The French Muppet Show: Muppets TV
The
review of the home release of The Muppets 2011 will be posted soon
but in the meantime let's take a look at a Muppet project that most
people don't know about, even though it starred most of the original
cast. If I'de ask people how many iterations of the Muppets Show have
aired most will say one, referring to the original Muppet Show. Most
Muppet fans will say two, referring to both the original Muppet Show
and the short lived Muppets Tonight that aired in the mid nineties.
Ask this question to a French Muppet fan however and he'll probably
answer "trios" (three) since France got their own version
of the Muppet Show. This wasn't a simple dub of the Muppet Show or
Muppets Tonight but an entirely new program, made specifically for
the French market starring the original Muppets alongside French
guest stars called Muppets TV.
How
did this all come about? Let's take a trip back to this year 2005...
French
network TF1 and French radio comedian Sebastian Caudet made a deal
with the Walt Disney Company to produce a new series for the French
market where the Walt Disney Company send the actual puppets to
France to get puppeteered by French puppeteers. Caudet himself
provided the voice of the French Kermit and was a guest star in the
final epsiode.
The
show started in 2005 as a 15 minute pilot which featured French
humorist Franck Dubosc as the guest star. The pilot contained several
sketches including a parody on French TV series Mon Incroyable Fiance
starring Miss Piggy. After the pilot a ten episode season was made to
air in 2006.
Besides
Kermit, a large part of the original cast of the Muppet Show was used
in Muppets TV, including Muppets that had been retired for a long
time in American Muppet productions like Rowlf, Scooter, the Muppets
Newsman and Dr Teeth. Complementing these established stars were new
Muppets like Denise and several Whatnots. (nameless Muppet 'extras')
In contrast to the American series which were set in a old theater
(The Muppet Show) and a television studio (Muppets Tonight) Muppets
TV was set on a talk show stage. Like Muppets Tonight, it featured
two guest stars per show. Each episode lasted 45 minutes and was
broadcast on Sundays. The best bits of each weeks episode where rerun
in 5 minute segments from Monday through Friday
Unfortunately,
the show failed to hold the interest of the viewing audience and was
cancelled in mere months with only 10 episodes produced. While the
show was exclusively in France, foreign Muppet fans today can catch
a glimpse of the show on Youtube:
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