Ah, 2015. What a great year. There were Snuffy Awards, big changes for Sesame Street, Unboxing videos, Turkey Hollow, and oh yeah, a new Muppet TV series.
As we’ve done for the past five years, we’re looking back on the past 365 days to remember all of the biggest and smallest announcements of Muppet news, as well as our favorite ToughPigs articles. Seriously, a lot happened in 2015, so this is going to take a while. That’s a good thing!
Enjoy this look back on a year of the Muppets!
January:
2014 Year in Review – Wow, it’s already been a year since our last year in review? It’s hard to compete with the year of Muppets Most Wanted, but I think 2015 will give it a run for its money.
365 Random Muppets Project ends – Artist Patrick Johnson spent an entire year drawing a new Muppet every day. As the year ended, we shared 50 of our favorites, and believe me, it was incredibly difficult to narrow it down that far.
Turkey Hollow TV special announced – A lost Jim Henson/Jerry Juhl treatment coming to TV? Christmas has come late this year!
Bert and Ernie in “Where are they now?” video for Oprah – As if they went anywhere. They’ve been living in the same basement apartment for almost 50 years.
ToughPigs interview with Archaia editors about Henson comics – The folks at Archaia comics opened their doors to us, and we hope they didn’t regret it.
Megan Barbeau’s colorized Henson photos – ToughPigs friend Megan Barbeau brought new life to old photos by doing what Ted Turner did for old movies, only better.
Muppets Most Wanted not nominated for any Academy Awards – Not even Best Original Song! We predicted the winners anyway, even though we were (and still are) totally bitter about it.
February:
The other Best Song nominees, and why Muppets Most Wanted’s songs were way better – I’m still dumbfounded by this.
Fraggle Rock credit cards available – It’s really the only way to pay for radishes.
Cookie Monster is new Head Writer on Jimmy Kimmel Live – All of the jokes are only half-written because Cookie Monster got distracted by craft services.
RIP Gary Owens – The prolific voice actor passed away, and we remember him for his work on Sesame Street.
Art appreciation with The Great Cookie Thief artwork – There are lots of dessert-themed paintings in the new Sesame Street special, and we’re pretending we actually know anything about art.
Big Bird and Michelle Obama on Billy on the Street – Also starring: Lots of shouting, jumping, and Elena.
The Snuffy Awards – Possibly the biggest, craziest thing we’ve ever attempted here at ToughPigs HQ. It’s essentially the Muppet fan’s equivalent of a star-studded gala.
Caroll Spinney stars in Big Birdman – Sesame Street’s spoof of Best Picture winner Birdman, co-written by ToughPigs’ own Joe Hennes. The spoof, not the original movie. Or maybe both???
Toy Fair 2015 – We got our first glimpse of the Sesame Street Funko Pops, the Muppet Minimates, and the Uncle Deadly photo puppet replicas. No wait, that last one might’ve been from a fever dream.
The Cookie Thief premieres – Cookie Monster is accused of pulling a Thomas Crowne Affair.
RIP Leonard Nimoy – As seen on Muppets Tonight and in Muppet Magazine. Also from that Space Trek show.
March:
Visual Thinking with Jamie Carroll – Our series of interviews with our favorite Muppet fan artists begins, starting with the Muppetational Mosaic creator Jamie Carroll. Keep looking until you find Waldo!
RIP Sesame Street animator Jeff Hale – We remember the creator of Sesame Street’s typewriter cartoon.
Muppets videos debut on Disney Junior – Kermit and the gang begin their series of Muppet-and-kid videos, making us wonder if the right fix really is to make them more “edgy”.
Cookie Monster stars in German BMW commercial – Thankfully, “Om nom nom” is understood universally.
Cookie Monster is a life coach – Since I already eat more cookies than I should, I wonder what other advice he’d have.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt announced as Fraggle movie star and producer – The coolest guy in Hollywood wants to take over the coolest franchise ever? Count me in.
Cookie Monster tends bar at SXSW – Nevermind, this is the coolest guy in the world.
Eric Jacobson and Matt Vogel provide lost Muppets Most Wanted commentary – The Muppet performers joined us at a live Muppet Vault event and provided live commentary. Because apparently Disney wasn’t going to ask…
Sesame Street album entered into Library of Congress – Rubber Duckie will survive the impending apocalypse!
The Count counts things on Late Night with Seth Myers – Look, if you’re gonna have The Count on your show, you’d better be prepared with things for him to count.
How will Joseph Gordon-Levitt fit into a Fraggle movie? – The actual answer: We’ll let him do whatever he wants.
Visual Thinking with Kenny Durkin – Nobody does Muppet mashups better than Kenny, and he tells us how he makes the magic happen.
April:
April Fools Day: BuzzPigs – ToughPigs made an attempt at clickbait in our annual April Fools Day gag. The third article will change your life!
