The Muppets: "Single All The Way"

Premiered December 8, 2015.
(Note:The Muppets was a TV series that aired for sixteen episodes on ABC during the 2015-16 TV season.)

Christmas is approaching and the cast and crew of Up Late With Miss Piggy are busily preparing the live Christmas episode.  Fozzie Bear (Eric Jacobson), who serves as the show's announcer, can't focus because his girlfriend Becky has recently dumped him.  He is supposed to play Santa Claus in the episode, but Fozzie can't stop crying about the break-up.

Miss Piggy's (Jacobson) special guest star Mindy Kaling is being difficult.  Kaling is a terrible singer, but she insists on performing a Christmas song with Piggy.

Sam Eagle (Jacobson), the show's head of Broadcast Standards and Practices, is interested in dating Janice (David Rudman), the show's lead guitarist.  He camps out by the mistletoe for the purpose of "jump-starting" a relationship with Janice.  This does not go the way Sam hopes.

Meanwhile, Yolanda the rat (Julianne Buescher) has rigged the "Secret Santa" gift exchange so that she will get every gift. The previous Christmas, Yolanda was left off the list and received no present.

The star of the show, Miss Piggy, is also having some holiday problems.  She's nervous about attending George Clooney's ugly Christmas sweater party.  Piggy doesn't think her sweater is ugly enough.  She is also upset about being alone during the Christmas season, since she and Kermit the frog (Steve Whitmire) have recently broken up.

In the middle of it all is Kermit the frog (Steve Whitmire), executive producer of Up Late.  He's got to help Fozzie to get in touch with the Christmas spirit, soothe Mindy Kaling's ego and get everyone to work together to make it through the holiday episode.

Shortly before airtime, Kermit learns that Miss Piggy is having an emotional breakdown and is unable to go onstage.  If the star of the show won't go on, they literally have no show to put on the air!

Can Kermit get everyone to pull it together before the live showtime arrives?  Will Yolanda's attempt to rule the gift exchange backfire?

J.A. Morris says:
I watched every episode of this series and generally enjoyed it during its brief run, but I can understand why it was short-lived.  I think the main reasons it didn't last was that the creative team couldn't didn't know how to appeal to kids and adults at the same time (a hallmark of earlier Muppet productions) This often resulted in flat storytelling.

However, "Single All The Way" is a fun episode and it's one of the best episodes of the series.  It's got some entertaining holiday tropes, like a gift exchange gone awry. The "Christmas episode within a Christmas episode" gives it an interesting "meta" quality.  It also touches on more serious topics like loneliness during the holidays, which Miss Piggy and Fozzy are facing.  Mindy Kaling is funny and plays off the Muppets very nicely.

 While it's not as good as earlier Muppet holiday offerings (like Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas or Muppet Family Christmas), "Single All The Way" ends with a an all-hands-on-deck singalong of "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," which reminded me of those classic Muppets holiday offerings.

 "Single All The Way" is recommended to all Muppets fans and it also works as an introductory episode to this series.

J.A. Morris' rating;

3 candy canes.

RigbyMel says:

 

I am always happy for more Muppets content and quite enjoyed "Single All The Way" overall. 

It has a lot going for it in terms of festive fun -  Secret Santa mix ups (Yolande's scheme is diabolical), finding excuses to stand under mistletoe, a bit of humor, a bit of pathos and lots of good cheer.  

Plus, some of the slightly newer secondary characters like Uncle Deadly and Pepe the King Prawn get a chance to shine in this episode as well as others in the rest of this series.

As J.A. Morris mentions above, the writing on "The Muppets" series is a little bit uneven - but I think this is the case with most post-Henson projects with our favorite fuzzy friends.  It does not mean that there's nothing to enjoy here, though!

It's a shame this particular series was never allowed to really get into a flow before being cancelled. 

"Single All The Way" is a nice addition to your Muppet holiday viewing if you feel so inclined. 

RigbyMel's rating:  

3 candy canes. 

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Holiday Film Reviews presents a special guest post from Victoria Willis,  a long time friend of mine and co-editor of  Geek Rock: An Exploration of Music and Subculture.  You can follow her as @Technopoesis  on Twitter.   Thanks very much, Vickie for sharing your review of  The Muppet Christmas Carol!    -- RigbyMel 

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I have a confession to make. I had never seen The Muppets Christmas Carol prior to watching it for this blog post.


