen Latifah has both a Grammy and an Oscar nomination, but for all of their accolades, these three stars really just want to work with the Muppets.
Ashanti is signed, Latifah is in negotiations and Tarantino is set to make a guest appearance in ABC’s original telefilm “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz.”
Airing as part of ABC’s venerable Wonderful World of Disney franchise, “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz” will star Ashanti (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) as Kansas-based Dorothy Gale, an aspiring performer stuck working at her Auntie Em’s (Latifah) diner.
A twister whisks Dorothy off to a Muppet-filled world, where she makes pilgrimage to Oz with a Scarecrow (Kermit the Frog), a Tin Man (Gonzo the Great) and a Lion (Fozzie the, well, Bear). Thwarting Dorothy’s mission home is the Wicked Witch (Miss Piggy).
Tarantino will make a guest appearance as the film’s director, coaching Kermit through an action scene.
“I’m beside myself to have these mega-talented actresses, Ashanti and Queen Latifah, and Quentin Tarantino’s involvement is an example for something the Muppets have done really well — breaking the fourth wall,” ABC movies and miniseries chief Quinn Taylor tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Muppet veteran Kirk R. Thatcher (2002’s NBC pic “Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie”) will direct the Frank Baum adaptation, which will feature songs, but won’t officially be a musical. Lisa Henson and Brian Henson will executive produce for the Jim Henson Co.
Disney acquired rights to the Muppets in February, but development on this project began at Jim Henson Co. and ABC before that time. Originally the project was set up at Fox TV Studios.

Muppets Bringing Peace to the Middle East
TEL AVIV, Israel (Hollywood Reporter) – Where countless politicians and diplomats have failed, Elmo, Cookie Monster and their “Sesame Street” buddies are on a mission to promote peace and tolerance in the Middle East.
A programing experiment using the Muppet characters was launched six months ago and was widely welcomed by parents, educators and the media. But the Muppets are not without their critics in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.
Sesame Workshop partnered with local producers to create “Sesame Stories,” an adventurous initiative to use new and existing “Sesame Street” characters to foster respect and understanding among children in the region.
Gary Knell, president and chief operating officer of Sesame Workshop, says in an interview that producers knew that not everybody would be open to the idea of Elmo & Co. teaching Israeli kids to respect Palestinians and vice versa.
“It’s a highly charged environment, and the press is going to reflect some of that,” Knell says. “Yes, some Israeli reports accused us of being lackeys of the Palestinians, while another article accused us of being lackeys of the Bush White House and charged that Elmo was carrying the will of the White House to the Middle East. A Jordanian Internet site accused us of being Zionist lap dogs.”
Knell stresses that the majority of media reports about the Muppets experiment had been positive.
“Sesame Stories” is now airing as three parallel productions on Jordan Television, the HOP! Channel in Israel and the Ma’an Network in the West Bank and Gaza.
Daniella Hellerstein, whose family emigrated to Israel three years ago from the United States, says she encourages four young kids to watch the show.
“I like the overall message — tolerance and respect — and I support the effort 100%,” she says. But she adds: “My children don’t completely appreciate the point of the characters — they don’t differentiate between the Jewish and Arab characters.”
Havi Livne, another mother in the region, welcomes the show unreservedly. “Suddenly, a program is dealing with Arabs not just as terrorists. For me, it opened a window to talk with the children about something very important. And it’s very important for me to know it’s shown in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.”
Ayman El Bardawil, director of Ramallah-based independent broadcaster Al Quds Educational Television, a co-producer of the Palestinian Authority version, reports that “the children are happy about it. The feedback we’ve been getting is very good.”
Sesame Workshop’s Knell says that there have been problems other than inflammatory media reports to overcome during the past months. Just living and working in such a highly charged environment is a challenge for the producers. “One day there was a bus bombing (in Israel), and our producers dropped everything to get to the scene because they feared their children might be on the bus.
“Then one of the Palestinian writers — on his way to a production meeting –was strip-searched in the street by Israeli soldiers. Now you know he’s not coming into that meeting in a good mood.”

Wakka, Wakka, Wizard?
Word is that ABC is developing a new version of THE WIZARD OF OZ using the Muppets.
The only human character will likely be that of Dorothy, while the rest of the Muppets take the other key roles. The telepic will be based on L. Frank Baum’s original novel and not the 1939 musical.