First rumor of new Muppet series – We might have a new Muppet TV show??? Oh man, that would be so cool. It’ll never happen.
Gonzo and Rizzo talk Quicksilver – If I wanted to know how a mutant’s powers work, I’d probably ask a Muppet too.
RIP Sesame Street director Lisa Simon – We remember Lisa Simon, who began on Sesame Street way back in 1969.
Sesame Street spoofs Game of Thrones – It wasn’t even all that awkward for them to fit in the inevitable “Winter is coming” joke.
RIP Muppet Show music consultant Ray Charles – Better known as “the other Ray Charles”. No, really.
Taraji P. Henson films SNL sketch on Sesame Street – Empire’s Cookie is Sesame’s new Cookie. This is the new normal.
The types of people who comment on Sesame Street YouTube videos – Which one are you??? Hopefully one of the less obnoxious ones.
Sesame Street gets a new set – Oscar has moved over a few feet, Gordon and Susan have been evicted, but the rent is still cheap enough for Big Bird to stay in the neighborhood!
The Sesame Street movie gets a new studio and new director – At least is hasn’t been “permanently shelved”. I’m out of shelf space as it is.
Statler and Waldorf give tips on being curmudgeonly – When you want a lesson, you go to the experts.
Recap of the Muppets on The Cher Show – Featuring Kermit shamelessly hitting on Cher, Jim Henson performing Sweetums, and Rufus getting drunk. A classic!
May:
Kermit the Week – We celebrate Kermit’s 60th birthday the only way we know how: By writing a bunch of snarky articles and pointing out minutiae that nobody cares about but superfans like us.
Bunsen and Beaker mix toothpaste and orange juice – Well, that sure sounds like a boring article idea. It’s a video, folks.
The Muppets sing “Cool Kids” a cappella – The song was catchy enough before the Muppets got involved.
I Am Big Bird opens – Finally, everyone gets to see the fantastic Caroll Spinney documentary, and not just those of us with film festival passes.
20 Muppet facts from Mental Floss – If they think that’s a lot, they should sift through the Muppet Wiki sometime.
The Muppets sing “Pure Imagination” with Josh Groban and Linsdey Stirling – A great song with some great talent. Ben Vereen would be proud.
New Muppet show greenlit – Seriously?? We’re actually getting a new Muppet show?? What year is this???
Pepe wreaks havoc behind the scenes at YouTube – How else can you explain the popularity of Annoying Orange?
Jim Memorial Week – We memorialize Jim Henson every day, but especially so on the 25th anniversary of his passing.
RIP B.B. King – We remember B.B. for teaching us about the letter B on Sesame Street.
Fozzie’s stand-up YouTube series debuts – And they’re not very funny. I guess that’s the point?
Kermit and Ed Sheeran sing “Rainbow Connection” – People sure do love that goofy-looking guy. And the other goofy-looking guy.
RIP Ann Meara – The wife of Jerry Stiller and mother of Ben Stiller passed, and we look back at the time she appeared on Shalom Sesame. Yep, everyone has a Muppet connection somewhere down the line.
ToughPigs video tour of Sesame Street set – We got to visit the new Sesame Street set, and they didn’t confiscate our cameras!
ToughPigs interviews with Elmo and Abby – And while we were there, Elmo and Abby just couldn’t wait to talk to us. Okay, we paid them. A lot.
June:
Very Special Henson Specials series – Our new regular series investigating various Henson specials begins, and we realize that we still have a lot to say about Muppet things.
RIP Great Muppet Caper costumer Julie Harris – Lady Holiday’s creations just wouldn’t have been the same without her.
Miss Piggy wins Sackler First Award – Finally the lady pig puppet performed by a man receives a feminist award. Actually, it makes a lot of sense.
Sesame Street spoofs Jurassic Park – Hold onto your butts! I don’t have a joke here, I just wanted to say that.
Cookie Monster and The Count and Elmo and Abby interviewed on CNN – Take a back seat, Kim Jong Un, we have real world news to tackle.
Visual Thinking with Smig – ToughPigs’ resident artist takes center stage on… ToughPigs. I guess that happens a lot.
Kermit sings the World News Polka – I don’t know why Kermit doesn’t do polka more often. I think it fits him.
Henson Company Muppetizes Nintendo executives – Henson and Nintendo joining forces?? Throw a Ninja Turtle in there, and the 12-year-old in me might just die of happiness.
July:
Siri talks about Cookie Monster – It came within an insult where Siri accuses us of having no friends, so maybe it wasn’t such great news after all.
New Fraggle Rock comic book miniseries – There’s some sort of journey to some sort of Everspring, but as long as it has some sort of Fraggles, we’re happy.
