Ah, my old friend 2010. We’ve had some good times! It was a year chock-full of Muppet news, interviews, and fun articles here on ToughPigs. We saw viral videos come and go, we witnessed the whole of the Katy Perry scandal, and we got our first taste of the upcoming Muppet movie. That’s gotta be, like, 3 years worth of stuff in just 12 months.
Take a look below at some of the most notable news stories from the past year, as well as some of our favorite articles, events, and interviews. And enjoy this flashback through the past 365 days!
January:
The Muppet Movie entered into Library of Congress’s National Film Registry – The Muppets are finally being recognized as the national treasures they are! Outside of this website, I mean.
First issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book (ongoing) released – No more miniseries, just Roger Langride, a pen, and a dream.
Muppets in the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day campaign – The Muppets take center stage for a few minutes and get into some well-made commercials, print ads, and theme park parades, all in the name of volunteering. Not that I volunteered my own time, unless you count writing about Give a Day as charity work.
James Bobin announced as the new Muppet movie director – And a thousand voices cried out at once: “Who???”
February:
Frozen Muppets – Are they cold, disturbing, or disturbingly cold?
Beaker’s Ballad – Beaker has never been cooler. Except when he accidentally got set on fire.
Muppet King Arthur begins – And so do the puns.
Hidden Gems of Sesame Street – The Sesame crew gives a little something back to the fans. Actually, a lot of something.
Jerry Nelson’s Truro Daydreams released – Muppet fans rejoice as we get a whole album of original music from the great Jerry Nelson!
March:
Muppet Madness Tournament – We teamed up with the MuppetCast to bring a month-long contest to discover who your favorite Muppet is.
Gonzo and the Pursuit of Art – Did The Muppet Movie ruin Gonzo as a character? Or was he doomed from the moment he left the cigar box?
April:
Stand By Me – The triumphant return of Carl the Big Mean… er, Bunny.
Old School CD set released – Old, awesome Sesame stuff isn’t just relegated to DVDs! We get a little treat for our ears too!
Song of the Cloud Forest DVD released – A beautiful, classic Henson special is immortalized on disc.
Cookie Monster on The Office – The Office dedicates an entire episode to a Cookie Monster YouTube video. I did the same thing in my office, but I got yelled at for wasting company time.
Fraggle Rock comic book begins – Indie writers and artists ply their craft to bring us an exciting anthology of original Fraggle material.
May:
Characters Whose Names Sound a Bit Rude – The most press Spotted Dick has ever gotten.
RIP Lynn Redgrave – Muppet Show guest star and occasional Maid Marion passes away.
Muppets win Webby Awards – Bohemian Rhapsody is a success! 700 million of my closest friends told me so.
Muppets on LOST Slapdown – Good grief, Jacob is a bear!
RIP Lena Horne – The Muppet Show/Sesame Street guest star and great friend to the Muppets passes away.
What is SIRE? – Oh man, this article totally takes me back!
Remembering Jim – Some of the most talented artists in Muppet fandom and official comic books help us remember Jim Henson on the 20th anniversary of his passing.
Muppet Snow White begins – I think it began with “Once Upon a Time”, but I can’t be sure.
Muppet Movie table reading – Our first hint that this thing might actually be happening.
American Woman – Sam the Eagle covers Guess Who. No really, guess!
June:
Muppet pipes at NBC – A little piece of Muppet history is immortalized on the NBC studio tour. Jimmy Fallon not included.
Dog City DVD released – More dog puns than you can shake a tail at.
Muppet movie gets release date – Of course, it’s not the release date anymore, but it was still pretty exciting!!
RIP Jimmy Dean – Rowlf the Dog’s old buddy passes away.
Leslie Cararra-Rudolph interview – The voice of Abby Cadabby tells her life story to us.
Muppets get a Hollywood Star – And now you can walk all over the Muppets with pride!
First Ask ToughPigs – We answer your questions on video for the very first time!
July:
P?ɬ?pc?ɬ?rn – The Swedish Chef is barely intelligible on his best days. This is not one of those days.
