Thursday, February 07, 2008

More to Come on the New Muppets.com

Last Friday Disney launched a multitude of new Muppet content onto the web as part of the Disney Xtreme Digital network. As reported earlier, the site launched with more than 10 exclusive video sketches totally more than 15-minutes of brand-new content. Well, more videos have already been produced for the site and Disney is planning to continue to add videos and other content to the site on a weekly basis over the next several months! That's right, new Muppet videos every week well into the summer!

These web videos, initially filmed for DxD last fall, were directed by Muppeteer/director Bill Barretta and were written by long-time Muppet writers Jim Lewis and Kirk Thatcher. The Muppet crew spent several days in the studio filming sketches for the website, and I have been told that Disney is already planning on getting the Muppets back together to film even more stuff for the DxD site.

As for the international Muppet fans out there, sadly the DxD network is only accessible from within the US. There is a UK version of DxD, but the Muppet content is not on it (or at least not yet). This is not a personal conspiracy against the Muppets, but is the unfortunate result of the structure, configuration and design of Disney's entire online endeavors. The folks at Muppet Studios are looking into the issue; but there is no definite solution at this point in time (there are some unofficial backdoor methods to get in, however none are endorsed or supported by Disney).

So if you haven't already checked out the site, what are you waiting for? Check out the new Muppets.com right now -- with more than 25 video clips, 5 interactive games, 4 fun gadgets, 25 song samplings, several unique polls and plenty of Muppet wackiness. Plus remember to check back for even more new Muppet content to come as there will be new content up every week for the next couple of months. And, as always, I will be sure to keep you updated as things develop with this exciting Muppet endeavor.

Go to Muppet.com Now!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greg, do you know when the new content will be posted each week?

blogger said...

Sorry Brad, but I don't know - however I will try to find out and will let you know if I find out. The information on the weekly updates came direct from the Director of Creative Affairs at Muppet Studios, however I do not know all the nitty-gritty details of how the updates will be happening –they will be following a hard scheduled of posting the new in routine of a specific day of the week, or the new bits may just continue to trickle out randomly with at least some new stuff being added at least each week. However I have been told on good authority that there will be new content up every week for the next couple of months and they are already planning to shoot more.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Greg.

I'm glad to hear Jim and Kirk worked on these. Didn't they write the Muppetisms for Odyssey too? Some of these bits have the same feel to them. I really like 'em. It's also cool to hear that Bill directed the videos. Do you know anyone else that worked on these?

blogger said...

I didn't really inquire too deeply about all the cast and crew. But I was interested in who wrote these and the folks at Muppet Studios were able to help me out there. I don't have a full copy of the call sheet or anything but I was told that aside from Jim and Kirk writing the bits, they also had a pretty decent sized crew – Bill directed and there were six puppteers, multiple cameramen, a puppet wrangler and prop man or two; plus people handeling the lighting, sound and other technical things. These videos are not the result of just 4-5 guys improving and playing around with a camcorder. These are serious (mini) Muppet productions.

And yes, you are correct; Jim and Kirk were responsible for the Muppetisms back in 1999. The pair wrote the shorts and Kirk directed.

I too agree that it's nice to see Bill directing the Muppets... incidentally he also directed Pepe's Long John Silvers commercials in 2002, the unseen pilot for America's Next Muppet in 2005, the unseen Muppet mockumentary pilot in 2006 and the Tinseltown pilot in 2007. So he's sat in the director's chair before.

Vaughn Michael said...

This is great and I love the new Rizo intro!
This site is going to shape up great :)
I hope we get to see Rowlf, & Dr. Teeth and other characters like Floyd maybe or even some random aliens and monsters.
That's whats really missing from the muppets for me these days.
But if they keep doing more fun stuff like this I'll be a happy camper. :)

Anonymous said...

A new Electric Mayhem music video or video performance would be amazing....even if they were just lip-synching to an old album track.

Anonymous said...

So is this the "top secret" project that's been in the works...or is there yet something else afoot? (I would imagine the latter since Hugh Fink doesn't appear to have been involved)

blogger said...

No, the big "top secret project" is something else. Once the writers' strike is settled (which should be soon!) things will pick back up on the project.