I’ve seen other versions of A Christmas Carol.  Scrooged is a particular favorite. And, of course,  I love Charles Dickens’ novella. I love that it’s one of THE Christmas tales, and I love how it is essentially a ghost story. I love that it almost single-handedly revived (and created) traditions for a holiday that was a lot less warmly loved prior to 1843 than it is today. I love that it embodies Christmas spirit. And I love how it defines Christmas spirit and  how it emphasizes giving and charity and joyousness and community and fellowship. It’s not just that Charles Dickens is the man (cause he is), but he’s the man that’s pretty clearly against The Man, and A Christmas Carol is a lovely introduction to  Dickens’ many works.

So, I clearly went into The Muppets Christmas Carol with great expectations (ha ha ha).  How does The Muppets Christmas Carol hold up to such a scrumptious piece of literature?

Brilliantly.

First, in a twist, Dickens narrates the tale, as played by Gonzo the Great, with the help of Rizzo the Rat. They are excellent narrators, occasionally breaking the fourth wall and engaging in hi-jinks to follow the story that they are also telling. These are playful narrators, delighting in storytelling and stories at the same time; a process, really, that just underscores how creativity, and storytelling, isn't always linear.

Michael Caine is a formidable Ebenezer Scrooge. I hesitate to say that I prefer his Scrooge to Bill Murray’s, but I think I do. It’s a difficult role to play, Scrooge; it’s difficult to portray the embodiment of callousness and penny pinching and heartlessness. It’s certainly much harder to be callous and penny pinching and heartless to a bunch of adorable Muppets.  Caine’s “Humbugs” sound like what I hear when I read Dickens.

For Kermit the Frog, it’s not easy being mean, and he’s a fantastic Bob Crachit, gentle and kind and courageous.  Miss Piggy plays his wife, and her indignation is classic Piggy. With Robin the Frog as Tiny Tim, it’s a dynamic foundation for the Cratchit family, and a heart-wrenching one as well. Tiny Tim always gets me, and it’s easy to see how Scrooge’s heart is melted by this family.

The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future are as weird, strange, and downright creepy as ghosts tend to be. 

The Ghost of Christmas Past is ethereal, young, and fleeting, and the effects actually hold up pretty well.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is stern in Dickens, but the jolly Muppets version infuses an almost Buddha (albeit a goofy Buddha) quality to the present.

And the Ghost of Christmas Future, who, while not a skeleton, is a cloaked figure so scary that Gonzo and Rizzo take a break from narrating to hide, and return later, after that ghost has departed. Each ghost does its duty, and shows Scrooge the things he needs to see.

There are a few things that make The Muppets Christmas Carol truly special. First, is how close it is to the original. For the most part, it’s unswerving. 

There are a couple of tweaks, such as the addition of Jacob Marley’s brother, Robert, to allow Statler and Waldorf to play the role(s). The Ghost of Christmas Present is upbeat and rather goofy, which is appropriate for the age of the intended audience. Second, surprisingly (to me, watching for the first time) is the music, which is genuinely sing-able and charming. It’s easy to forget just how endearing singing Muppets are, and how sing-able Muppets’ songs can be. And, third, of course, the Muppets themselves, whose shenanigans and comedy contribute to the story, and make it a wonderful introduction to this traditional Christmas tale for young audiences and less young audiences alike.

The Muppets Christmas Carol makes it easy to be a Scrooge. And by “Scrooge,” I mean, of course, a generous, grateful, joyous, merry, kind, attentive, compassionate kind of person. When all is said and done, what other kind of Scrooge is there?

A Grinch, on the other hand, well, that’s another matter entirely.

The Christmas Toy

Premiered December 6, 1986.

On Christmas Eve, a toy tiger named Rugby (Dave Goelz) remembers last Christmas.

He was the favorite toy of a little girl named Jamie (Marsha Moreau).  He recalls how excited she was when she opened a present to find Rugby inside.  He presumes that will happen again and tries to get from the playroom down to the living room, aided by Mew (Steve Whitmire) the catnip mouse, who belongs to the family cat.

Jamie meets Rugby for the first time the preceding Christmas

The other toys excitedly prepare to receive new members into their little community and want to make the incoming toys feel welcome.

Belmot the Rocking Horse (Richard Hunt),  Balthazar the Teddy Bear (Jerry Nelson) and Apple the Doll get ready to welcome new toys to the playroom. 

A doll named Apple (Kathryn Mullen) tries to explain to Rugby that he is confused about Christmas.  Jamie will open up a new toy on Christmas morning that will likely take Rugby's place as her favorite.  Rugby doesn't believe her and leaves the playroom, determined to take what he sees as his rightful place under the family Christmas tree.  Mew follows him to try to help.

