Well, it’s very nearly 2021. Of course everyone knows that 2020 has been a bad year, but at the stroke of 12:00:01 on New Year’s Day, all of our problems will magically vanish and everything will be great forever. As a Muppet fan, I’m hoping this includes some good stuff for us. For several years at approximately this time, we’ve made our wish lists of what we’d like to see in the upcoming year, and this year will be no exception. (Hey, I just said “year” three times in one sentence!)
But first, I’m curious to look back at what I was hoping for last year. Let’s see…
“A Muppets Now worth waiting for.” Well, that depends on who you ask, but it had some definite high points brought down by lots of repetition. I also hoped for “More old Muppet stuff on Disney+.” Did they add any classic Muppet titles? I don’t think so.
Two of my wishes came true: “Diamond Selects Dr. Teeth and Zoot figures” and “Some fun new Sesame Street stuff.” I didn’t end up owning the Dr. Teeth and Zoot toys because they were only available in an expensive set with the rest of the band (figures that had already been released), so that’s pretty non-groovy. At least there were some fun Sesame Street episodes and videos… as well as some very important CNN specials once the pandemic hit.
What else did I hope for? Oh yeah… “More Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance merchandise” and “An announcement for a second season of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.” Hmm. Well, I think that Age of Resistance Tactics video game came out in 2020. And we got an announcement about a second season of the show, but unfortunately, the announcement was that there wasn’t gonna be a second season.
Well, that’s depressing. You know what? That’s enough looking back. Let’s move on to my new hopes for 2021.
The Muppet Show on Disney+
Every time the Muppets do anything new and there’s buzz about it online, that buzz is accompanied by the sound of fans crying out for The Muppet Show to be added to Disney+. A lot of folks want to revisit it because they remember it fondly, many want to show it to their kids, and everyone wants to see the seasons that were never released on DVD.
With music rights and all that blah blah blah, is it likely that we would see the entire, uncut series on Disney’s streaming service. Maybe not. But at this point, whatever they can give us would be better than nothing. Come on, Disney. Just think about how excited people would be to watch “Pigs in Space” on their smart TVs.
Short, funny Muppet videos
It feels extremely optimistic to hope for a new full-fledged Muppet series or film. Although a direct-to-Disney+ Muppet movie would be swell. But how about this: Let’s see some Muppet shorts, in the vein of their YouTube hits like “Habanera” or “Stand by Me.” They could premiere on YouTube, or Disney+, or heck, even Fubo, whatever that is. And they shouldn’t be beholden to the recurring segment format like the Muppets Now sketches were. Just let the Muppets be funny, strange, and musical in short installments.
A start to filming on the Sesame Street movie
Our poor Sesame pals keep waiting for their next shot at big-screen glory, and they keep getting shuffled around. According to Muppet Wiki, the movie is currently scheduled for release in January 2022, so if they can do so safely, they would have to finish filming in 2021 to hit that target. Fingers crossed! My fingers are also crossed that the movie will be good. Which reminds me…
A new Fraggle Rock series that doesn’t make us cringe
The new Fraggle Rock will reportedly begin production in January 2021. We don’t know much about it, but I’m pretty nervous about it. Unlike the Muppet Show characters and Sesame Street, the Fraggles as a franchise had an ending years ago, and it seems like an impossible task to do justice to such a great show.
The Apple TV Fraggle Rock: Rock On show mostly bodes well for the potential of the new project. That series of short episodes had the joyful spirit and characterizations of the original down, with just a few too many celebrity guests. If the creators of the new series can retain that joyfulness while also not avoiding serious topics, and while also coming up with some new songs that rival the catchiest songs ever written, they’ll be in good shape for doing Fraggle justice.
More great virtual events
With everyone staying home because of covid-19 (You HAVE being staying home, haven’t you???), we couldn’t go to live performances or panel discussions anymore. That’s bad. But thanks to the magic of Zoom and Streamyard and the like, Muppet fans were still able to “get together” and indulge in their fandom thanks to some excellent online events.
The champion of these was the Museum of the Moving Image. For years, they’ve been presenting exciting events on all kinds of Muppet-related topics, featuring all kinds of great Muppet-related guests. The pandemic closed their doors, but it didn’t stop them, as they kept bringing us Q&As, show-and-tells, panel discussions, behind the scenes info, and more. The best part: Anyone could attend, even if they don’t live within driving distance of the museum.
It remains to be seen what life will be like after the vaccine for the virus rolls out. The museum may be opening its doors again in the relatively near future. But even when they do, I hope they — and others — will keep hosting online events for fans all over the world.
Another excellent year for Tough Pigs
If I do say so myself (and I do), we’ve been doing great work here on the website. We hosted some live video chats of our own. We’re almost through with our “40 Years Later” project reviewing every episode of The Muppet Show. We’ve written some great reviews of rare Sesame Street episodes. And we’ve continued our podcast endeavors with the Muppets Take Manhattan season of Movin’ Right Along, as well as 15 Seconds to Curtain (in which notable people talk about Muppets) and The Muppets: The Sitcom: The Podcast (in which we revisit the 2015 ABC series).
Whatever Muppety things happen in 2021, we’ll be there to talk about them. So I hope it’s all typically brilliant, and I hope we become the #1 most popular site on the internet. That’s right, bigger than Facebook, Amazon, and Wienerschnitzel.com. I’m completely serious. Let’s make it happen!
Click here to wait for your next shot at big-screen glory on the Tough Pigs forum!
by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com