Sonia Manzano retires from Sesame Street – We celebrate Sonia by celebrating Maria, and an entire week’s worth of articles all about our favorite toaster-fixer.
Sam the Eagle stars in July 4th video – Sure, Lew Zealand seems like the obvious choice for a patriotic Muppet video, but I guess he wasn’t available.
RIP Sesame Street animator Jane Aaron – We remember Jane Aaron, and the animations that defined Sesame Street in the ’90s.
The Muppets appear in video explaining economics – I’d have more to say about this, but I fell asleep 60 seconds in.
The Muppets (and Muppeteers) have their own Comic Con panel – Disney finally acknowledges that Muppeteers exist! And at Comic Con, no less! Geek mecca!
The Muppet Whatnot Workshop at FAO Schwarz closes – New York’s best spot for Muppet shopping (not to mention getting to build your own Whatnot puppet) closes. Meanwhile, ToughPigs’ own Joe and Ryan get interviewed about it on the BBC. Silver lining, folks!
The Muppets pilot presentation debuts – We get our first sneak peek at what the new Muppet show will be like. Spoilers: Lots of Muppets, lots of snark.
August:
Kermit and Piggy split up -It’s the biggest news of the year. Not just for this article, but for, like, all of everything.
The Electric Mayhem and Sam the Eagle perform “Jungle Boogie” – It’s the song Dr. Teeth was born to sing. Or, built to sing. Stitched? Carved?
Sesame Place: The Book – We celebrate that bit of Sesame Street that gets little love, the theme park, with a week’s worth of articles. One of these days, we might actually, like, go there.
Bunsen and Beaker perform dramatic reading of “A Pirate’s Life for Me” – Scientists as pirates? I’d watch that movie.
Sesame Street reduced to 30 minutes – I guess that just means we’ll have to watch them all twice.
Sesame Street heads to HBO – HBO is probably still hurting after having lost the Fraggles a couple decades ago.
Big Bird fits into a phone booth on The Tonight Show – Meanwhile, nobody watching The Tonight Show has any idea what a phone booth is.
Animal and Floyd perform dramatic reading of “It’s a Small World” – There’s no such thing as a small world, only small people.
The Muppets (and Muppeteers) have their own D23 panel – Another panel?? Oh man, that’s a lot of quality Muppeteer talk.
An open letter to Bill Prady – Durwood Clapper is the Muppet we need on the new show.
Rowlf performs dramatic reading of “Grim Grinning Ghosts” – There’s nothing grim about a Rowlf-centric YouTube video.
Visual Thinking with Jay Fosgitt – Yeah, we’re excited to share Jay’s fantastic artwork, but we’re mostly amazed at his story about getting a letter from Jim Henson himself.
September:
Meet Denise – Kermit has a new girlfriend, so of course, it’s time to panic.
Miss Piggy appears in Agent Carter Dubsmash – To be honest, Piggy pulls off the red hat better than Peggy.
Beaker stars in “Flowers on the Wall” video – In one of the best Muppet YouTube videos of the year, Beaker get severe insomnia. Gold.
Miss Piggy rebounds with lots of celebrities – Now that she’s broken up with Kermit, Miss Piggy has her pick of the litter. Good-looking-famous-guy litter.
Joey Mazzarino leaves Sesame Street – Sesame head writer and Murray Monster performer moves off the Street. The rent really is too damn high.
Return of the Muppets Week – The Muppets are coming back to our televisions, and we’re celebrating with a week of reviews, reminders, and rumors.
Jim Henson doc airs on PBS – Just in case there’s anything left that you might not know about the guy.
Julie Bowen and Joel McHale star in Muppets video for the Emmys – It’s also a car commercial, in case the rest of the description isn’t complicated enough.
The Muppets spoof US Weekly magazine – As if US Weekly isn’t spoof enough as it is.
The Muppets episode 1 (“Pig Girls Don’t Cry”) airs – The first episode of the new Muppet series is here! Kermit and Piggy are broken up, Fozzie has a new ladyfriend, and Elizabeth Banks throws Scooter from a golf cart. All the criteria for a perfect hour of television.
ToughPigs and the Henson Company’s Unboxing webseries debut – In possibly the coolest thing we got to do all year, we teamed up with the Henson Company to open up a bunch of boxes and geek out over the contents. We were born for this stuff!
The Muppets episode 2 (“Hostile Makeover”) airs – Confirming what we already know: Josh Groban is a dork.
October:
The Muppets episode 3 (“Bear Left then Bear Write”) airs – Fozzie goes camping, Gonzo goes on a blind date, and Rowlf goes… nowhere. Hey, at least he showed up to work that day.
The Muppets episode 4 (“Pig Out”) airs – Karaoke and Pepe’s uncanny Bradley Cooper impression? Someone found my Christmas wish list!
