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First Draft:

The Muppets, who had not done a major project since the 2001 TV movie It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas movie [LW2] , had also seen a buyout of the Henson Company in the early 2000’s with German media company EM.TV. This buyout lasted less than 3 years when the Henson family bought back the company in May 2003. And less than a year later, they would sell The Muppet franchise to Disney. [LW3]

“Kermit and Miss Piggy are known and beloved around the world and will have the opportunity to be seen and loved by millions more, well into the future” (Eisner, 2004), that was the message from then Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who was also behind the failed buyout back 1990 and for Muppet fans, this deal could have been seen as the Muppets saviour and they had previously gone 5 years without a major project such as a television show or feature film, the last being Muppets Fro Space in 1999 [LW4] . Which was the longest The Muppets had gone without a major project since The Muppet Show began in 1976, so for Muppet fans this acquisition was exciting. A chance for the Muppets to finally gain back the popularity they once had, however it wasn’t to be case.

For the first 5 years of the Disney era, it was very lacklustre. The Muppets Wizard of Oz [LW5] was the first and only project to be released in that time proved to be a very underwhelming start to life at Disney, with critics slating the TV movie with some even calling it “A disastrous failure” (Hall 2005). Nothing followed in the next few years with the exception of a few viral videos, until 2009, when Jason Segel announced that a brand new Muppet film was in development. The movie at the time was called the Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever made, Segel wrote the film with Nick Stroller and director James Bobin signing on in 2010, Segel stated that he hoped to “bring it back to the early 80’s” (Segel,2008) and on November 23^rd 2001 [LW6] , Segel, Stroller and Bobin did exactly that as the film now titled The Muppets, was released.

The film was a surprise hit both financially and critically, with the film grossing over $150 million dollars on a budget of just 45 million [LW7] , making it the highest grossing puppet film of all time, taking top spot from the very first muppet movie, The Muppet Movie released back in 1979 [LW8] . The film received critical acclaim with a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised the film to no end, even giving Bret McKenzie’s original song Man or Muppet an Oscar for best Original song. The film did have some critics though with former Muppet performer Frank Oz criticising the film for being “too cute” (Oz, 2013). Aside from this Disney had full faith in Muppet train that for the first time under Disney , was finally leaving the station.

However this is where I [LW9] feel Disney have failed the Muppets, I feel that for whatever reasons, Disney have not been able to fully capitalise and be successful in following up 2011’s The Muppets, however it is not through a lack of trying.

Disney, following the critical and financial success of the film, ordered a sequel which was named Muppets Again, then later changed to the slightly more creative Muppets Most Wanted [LW10] . Bobin and Stroller returned to direct and write the film. Because of the success of the previous instalment Muppets Most Wanted received a larger budget with $51 million, 6 million more than the 2011 film. So in March 2014 Muppets Most Wanted was released, and while it was no box office or critical flop, it failed to reach the heights of the previous film making just over $80 million worldwide and a critical review of 80% of Rotten Tomatoes even though it had the same writers and directors, a great cast including but not exclusive too Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and Ty Burrell and a bigger budget so the question is why did the film fail to reach the heights of The Muppets? In my opinion [LW11] , the answer is a simple one, marketing. I strongly feel that a poor marketing campaign heavily influenced the lacklustre box office performance of Muppets Most Wanted.

For example, the marketing for the 2011 film told you one thing and one thing only… The Muppets were back. The poster below presents the idea that the Muppets were coming and they are actually real, because for the first time on a poster we see the full body for Kermit, Fozzie, Animal, Miss Piggy and Gonzo. The marketing did not end there with appearances on shows such as Dancing with the stars and the X Factor, Disney even release a cover album, titled The Green Album in preparation for the film which all in some way contributed to the success of the 2011 film. [LW12]

However, I cannot say the same for Most Wanted, I became a Muppet fan around 2012, and The Muppets played a big part in that so I was very excited for the 2014 follow up, however looking back I cannot recall any major marketing campaigns. And it turns out that it wasn’t just my memory failing me, there wasn’t a big marketing push for the film, aside from a promotional campaign in Subway, there was no big push to get the film out there and the posters also didn’t do much to excite people [LW13] . The posters feel so generic and safe with a lot of attention being focused on Constantine, the films villain with the rest of the characters being pushed to the side of the poste. This was because most of the buzz was around Kermit’s “evil twin” where as in my opinion the film’s advertising should’ve focused on something very different, The Wedding of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. This would’ve grabbed everyone’s attention and people would have flocked to cinemas to see it. However Disney did learn their lesson just over a year later.

