Franchisography

February is almost here and March is right around the corner…

…which means it’s almost time for this year’s Listener Pick Tournament!

Join Nick and Scott as they discuss this year’s Tournament rules and structure! Ya know, fun stuff! (It’s a fun episode – promise!)

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

It’s a Finale-sode!

Join Nick & Scott as they discuss/rank the Muppets franchise, pitch ideas for future Muppet movies, look back at our second season, and look forward to Season Three, coming Summer 2024!

Next week: Our hiatus begins!

FRANCHISE POTENTIAL: The Dark Crystal (1982) episode now available on PATREON!

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Patreon Associate Producers: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

After the runaway success of The Muppets, Disney quickly greenlit a sequel. While Jason Segal opted to not return, Nicholas Stoller instead co-wrote the next Muppet adventure with director James Bobin. This time, Kermit would take center stage for the first time since 1984 and would introduce the world to Constantine, the world’s most dangerous frog (and the subject of a meme that would take the internet by storm years later). 

First titled The Muppets… Again, the sequel would eventually be titled MUPPETS MOST WANTED and would be an unfortunate box office flop, and the last feature film to star the Muppets.

Joining Nick and Scott to discuss how the oft-forgotten sequel holds up almost ten years later is screenwriter and podcast Sam Gasch (Ideal Remake).

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

Twelve years after the failure of Muppets From Space, Disney had purchased the rights to The Muppets but was letting them languish in TV specials, commercials, and music videos. The idea of another feature film starring Kermit and the gang didn’t enter the realm of possibility until 2008 when Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and writer/star Jason Segal sought out Jim Henson Productions for help and advice on a Dracula puppet rock opera sequence featured in the film.

Through their mutual love of The Muppets, Stoller and Segal crafted a pitch to bring them back into the limelight with a feature film that would honor their past while reintroducing them to a new generation. After getting the greenlight from Disney, the movie was announced as The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever!!! until it eventually became THE MUPPETS, the highest-grossing Muppet movie of all time.

Joining Nick and Scott to discuss this high point for the legacy of these characters is musician and Muppet Man Scott Tofte (After the Echo, Geek By Night).

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

After the failure of Muppet Treasure Island, Disney had no interest in continuing their relationship with Jim Henson Productions. Instead, the company signed a three-picture deal for The Muppets with Sony Pictures that would include another adaptation from classic literature directed by Brian Henson, The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made directed by Frank Oz, and a film that would finally see Gonzo take center stage directed by a Muppet outsider.

That film was MUPPETS FROM SPACE and it would not only be a critical and commercial failure but would also cancel the remaining films in the Sony deal and see The Muppets take a twelve-year hiatus from theatrically released films.

Joining Nick and Scott to discuss weird cameos and what Muppet canon truly means is professional stage technician and podcaster Becca Beaulieu (Queue to Queue).

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybar

The modest theatrical success of The Muppet Chrismas Carol lead Brian Henson and the rest of the Henson company to decide on a new literary classic to adapt with the Muppets. This time, though, they wanted to focus on comedy and adventure, ultimately deciding on Robert Louis Stevenson’s pirate adventure.

The film was 1996’s MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND, and it would take 4 years to produce after a lengthy development and preproduction process that resulted in the budget ballooning to nearly 3x the modest budget of Christmas Carol, and an uphill battle at the box office that the film ultimately lost.

Joining Nick & Scott to discuss the flop that changed the tide for post-Jim Muppet movies is writer and podcaster Cass Fredrickson (The Doctor’s Companion).

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

Jim Henson was dead: to begin with.

But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed for the Henson company in the eight years since the Muppets took Manhattan: Frank Oz had become a successful film director; the company had expanded into new live-action series, Saturday morning cartoons, and creature creation for non-Henson films; an attempt was made to sell the company to Disney…

And then, on a random day in May of 1990, at the age of just 53 years old, the company’s founder, Jim Henson, suddenly and tragically died of complications from a case of walking pneumonia that no one knew he had.

In the aftermath, the Henson company, now being run by Jim’s son Brian Henson, had only one thing on their mind: Jim’s legacy, and the idea of the Muppets continuing beyond his death. They pitched ABC on the idea of a 2-hour Christmas special that would be a Muppets adaptation of the Charles Dickens holiday classic, but it would be Walt Disney Pictures who would give the project the greenlight, not as a television special but the first theatrically released feature film since 1984, resulting in THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL hitting theaters nationwide in December of 1992. 

Joining Nick and Scott to discuss the start of the post-Jim era for the Muppets is musical aficionado Ripley Green (they/them/muppet).

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

After the back-to-back productions of Muppet Caper and Dark Crystal, Jim Henson was ready for a break from directing. So when the studio wanted a third Muppet Movie, he turned to his creative partner Frank Oz to take over the behind-the-scenes duties of the latest Muppet opus, unknowingly kicking off the career of a prolific director.

What began as a very jokey script called “The Muppets: The Legend Continues” became a very earnest, heartfelt film about friendship, found family, and Broadway. Also featuring a sequence that introduced the world to the Muppet Babies, as well as a wedding that took the world by storm, the legacy of THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN holds a special place in the history of the Muppet franchise.

Associate Producer Matt Bennett joins Nick and Scott to discuss how this movie evolved the Muppets from vaudeville archetypes to three-dimensional characters. 

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

After the box office success of The Muppet Movie and The Muppet Show’s time on the air coming to an end after 5 seasons, Jim Henson was ready to take on his next challenge: film director. But it wasn’t a Muppet Movie sequel that he wanted to be his directorial debut, but a fantasy epic starring original puppets called The Dark Crystal.

To do that, however, he’d have to make a deal that included directing a Muppets sequel first before rolling directing into production on his puppet fantasy film. And so, with barely a concept and only a few ideas, Henson dove into directing what would become 1982’s THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER, a film that was bigger and more ambitious than anything the Henson Company had ever done before.

Joining Nick and Scott is Adam Sheehan (Tales From the Short Box) to discuss the magic tricks on display through what might be the most slept-on entry in Muppet movie canon.

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Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra

It’s time to play the music… it’s time to light the lights… our coverage of The Muppets franchise begins TONIGHT!

While he had earned huge success with the creation of Sesame Street, Jim Henson wanted to break out of children’s entertainment and create something for a more well-rounded demographic leading to the creation of The Muppet Show. Almost instantly, the variety sketch series became a pop culture juggernaut, but Henson has another medium he wanted to conquer next: Movies!

With lofty ambitions for his puppet stars, Henson pursued a musical road trip origin film for the Muppet gang featuring unforgettable original songs written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher. After shooting experimental footage to prove that the Muppets could still work outside of the Muppet Show sets, the film was greenlit, and THE MUPPET MOVIE became an iconic part of Muppet history.

Join Nick and Scott as they reminisce about their Muppet fandom, discuss the arduous process of making the film, dive deep into the meaning behind “Rainbow Connection”, and ponder the question: are the Muppets queer culture? (Of course they are)

No guests! Just vibes!

Become a Premier Tier PATREON supporter to hear our “Franchise Potential” companion podcast, plus bonus podcasts each week including Dueling Genre Tonight hosted by Nick!

Join the Dueling Genre Discord Server: https://discord.gg/rngwTkz8yw

Patreon Associate Producer: Matt Bennett & Mark Ybarra