Muppet news from Back to the Future’s alternate 2015 – We can have Hoverboards or Muppets, but not both.
RIP Muppet performer Christopher Leith – We remember Leith for his work on Muppet Christmas Carol, Labyrinth, Muppet Treasure Island, and more.
The Muppets episode 5 (“Walk the Swine”) airs – All we wanted was to see Piggy throw down with Reese Witherspoon, and this episode delivered.
Halloween Parade 2015 – Our annual tradition of gawking at people in silly Muppet costumes continues.
The Muppets gets a full season pickup – 16 whole episodes! That’s almost 8 hours of new Muppet content! That’s more than the last two movies combined!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLfMrj74otA
November:
The Sesame Street comic book returns – Over two years since the first issue, we finally get the next chapter. Not that the comic has chapters, but hey.
The Muppets episode 6 (“The Ex Factor”) airs – Kristin Chenoweth goes on a road trip with the Electric Mayhem, and we’re upset that we weren’t invited along.
Showrunner Bob Kushell leaves The Muppets – Why would anyone leave the Muppets??? Why, Bob, why???
The Muppets being retooled/rebooted – Along with the Bob Kushell news, we hear that the show is getting a retooling. We hope that means they’re adding more dogs and frogs and bears and chickens and things. It’s a surefire tactic.
Big Bird interns at Funny or Die – Hey, a bird’s gotta start his career somewhere!
The Muppets episode 7 (“Pig’s in a Blackout”) airs – Scooter takes center stage in this episode, which is something none of us could have possibly expected before a few months ago.
The Muppets star in Giant Crumpet commercial – And it was the best commercial of the year. Amazing what crumpets can accomplish.
The Muppets appear in Small Business Saturday commercials – More great commercials! Uncle Deadly shines in his spookiness.
The Muppets episode 8 (“Too Hot to Handler”) airs – Another Scooter episode? Santa, you’ve been too kind.
ToughPigs goes behind the scenes of Turkey Hollow – We got to meet Burble and Squonk and the rest of the monsters, as well as the puppets originally built by Jim Henson himself. Amazing!
Turkey Hollow airs – We finally get to see the end result of the project Jim started way back in the ’60s. How often does that happen??
Kermit and Piggy spoof Adele’s “Hello” – Hi, Piggy. Hi, Kermit.
Sesame Street gets a new opening – There’s an “open Sesame” pun in there somewhere, but I’m too lazy to look for it.
Kermit, Samuel L. Jackson, and Spike Lee star in Capital One commercial – I’ve always wondered what’s in Kermit’s wallet.
Yes, we have seen the Sesame Street Thanksgiving comic – Finally a resource for you to share when you inevitably get the comic posted on your Facebook wall every Thanksgiving.
December:
The Muppets episode 9 (“Going, Going, Gonzo”) airs – Gonzo finally returns to his roots as a daredevil, sadly a little too late to star in the new Daredevil Netflix TV series.
Sesame Street comic contest runners-up and winners – We held an art contest where people sent in Muppet/comic mashups, and the results were amazing. Can everyone stop being so dang talented so I can feel better about myself in comparison? Thanks.
The Muppets episode 10 (“Single All the Way”) airs – The Muppets’ mid-season finale airs, and it’s an amazing feeling to be assured that there’s actually more stuff coming in a few months. It’s been a while since we’ve had the pleasure of feeling that.
Miss Piggy goes to the White House – I think our country is ready for our first female President. Also our first pig President. (Or have we already had a few of those?)
Elmo didn’t ruin Sesame Street – Some people are still claiming that Elmo ruined Sesame Street. As the experts on such matters, we’re setting the record straight.
How the Muppets fit into the Star Wars universe – People sure do like talking about Star Wars this year! As do we, which is why we talked about Star Wars this year.
Comparing the Emmet Otter book to the film – It’s a rare case in which the film is better than the book. But the book is still pretty good.
In defense of Letters to Santa – Fans are polarized by Letters to Santa, even within ToughPigs ranks. World War III is upon us.
The Christmas Toy vs Toy Story – From now on, Toy Story shall be known as The Christmas Toy 2. The whole numbering system is way off.
RIP Muppet performer Michael Earl – Sesame Street puppeteer Michael Earl passed away, and we’re amazed as to how much he actually affected our childhoods.
The Electric Mayhem covers “Kodachrome” – There’s nothing out there that can give us those nice, bright colors like the Electric Mayhem. Fantastic video.
Animal and Rosie Perez honor Rita Moreno with “Fever” – Recreating a Muppet sketch for the Kennedy Honors as if it were a classic piece of performance art? It’s about time.
2015 Year in Review – And here we are, back where we started. What a great year we had! And what a great year the Muppets had! Everyone had a great year!!
Happy New Year, Muppet fans! And we hope you have an equally fantastic and Muppety 2016!
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