Even though Muppets Most Wanted may not have performed as well as Disney executives had hoped, they did not give up faith the franchise. While no third film was ordered, in early 2015 rumours circulated around the internet [LW14] of a Muppet Show reboot in development, the rumours turned out to be true with Bill Prady and Bob Kushel and the helm, creating a pilot for ABC in the mockumentary genre about Miss Piggy’s late night talk show: Up late with Miss Piggy [LW15] . The pilot was a massive success with ABC executives giving it a standing ovation in their screening and quickly moved the series into production in May 2015. So in September that year the show, now known as The Muppets [LW16] premiered. The show, very much like the film with the same name had a lot of hype surrounding it. The show went into the September line up as one of the most anticipated shows of the season and this was down to two big factors, that ABC marketed the show as a more adult muppet show with marketing showing the muppets dealing with real life issues such as dating and it not being shy to reference sex and drug use throughout the trailer and promotional material, but also because the news broke around a month before the show was released that Kermit and Miss Piggy had broken up which created a huge hype to find out what had gone on between the two.

The show started very strongly, the first episode had around 9.01 million viewer [LW17] s however the show was panned critically for the first episode, mainly because of the adult content with many feeling it was very off colour and cynical for the beloved characters. This caused a big dip in ratings for the next episode which pulled in 5.78 million viewers, while still being equally as panned by critics who claimed “The Muppets cynical reboot may leave you heartbroken” (Hertiage,2015) and “The Muppets plays like a kids idea of adult TV” (Poniewozik,2015). Many more felt the same, with many criticising the characters. With Kermit being too depressing and Miss Piggy being too mean something had to be done and with 5 episodes gone, the reviews not getting any better and the ratings continuing to fall, the show was put into hiatus and showrunner Bob Kushell was replaced.

In my opinion, the show actually hit its stride before the hiatus with episodes such as Going Going Gonzo perfectly capturing the heart that many felt with missing from the show while still having that more adult feel. However when the show returned something changed, it became a lot more upbeat and they tried to add more Muppet style elements to the show such as old Muppet Show skits such as Veterinarians Hospital and The Swedish Chef being incorporated into the show to try and entice people to watch however by the 16^th and final episode of the show, it felt too little too late as the ratings had plummeted to just 2. 75 million viewers which is just under 1.0% of the American TV viewers on the Nielsen ratings compared to the premiere episode that had just under a respectable 3.0%. So because of the massive decline in the ratings and the woeful reviews, the shows future looked uncertain and a second season looked very doubtful. A “Save The Muppets” campaign began with Muppet fans flooded ABC with letters and emails to renew The Muppets however that were unsuccessful as The Muppets was cancelled by ABC after just one season due to its low ratings.

This felt like The Muppets lowest point since 1990, in my opinion. The Muppets had their chance to really seal there place as a staple in modern pop culture with a TV show with the potential to top other mockumentaries such The Office and Modern Family, and they didn’t capitalise on it. Just over year later things got worse as a feud began between Disney/The Henson Company and Muppet performer Steve Whitmire who was fired from The Muppets for “unprofessional business conduct [LW18] ” after speaking out at his distain of the direction that The Muppets (2015) was going and felt that it wasn’t in the spirit of Jim and The Muppets.

Since the dismissal of Whitmire and the cancellation of The Muppets, they’ve kind of faded into the background at Disney with only one major project being produced for Disney Plus, called Muppets Now which in my opinion, is the worst project of the last 10 years. They have done two live Muppet Shows in both LA and London which were very successful but a decade which started out so promising quickly turned sour at The Muppet Studios.

