Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular

Remember how the Muppets used to work? The Muppets were the headliners and the humans were guests written into the show. The Muppets were always madcap and funny and the guests were swept along with the flow (The finale in the John Cleese episode of the original series was hilarious).

Did that happen here? No.

Laughs stopped as soon as Lady Gaga was on screen and her outfits were not appropriate for the younger audience that the Muppets used to be aimed at. The result was a boring and often uncomfortable view.

Our whole family became bored with this production early on and the blatant promotion of her new album at every song was appalling.

Shame on you Disney for allowing this travesty. Jim would be rolling over in his grave.

Jim Henson's Muppets are in rare, and classic form, performing in this live-action studio recording. Lady Gaga fulfills many childhood wishes, while locking down some tasty cuts in this sweet Holiday special. Simultaneously performing and promoting her album Art Pop, Lady Gaga blends the best of Muppets Holiday Specials, with classic Holiday songs for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or even Halloween. Why doesn't anyone want to sing their best songs with The Muppets any more? It used to be a right of passage, a cherished honor, and a true mark of artistic influence. Guest stars including Sir Elton John, and Kermit The Frog sing duets with Lady Gaga. Her costumes, hair, and makeup alone are worth your time. With a few bonus Christmas songs, a couple of behind-the-scenes clips, and gag reel - this would be a Gold Master DVD release. Do it!

Talking mad sales. Streaming Rentals. ITunes Features. Prime Video. Broadcast on ABC originally, and Netflix, then shamefully and summarily dropped by both. Joining other Holiday classics like The Muppet Christmas Carol, Lady Gaga and friends delivered my wish for Thanksgiving *and* Christmas. With a side of ham. Delicious.

I like Lady Gaga a lot, more than I like The Muppets. Still, The Muppets are great! As soon as I heard about this holiday special, I was baffled. The Muppets are generally inoffensive family entertainment. Lady Gaga is at best inoffensive pop entertainment and at worst offensive pop entertainment.

Lady Gaga's latest album, which I don't think is aimed at children, has several songs dealing with sexual themes. Some of these are played during this holiday special featuring cute puppet characters that children are likely to enjoy.

I pretty much never consider "think of the children!" as a legitimate criticism, but it's extremely apt here. One could argue that The Muppets were never completely for children, but they also never had Lady Gaga wearing a clamshell bikini. I don't think kids' minds would be warped by watching this (they probably wouldn't notice the sexual undertones), but the very inclusion of so much sex is again baffling.

Lady Gaga is able to perform for an audience outside of her typical followers without ruining the venue she is given. Look up her performance of "The Edge Of Glory" on Howard Stern's radio show. She's not wearing a clamshell bikini, and she's not singing about sex. Granted, her outfit is skimpy, but it's *less skimpy* on this adult radio program than one of the ones she wore for the *Muppets Holiday Spectacular*. That's ridiculous.

To top it off, of the Gaga songs I like, very few were played in this Muppets show. They're all from her latest album, which is 1/3 great songs, 1/3 tolerable songs, and 1/3 bad songs. "Gypsy", my favorite song of the album, sounds much better in the studio recording than it does with Kermit the (blank)-ing Frog singing along.

There's no way to salvage this program, but it would be a 5/10 with me, a Gaga and Muppets fan, if it was more Muppets and less Gaga. Additionally, it should have had one or two of Gaga's older songs rather than more of her newest garbage. (Having more holiday songs would probably please most people more than having different Gaga songs, but I'd rather see Gaga singing her own material.)

The bits with Statler and Waldorf are just about the only redeeming qualities of this show, outside of one skit with Gaga and the Muppets about what clothes she should wear, which was okay. I've made an imaginary quote from them to finish this review. It should have been said during this special.

"I liked Lady Gaga better in 2011." "You thought her songs were better then?" "No, it's just that she wasn't doing a Muppets Holiday Spectacular that year."

Lady Gaga is a talented musician and songwriter who has made her name with some provocative songs and videos over the last few years.

The Muppets of course have been around for decades enchanting a new generation of children every few years but in their own way have always been subversive and edgy.

So it's no surprise that these two have come together to film a Holiday Special. In fact the avantgarde Elton John popped up in the original Muppet Show back in the 1970s. Elton pops again here as well.

However what is hard to stomach is that this is a cynical corporate cash in to promote the new Muppets film and for Lady Gaga to promote her new album on prime-time TV with the Muppets as hangers on.

There are songs, a few sketches and some guest stars along for the ride but it's you the viewer taken in for a ride as there is little entertainment value unless you are a Lady Gaga fan.

This could only really have been any weirder if it had have been directed by David Lynch.

If you love Lady Gaga's ARTPOP album and you love the Muppets, then you should absolutely love this. It's so absolutely joyful and crazy.

Of course this is really "only" about promoting the album, but it is done with such style that you just gotta admire the chutzpah.

I recorded this back in 2013 when it was broadcast on the Channel 5 UK terrestrial TV channel. I think I watched it a couple of times, but hadn't watched it for a few years when I stumbled across my recording at the end of 2022 -- and it's still as wonderful as I remember it being.

So, if you love Lady Gaga's ARTPOP album, I'm sure you will love this. But if you don't think the Muppets should be tampered with, best steer clear.