Disney to Buy Muppets From Henson Co.
LOS ANGELES – Kermit and Miss Piggy are joining Mickey and Minnie, capping a 14-year effort to bring the Muppets into the Walt Disney family.
The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it will buy the “Muppets” characters, including Kermit, Miss Piggy and others, as well as the “Bear in the Big Blue House,” franchise from The Jim Henson Co.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The arrangement, which took about six months to negotiate, represents a coup for Disney chief executive Michael Eisner, who has been attacked in recent months as an entrenched, weak manager unable to lead the entertainment giant effectively.
“Michael Eisner’s long-standing passion and respect for the Muppets gives me and my family even more confidence in Disney as a partner,” said Brian Henson, who with his sister Lisa, is co-chair and co-chief executive of The Jim Henson Co.
The announcement is also a much-needed boost for Disney, which has been under attack for weeks from ex-board members and is the subject of a takeover bid from cable television giant Comcast Corp.
The deal culminates a lengthy pursuit of the Muppets by Disney, which nearly acquired the characters in 1990. The deal fell apart shortly after the death of company founder Jim Henson.
The company then was bought by German media company EM.TV, which sold it back to the Henson family last year.
The deal does not include the Sesame Street characters, such as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, who were sold earlier by EM.TV to the Sesame Workshop.
The Muppet characters already exist in Disney theme parks in a 3D film, while “Bear in the Big Blue House,” is a long-running show on the Disney cable television channel.
Disney plans to make new television shows, video games, movies and other products with the existing characters as well as develop new characters in the coming years.
“We have been very impressed by how the Disney company treats its own characters,” said Lisa Henson. “We feel if the Muppets are treated with as much care in the long term as Walt Disney’s characters are, we will have properly served the legacy.”
The agreement includes a four-year consulting arrangement with The Jim Henson Co. to provide strategic advice on the use of the characters and a three-year production deal to develop movies, television shows and other projects using the characters.
The Jim Henson Co. will retain its “Creature Shop,” which builds the puppet characters and provides special effects for other studios, as well as the rights to its film and television library, including “Fraggle Rock” and “Farscape,” among others.
Munich-based EM.TV bought The Jim Henson Co. in February 2000 for $680 million in cash and stock. The company sold it back to the Henson family last July for $78 million in cash.

READY FOR PRIME TIME
Sesame Street members Big Bird, Elmo, Zoe and Rosita making their prime-time debut with a visit to the White House on the March 3 episode of NBC’s The West Wing.

‘Sesame Street’ Video Tackles Kids’ Fears
NEW YORK – The Muppets have more to offer than lessons on numbers, letters and shapes √≥ now they’re teaching children about fear, violence and war.
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The nonprofit group behind “Sesame Street” announced plans Wednesday to distribute 75,000 copies of a video called “You Can Ask!” that encourages children to ask their parents when they are confused about feelings.
The video, paid for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is aimed at helping children cope with repeated media images of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and other violence in the world.
“Too often, children in America are witnessing too much, too soon,” said Gary Knell, president and chief executive officer of Sesame Workshop.
At a press conference Wednesday, Emilio Delgado, who plays Luis on “Sesame Street,” led 25 New York City kindergartners in a rendition of the alphabet song. Then he explained to a furry, teal Muppet named Rosita that “children can ask their parents questions when they’re scared, when they’re very confused and worried.”
The videos will be distributed this summer and fall to schools, mental health offices, crisis counselors and child-care programs in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The producers hope to take the program nationwide.
Producers said it could be used to help kids handle everyday trauma, too.
In a segment on fear, a New York City firefighter helps Elmo √≥ the bright-eyed, high-pitched red Muppet adored by children √≥ grow comfortable with returning to Hooper’s Store after a fire there.
In a segment on loss, an adult helps Big Bird feel better after a stray turtle he had cared for suddenly leaves his nest. Two other scenes deal with bullying and accepting others’ differences.
The videos are in English, but instructional material for parents is also being offered in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. Producers said they wanted to make sure children living in Chinatown, just blocks from ground zero, could benefit.