In Conclusion, I feel that The Muppets have currently failed at Disney. The “soft reboot” which was The Muppets (2011) proved to bring fans back however I strongly feel that it was a pure nostalgia fest for the general audience more than anything else. And other attempts to branch out of the “Muppet Show” style which they became synonymous with in the 70’s and 80’s have either been disappointing from a financial standpoint or just down right bad. The only saving grace of the last 5 years has been the live shows which were successful but again, relied on that Muppet Show format that works, however the Muppets cannot rely on it forever. And after another disappointment in Muppets Now, I think the future looks bleak for The Muppets at Disney.

References:

Feedback:

Is this an introduction? It doesn't set out what you are investigating or acknowledge your question. [LW1]

reference needed [LW2]

reference really needed to back this up [LW3]

reference needed [LW4]

reference needed [LW5]

is this the correct date? [LW6]

proof needed [LW7]

reference needed [LW8]

This is an investigation so cannot have personal opinion [LW9]

reference needed [LW10]

Resist opinion, form your response on information you have found. [LW11]

Why do you think it was called the green album? Could this be a link with pop culture and a connection with band Weezer? Many of their albums are based on colours. [LW12]

Too personal [LW13]

acknowledge this [LW14]

reference needed [LW15]

reference needed [LW16]

proof needed when discussing facts [LW17]

reference needed [LW18]

An interesting first draft of the investigation. Make sure your title is present before the essay opens up as it gives context to what you are looking into. The essay reads as in a re-telling of events more than a substantial argument towards “did disney kill the muppets” which I think was your title? There are some references and facts which need tidying up to show where you have got information from, but the real issue is the personal impact in the essay. It should not take on a personal opinion or reflection, it should be based upon the information you have discovered as those are your facts for discussion.

My Response/Planning for final draft: I removed all elements of opinion as that defeats the purpose of an essay which should be presented as fact. This is too be the biggest and most noticable change of my essay, as I want to keep that narrative story element as I feel that the history behind the Disney ownership is vital to understanding why The Muppets are failing under Disney, so the main bulk of the essay will not change. However I will correct any errors and add references if needs be.

Final essay: Have Disney Killed The Muppets?

In April 2004, The Walt Disney Company finally acquired the properties of both The Muppets and Bear in the big blue house. This deal came 14 years after Disney had previously tried to buy the Jim Henson Company outright but after the death of Henson himself, on the 16^th May 1990, the deal ultimately fell through. Due to the death of Henson, muppet performer Richard Hunt and the retirements of both Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson in the years that followed the Disney deal, the Muppets faded from the mainstream as they struggled to cope with the death of their creative force who dominated the 80s. The Muppets, who had not done a major project since the 2001 TV movie It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas movie (Thatcher,2001), had also seen a buyout of the Henson Company in the early 2000’s with German media company EM.TV. This buyout lasted less than 3 years when the Henson family bought back the company in May 2003. And less than a year later, they would sell The Muppet franchise to Disney. And after some real signs of promise in the early 2010s, in 2021 it looks to have faded so this essay will be looking at where it has gone wrong under the ownership Disney and how they have ultimately killed the Muppets.

“Kermit and Miss Piggy are known and beloved around the world and will have the opportunity to be seen and loved by millions more, well into the future” (Eisner, 2004), that was the message from then Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who was also behind the failed buyout back 1990 and for Muppet fans, this deal could have been seen as the Muppets saviour and they had previously gone 5 years without a major project such as a television show or feature film, the last being Muppets From Space(Hill,1999). Which was the longest The Muppets had gone without a major project since The Muppet Show began in 1976, so for Muppet fans this acquisition was exciting. A chance for the Muppets to finally gain back the popularity they once had, however it wasn’t to be case.

For the first 5 years of the Disney era, it was very lacklustre. The Muppets Wizard of Oz (Thatcher,2005) was the first and only project to be released in that time proved to be a very underwhelming start to life at Disney, with critics slating the TV movie with some even calling it “A disastrous failure” (Hall 2005). Nothing followed in the next few years with the exception of a few viral videos, until 2009, when Jason Segel announced that a brand new Muppet film was in development. The movie at the time was called the Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever made, Segel wrote the film with Nick Stroller and director James Bobin signing on in 2010, Segel stated that he hoped to “bring it back to the early 80’s” (Segel,2008) and on November 23^rd 2011, Segel, Stroller and Bobin did exactly that as the film now titled The Muppets, was released.

