The Muppets have made 8,000 Christmas specials, which means by the time New Year’s Eve rolls around, they’re usually too tired to go on TV and perform. But the Muppets have celebrated the changing of the calendar on television a few times over the years, and through the magic of YouTube, we can revisit them now.
In 1993, Sesame Street did an entire special devoted to New Year’s Eve. It aired with the title Sesame Street Stays Up Late, and it would be released on video later as Sesame Street Celebrates Around the World. It’s a pretty nifty special… Someday maybe I’ll write about it in detail. Perhaps in ANOTHER YEAR! It was made in the show’s “Around the Corner” era, and it makes good use of the recently embiggened street set. Here’s Big Bird and the gang anticipating the New Year’s party in song:
As you can see, Telly is characteristically uncertain about the whole “New Year” thing. He displays incredibly poor judgment by sharing his misgivings with Oscar, who, also characteristically, makes no attempt to quell Telly’s fears. Thoroughly freaked out, Telly then attempts to prevent the new year from coming, so that nothing has to change.
And then some other stuff happens, and Gina has a lovely, heartfelt talk with Telly, and long story short (SPOILER ALERT!), he learns to accept the new year as nothing to be afraid of. They make it out to the courtyard just in time for the countdown. The grown-ups also emerge from the subway at this precise moment, having departed early from their party across town, and having arrived back on Sesame Street with really amazing timing. So everyone gathers to watch the ball drop… from Wolfgang’s nose.
Is there anything more exciting than the promise of a new year, ushered in by a seal?
A few of the human characters glimpsed here, like Jamal, Ruthie and Celina, would be erased from existence when the Around the Corner set was eliminated a few seasons later, so they would cease to have any new years at all. But as of this special, they’re all blissfully unaware of that. So — Happy New Year, everyone on Sesame Street!
And now, just as smoothly as we transition from the old year to the new, let’s transition from Sesame Street to the Muppet Show guys. Later that decade, Miss Piggy appeared on The Today Show on the morning of New Year’s Day 1998. She was interviewed by Matt Lauer, with whom she apparently had a date the night before that didn’t end so well.
Piggy’s habit of calling people by their full names instead of their commonly-used nicknames was a funny character thing. She hasn’t done that in a while, has she?
Now let’s jump back from the Clinton era to the Reagan days, when Kermit appeared on CBS’s New Year’s countdown special alongside Al Jarreau to celebrate 1985 turning into 1986.
Three things about this:
1. Kermit wears two different fancy top hats!
2. That’s a big apple.
3. Isn’t it funny that they just call him “Kermit” and not “Kermit the Frog?”
And now we jump forward in time again. I know it seems like that doesn’t make sense, but I think you’ll see why I saved this one for last. When 1996 gave way to 1997, Miss Piggy appeared live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, reporting from the roof of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. The running theme here seems to be Piggy’s misery at being stuck outside in the freezing December weather, and I don’t think it would be a huge leap to conclusions to assume that what we’re really hearing is Frank Oz’s own delightful crankiness shining through.
Happy 1997, everyone! And happy 1986, happy 1998, and happy 1994. And whether you’re a monster, a giant bird, a frog, a pig, or a talk show host, best wishes for a happy 2012 from your pals at Tough Pigs!
Thanks to taurinecat, The1980sGuy, and MuppetWiki for uploading this cool stuff! And special thanks to Tough Pigs’ own Staci for suggesting the article title! Click here to make resolutions and be kissed by Al Jarreau on the Tough Pigs forum!
by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com