Sesame 20th Anniversary DVD released – Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the 20th anniversary!
First Muppet Vault – We teamed up with the MuppetCast to bring Muppet fans together for an afternoon of rare videos in NYC!
August:
RIP Lorene Yarnell – Half of the mime troupe (and half of the guest stars from their episode of The Muppet Show) Shields and Yarnell passes away.
RIP Jack Parnell – The Muppet Show (not Nigel) bandleader passes away.
RIP Danny Epstein – Sesame Street musical director passes away.
Henson’s Place DVD released – Another great Jim Henson documentary is readied for consumption.
Sam and Friends entered into Smithsonian – If anyone belongs in the Smithsonian, it’s Moldy Hay.
Joe Mathieu interview – The legendary Sesame Street illustrator answers our questions.
September:
Muppet Songs that Sound a Bit Rude – We just couldn’t help ourselves. In sooooooong!
Muppets are Six Things – If you thought the Muppets were seven things, you were dead wrong.
The Muppet Kitchen webseries begins – Cat Cora and Angelo surround themselves with Muppets in an attempt to be more interesting.
Muppet Sherlock Holmes begins – The Muppet comic book that just can’t get a clue.
Katy Perry scandal – The media completely overreacts to a pair of boobs. No, not Andy and Randy.
Jim’s Red Book debuts – The Jim Henson Company starts their new blog to share the content of Jim’s diary. Let this be a lesson to any of you with a diary of your own.
Sesame Street season 41 begins – Is it weird to think about Sesame Street entering into its fifth decade? Yeah. It is.
RIP Michael Smollin – “The Monster at the End of This Book” illustrator passes away.
October:
Amy Adams confirmed as Muppet movie co-star – We get confirmation that there will be more than one person in the movie.
My Day with Fraggle Cartoon – An entire series in one day. Fraggles: 1, Viewer: 0.
Fraggle Rock on Hub – You can finally watch Fraggle Rock without a DVD player or a time machine!
Muppet movie in Entertainment Weekly – We get our first promotional photo of the Muppets in preparation for the movie. Sadly, no sign of everyone’s favorite: JP Grosse.
Smell Like a Monster – Grover teaches us the greatest lesson of all: Grover is freaking awesome.
RIP Barbara Billingsley – The voice of Muppet Babies’ Nanny passes away.
I Love My Hair – The new Sesame Street song becomes an anthem for women both young and old.
Filming on Muppet movie begins – Yet another one for the “Holy crap, this is actually happening!” file.
November:
Caroll Spinney interview – The legendary Caroll Spinney joins us for an interview. And then I get to write those words without lying.
Walter revealed – We finally see the star of the new Muppet movie. Not what we expected, but the little guy’s growing on us.
2010 Halloween Parade – Who knew that so many people harbored dreams of dressing up as Doozers?
First Muppet movie set photos – Proof that they’re actually using cameras!
Stop Being Wrong – Would you mind very much please to stop being so dang wrong? Please??
Cookie Monster wants to host SNL – And his audition video is way funnier than anything SNL could produce.
RIP Leslie Nielsen – Comedy legend and Mr. Willowby costar (though we don’t hold that against him) passes away.
Roger Langridge quits The Muppet Show Comic Book – He leaves us with some of the best original Muppet content from the past 15 years.
December:
Old School v.2 CD set released – The only thing I love more than old Sesame Street stuff is more old Sesame Street stuff!
Muppets and Hanukkah – Is it the lesser winter holiday? According to the Muppets: Yep.
12 Days of Muppet Christmas – Our epic 12-part series of Muppet Christmas reviews and commentaries. We’re still waiting for that Thank You card.
Cookie Monster on SNL – Hey, it worked for Betty White. Thanks, Facebook!
This article – I’m sure you’ll be telling your grandkids about it.
What’s coming up next?? 2011 is sure to be a banner year, both for the Muppets and us. We’ve got the new Muppet movie, ToughPigs’ 10th anniversary, and a few big surprises that we have in the works all to look forward to. I can’t wait to see what the 2011 recap article is going to look like!
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