The film was a surprise hit both financially and critically, with the film, according to the website Box Office Mojo grossing over $150 million dollars on a budget of just 45 million, making it the highest grossing puppet film of all time, taking top spot from the very first muppet movie, The Muppet Movie (Frawley,1979) The film received critical acclaim with a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised the film to no end, even giving Bret McKenzie’s original song Man or Muppet an Oscar for best Original song. The film did have some critics though with former Muppet performer Frank Oz criticising the film for being “too cute” (Oz, 2013). Aside from this Disney had full faith in Muppet train that for the first time under Disney , was finally leaving the station.

The success of The Muppets, showed that these characters could be a success under the ownership of the Walt Disney Company, however over the next decade, this was not to be the case. However it is not for a lack of trying…

Disney, following the critical and financial success of the film, ordered a sequel which was named Muppets Again, then later changed to the slightly more creative Muppets Most Wanted (Bobin,2014). Bobin and Stroller returned to direct and write the film. Because of the success of the previous instalment Muppets Most Wanted received a larger budget with $51 million, 6 million more than the 2011 film. So in March 2014 Muppets Most Wanted was released, and while it was no box office or critical flop, it failed to reach the heights of the previous film making just over $80 million worldwide and a critical review of 80% of Rotten Tomatoes even though it had the same writers and directors, a great cast including but not exclusive too Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and Ty Burrell and a bigger budget so the question is why did the film fail to reach the heights of The Muppets? There could be a couple of reasons, the nostalgia feel of the previous film was now gone. The film had to rely on its story a lot more in the 2014 follow up whereas The Muppets, while having a strong script, could use its nostalgia if needed. However some thought that Most Wanted (Bobin,2014) had a weaker script with one reviewer calling it “a scattershot plot” (O’Hara, 2014). However what could be the biggest reason for the lacklustre performance of Most Wanted was marketing

However the marketing for Muppets Most Wanted was poor. The Muppets appeared in a Toyota Super Bowl commercial with Terry Crews and also ran a promotional campaign at Subway to promote the fil, however… that was it. The posters feel so generic and safe with a lot of attention being focused on Constantine, the films villain with the rest of the characters being pushed to the side of the poste. This was because most of the buzz was around Kermit’s “evil twin” where as in my opinion the film’s advertising should’ve focused on something very different, The Wedding of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. This would’ve grabbed everyone’s attention and people would have flocked to cinemas to see it. However Disney did learn their lesson just over a year later.

Even though Muppets Most Wanted may not have performed as well as Disney executives had hoped, they did not give up faith the franchise. While no third film was ordered, in early 2015 rumours circulated around the internet and Hollywood of a Muppet Show reboot in development, with reports claiming “ABC eyes Muppet Show reboot” (Friedlander,2015).These rumours turned out to be true with Bill Prady and Bob Kushel and the helm, creating a pilot for ABC in the mockumentary genre about Miss Piggy’s late night talk show: Up late with Miss Piggy. The pilot was a massive success with ABC executives giving it a standing ovation in their screening and quickly moved the series into production in May 2015. So in September that year the show, now known as The Muppets (Prady,2015) premiered. The show, very much like the film with the same name had a lot of hype surrounding it. The show went into the September line up as one of the most anticipated shows of the season and this was down to two big factors, that ABC marketed the show as a more adult muppet show with marketing showing the muppets dealing with real life issues such as dating and it not being shy to reference sex and drug use throughout the trailer and promotional material, but also because the news broke around a month before the show was released that Kermit and Miss Piggy had broken up which created a huge hype to find out what had happened.

