This is a Muppet Show appreciation post.
The Muppet Show, to me, is an iconic creation. Its mix of brilliance, humor, chaos, and music is singular and deeply important to me. I also think that in the time since Jim Henson and Frank Oz stopped working on the Muppets, it hasn’t really lived up to the brilliance of The Muppet Show and the first few movies.
I thought that the recently dropped Muppet Show episode with special guest start Sabrina Carpenter was a near-perfect recapturing of the artistic intent of the ’70s-era Muppets. I had quibbles, but precious few.
The challenge of recapturing artistic intent across time is massive. The vocal jazz world is full of massive fans of The Singers Unlimited and Gene Puerling. But I don’t think any of us could successfully recreate the artistry of TSU. It would be our own thing. As much as I love the Robert Shaw Chorale and the arrangements of Parker-Shaw, but I couldn’t recreate one of those albums. The world has moved on.
In those or any other cases, recreating would necessitate copying rather than creating.
The Muppet Show somehow figured out how to create while capturing the feeling of the Muppets 50 years ago. Bravo.