When toys are caught out of place, they are "frozen forever".

The problem is, if toys are ever found out of position by humans, they will be "frozen" and no longer able to talk to other toys or move on their own volition.  Rugby and Mew have some close encounters with humans en route to the Christmas tree in the living room.

Rugby hides in some laundry so he isn't found out of place

Rugby finds a big box and prepares to get inside.  He opens the lid and finds that the box contains a doll --  Meteora, Queen of the Asteroids (Camille Bonora)!  She does not realize she is a toy and believes she's arrived on a new planet, seeing the other toys as aliens.

Meteora, Queen of the Asteroids!   Conqueror of the living room. 

She also seems unwilling to get back into her box!

Apple and a couple of the other toys from the playroom decide to mount a rescue mission for their missing comrades.

Did someone wake up and hear them? 

Will all the toys make it back to the playroom?   Will Meteora usurp Rugby as the new favorite Christmas toy?

RigbyMel says:

This under-appreciated special features cute, beautiful puppets from the Henson workshop and an entertaining storyline.   The plot bears a similarity to a certain Pixar movie that was made a few years later,  but  the two are not carbon copies and there is certainly room for both stories!

SO CUTE!

I first discovered The Christmas Toy on VHS in the late 1980s and it quickly became regular viewing for my family around the holidays.    I think that Rugby and Mew are utterly adorable without being cloying.   I particularly enjoy some of the small touches that the Muppeteers include in this special - such as Rugby's mild vanity and cat like grooming and the fact that Mew uses some tricks he learned from the family cat to help them out of a jam or two.   (Also, the fact that the mouse is named "Mew" makes perfect sense as he is a cat's toy!)

Rugby and Apple underneath the Christmas tree trying to figure out how to return Meteora to her gift box.

There's also a nice little lesson about tolerance (cat toy vs. people toys) and love embedded in this special without it clonking people over the head with The Message.

If there is anything to criticize, I think it is Meteora herself -- we are not really given much of a chance to get to know her, but then again, it isn't really her story.  There is also an element of darkness to the tale what with the impiled "death" of toys who are caught out of place, but without tension, we do not have much plot and there is a happy ending (of course) which keeps this from being too scary.

This is a charming special from the Henson workshop and is definitely well worth seeking out.   There is a version of it that is available on DVD, but be aware that it is a bit edited.

RigbyMel's rating:

3 and a half candy canes.

J.A. Morris says:

The Christmas Toy is another good holiday special from Henson's crew.

Baltazar tells the toys that more toys will joining them at Christmas.

Rugby is a very cute and likable protagonist (even when he's acting self-centered in the beginning) and his relationship with Mew is endearing.  The scene where Jamie opens the box containing Rugby brought back my own memories of one or two extra special toys I received as a child.

Dave Goelz (best known for performing Gonzo) does a nice job as the "lead" Muppet in this special.  Other regular Muppet performers like Nelson, Mullen, Whitmire and Hunt are good as usual.

RigbyMel mentioned the acceptance subplot.  We also get a good scene where Rugby mourns a friend who has been frozen.  Rugby regrets that he never told his friend how much he loved him.  This can serve as a lesson to viewers of all ages to make sure that we tell people how we feel about them.

Mew convincingly imitates the cat's meow!

The Christmas Toy features several new songs, written by Jeff Moss.  His name might not be familiar, but Moss wrote many songs featured on Sesame Street, including "Rubber Duckie", "I Love Trash" and "The People In Your Neighborhood."  Moss also served as the show's head writer and helped create Cookie Monster.  Moss' best song here is "Together At Christmas".   It's a touching Christmas song that expresses the joy of being with loved ones during the holiday season.  It's a shame it was never recorded by a famous singer, because it deserves to be better known.  The song pops up a year later in A Muppet Family Christmas, so I get the feeling Henson liked it.  

The DVD that's currently available is different than the version that aired on TV and VHS.  In its original form, The Christmas Toy was introduced by Kermit the frog (Henson) and Kermit made an appearance at the end where he joined the toys to sing "Together At Christmas."  Kermit is currently owned by Disney, while the rest of the characters in the special are still owned by the Henson company.

Kermit sings & dances with Rugby & friends.

The Christmas Toy isn't the best Muppets Christmas special, but it's touching, funny and features a memorable holiday song.  Maybe someday Kermit will be freed from the corporate tentacles and the special will once again be available intact as Henson intended.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 and a half candy canes.