The show started very strongly, the first episode had around 9.01 million viewers in the Nielsen ratings, however the show was panned critically for the first episode, mainly because of the adult content with many feeling it was very off colour and cynical for the beloved characters. This caused a big dip in ratings for the next episode which pulled in 5.78 million viewers, while still being equally as panned by critics who claimed “The Muppets cynical reboot may leave you heartbroken” (Hertiage,2015) and “The Muppets plays like a kids idea of adult TV” (Poniewozik,2015). Many more felt the same, with many criticising the characters. With Kermit being too depressing and Miss Piggy being too mean something had to be done and with 5 episodes gone, the reviews not getting any better and the ratings continuing to fall, the show was put into hiatus and showrunner Bob Kushell was replaced.

The Muppets had their chance to really seal there place as a staple in modern pop culture with a TV show with the potential to top other mockumentaries such The Office and Modern Family, and they didn’t capitalise on it and it really felt like that promise at the beginning of the decade had faded. Just over year later things got worse as a feud began between Disney/The Henson Company and Muppet performer Steve Whitmire who was fired from The Muppets for “unprofessional business conduct” (Parker 2017) after speaking out at his distain of the direction that The Muppets (2015) was going and felt that it wasn’t in the spirit of Jim Henson and The Muppets. Whitmire shared his feelings in a blog which is unfortunately now defunct.

In conclusion, have Disney killed the Muppets? It’s hard to really say. Disney have not done themselves any favours with their handling of these characters and their projects have all been unsuccessful under Disney apart from Jason Segel’s The Muppets. Disney have heavily focused the last 10 years on their other properties such as Marvel or Star Wars, which are more critically and financially viable for the Walt Disney Company. Any attempts to branch out of the original Muppet Show format have proved unsuccessful. And with another disappointing project with Muppets Now premiering last year, the next few years at the Muppet studios could be a bleak one.

References:

Eisner, M., 2004. The Walt Disney Company And The Jim Henson Company Sign Agreement For Disney To Buy The "Muppets" And "Bear In The Big Blue House" - The Walt Disney Company. [online] The Walt Disney Company. Available at: <https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/the-walt-disney-company-and-the-jim-henson-company-sign-agreement-for-disney-to-buy-the-muppets-and-bear-in-the-big-blue-house/. Frank Oz. 2013. [video] Youtube. Hall, P., 2005. The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005). [online] Rotten Tomatoes. Available at: <https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1147402-the_muppets_wizard_of_oz>]. Segel, J., 2008. Jason Segel Talks Muppets! - Movie News - Latest Movie Reviews and trailers. [online] Web.archive.org. Available at: <https://web.archive.org/web/20080606093444/http://www.latinoreview.com/news/jason-segel-talks-muppets-4788> Heritage, S., 2015. The Muppets: TV reboot's cynical approach may leave you heartbroken. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/21/the-muppets-new-episodes-tv-review-abc>. Poniewozik, J., 2015. Review: In ‘The Muppets’ on ABC, Kermit Is in a Mundane Midlife Crisis (Published 2015). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/arts/television/review-muppets-abc-kermit-ms-piggy.html> [Accessed 28 February 2021]. Muppets Wizard of Oz. 2005. [film] Directed by K. Thatcher. Hollywood: Disney. It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas movie. 2001. [film] Directed by K. Thatcher. Hollywood: The Jim Henson Company. Muppets From Space. 1999. [film] Directed by T. Hill. Hollywood: The Jim Henson Company. Muppets Most Wanted. 2014. [film] Directed by J. Bobin. Hollywood. Disney. The Muppet Movie. 1979. [film] Directed by J. Frawley. Hollywood: The Jim Henson Company. Friedlander, W., 2015. 'Muppet Show': ABC Considers Bringing Back the Muppets - Variety. [online] Variety.com. Available at: <https://variety.com/2015/tv/news/muppet-show-reboot-abc-bill-prady-1201466006/> [Accessed 21 March 2021]. Parker, R., 2017. Disney Says It Fired Kermit the Frog Actor Over "Unacceptable Business Conduct". [online] The Hollywood Reporter. Available at: <https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-says-fired-kermit-frog-actor-unacceptable-business-conduct-1021701> [Accessed 21 March 2021].

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