The Jim Henson Company’s new prime time game show That Puppet Game Show premiered recently on BBC One. If, like us here at Tough Pigs headquarters, you can’t get BBC One where you live, you can watch the first episode here. But we did even better than that: We had a friend of TP in the audience at some of the show’s tapings! This person — who prefers to remain an anonymous, secret squirrel wrote the following info-packed review for us. Thanks, squirrel!
The Henson Company have scored quite the coup with their latest British project, a BBC primetime Saturday Night puppet gameshow called… That Puppet Game Show. It certainly wasn’t the show’s original title (last year’s pilot was filmed as Games Inc.), but it does highlight just how much signposting out-of-the-ordinary new concepts are perceived to need if they hope to succeed in the most traditional (and prestigious) entertainment timeslot we have here in the UK.
I was lucky enough to secure tickets to the ‘recordings’ for last year’s pilot and the first two episodes of the 40 minutes x 7 episode series, so I’ll attempt to provide a few comparisons of how the show is evolving… The audience in the studio was screened pre-edited material (consisting of celebrity battle games and backstage sketches) in order to provide an ‘as live’ soundtrack. Did I mention that this pre-edited material was shot in the same studio as The Muppet Show? How about the fact that it stars original TMS performer Louise Gold and Jim Henson’s son Brian?! Expectations for the series from hardcore UK Muppet fans are pretty high, based on those ingredients, but what will everyone else think?
The UK press were just as confused as the rest of the world as to what The Jim Henson Company now represents – All early teaser articles to create buzz were pretty much promising the return of ‘The Muppets’ to our screens. Even as we waited for the first two episodes to be screened, the murmuring audience seemed flummoxed as to what they were about to be presented with, other than “something to do with the Muppets” (The BBC radio theatres draw a crowd that turn up regularly to everything since it’s free!). To then be greeted by an entirely new cast, and be expected to instantly laugh at them, provided a giant moment of truth for the production crew sat in the heckle-free balcony above.
The first big things to report are that this series is genuinely full of laughs and Brian Henson steals the show! His most prominent character, Ian the Armadillio, was the audience’s favorite by a mile, although having his performing experience on set really helps the rest of the cast raise their game too.
The second key factor is that I would wager it’ll be tough for the show to travel overseas, due to regular references to UK TV stars and geographical locations. It feels delightfully home-grown, but doesn’t even attempt to recreate the worldwide sales potential of The Muppet Show. I’m pretty sure that the BBC pay for the entire production budget for shows in this timeslot, specifically so that they get content targeted directly at a British audience (a requirement for receiving a compulsory, yearly license fee from the UK public). There are some American accents in the mix, but it’s clear that they’re not allowed to be the most prominent. Veteran British puppeteer Dave Chapman has stepped up to the role of game show host, Dougie Colon (which is pronounced Cologne to everyone but Ian, who delights in shattering the thin pretence).
Chapman played a puppet character called ‘Otis the Aardvark’ for many years on Children’s BBC, hosting live links in a daily programming block, so he’s adept at improvising and is a very strong choice. In the Games Inc pilot his host character was unfortunately written as the blandest amongst a delightfully wild cast (designed to be very gentle spoof of TMS guest star and UK light entertainment stalwart, Bruce Forsyth). However for the series proper, by shifting the influence point to contemporary UK gameshow host Vernon Kaye, complete with his regional Bolton accent, Dave happily has much more to play with in a tricky lead role.
The games are played on a studio stage set with two human celebrity contestants, competing to win money for charity. It was a shame to see the host puppet stuck behind a desk in a cavernous set, especially after the pilot episodes afforded more freewheeling, waist-up framing, but it was definitely a price worth paying for more relaxed celebrity guests who no longer had to worry about staging limitations. There is also a backstage production area where puppet story lines play out that recalls Muppets Tonight much more than The Muppet Show due to the TV studio setting. The puppet crew take it in turns to host each game selected by a wheel, which was a great way of getting to know a big, fresh cast (and cheering for Ian the Armadillo).
Some of the games are a real hoot! ‘Saucissong’ with a Hot Dog orchestra (ressurrecting the reliable weenie puppets from City Kids and Stuffed and Unstrung) really brings the guests out of their shells as they have to position them in the right order as they sing segments of an a capella tune. The pilot actually made a star out of one of the hot dogs (also played with real charm by Dave Chapman) yet this character hasn’t made the series cast. I did rather miss him and he would be a worthy re-addition should the show hopefully get to Series 2!. ‘Glow Balls’ is another game that also allows a hotdog invasion for some wild visual double entendre, and the show is all the better for it!
I’m delighted to say Louise Gold has also been allowed to be funny and her experience as a stage performer also lifts the series. She plays Amber O’Neill, a showbiz obsessed glamour correspondent and Jemima Taptackle, a Jane Lynch-in-Glee style sports coach, and both characters are the strongest females in the troupe. The pilot also saw her play an unhinged fortune teller who was downright hilarious, yet not in the Series 1 line up, so I dearly hope for a resurrection. It’s wonderful to see Louise given the chance to shine after so many smaller roles, and she’s risen to the challenge marvelously.
As well as Ian the Armadillo, Brian performs Dr Strabismus (a more-likeable-than-Phil-Van-Neuter scientist) in science-based games and certainly is the performer most comfortable with cutting loose on these early episodes. There were no credits in this rough cut, so I couldn’t identify every performer, but nature expert Jake Hamilton-Jones and Clyde the Crab are also strong right out of the gate.
There’s the slightest air of tentative restraint from other characters in these early episodes, but this feels exactly in line with the impression given by the cast-as-a-whole in early Muppet Show episodes. Instant-hitting comedy is incredibly tough to do and, whilst a 7 episode commission risks bot being long enough for every puppeteer/character to warm into their roles, I’m happy to report that Episode Two played much stronger that the first thanks to a little more familiarity. There is so much to applaud here, so I’m confident that the robust structure will carry the series forward, and let additional characters find their groove week-by-week.
The intended first episode has a plot about needing to fire one of the cast members, although this doesn’t connect quite as effectively as it would have done if we’d have known all the characters first! A more focussed second episode that sees the storyline shifting to two of the puppet crew who are having flatmate problems, which brought out the likeability factor.
As The Muppet Show also discovered, the show can soar or stall depending on the strength of the human guests. Jonathan Ross v Katherine Jenkins and Vernon Kay v Mel Giedroyc were the episodes I had to judge on, and they were mostly excellent (the cries of ‘WHO?’ currently chorousing around the world only further support the UK centric charm, as they are household names here). There were occasionally awkward moments during the improvised talk spots – another TMS Season 1 problem! – but I’d wager these will likely have already hit the cutting room floor as we saw much more material than can fill the allocated 40 minutes.
There are some terrific cut away sketches featuring a family at home and a rodent and monkey pairing who live in the pipes below that really add texture to the show. They felt a little like experiments, but they worked and I hope there is commitment to giving them screen time throughout the run.
Everything seen here suggests the show has plenty of directions to go in and has further characters to cultivate, so it would be a crime if this show doesn’t get the support it deserves over the 7 week run. I sincerely hope the mix of genuine laughs and huge potential in the format score ‘That Puppet Game Show’ a long life in the UK. I think it’s also capable of spawning overseas versions, giving Henson their much-needed all-ages flagship puppet vehicle, if it doesn’t suffer a fickle audience here. Do watch and support if your television allows!
Thanks again to our secret squirrel in the UK for the report. Click here to play Glow Balls with a hot dog on the Tough Pigs forum!
