User:MuppetArchives/Today on Muppet Wiki Archive 08

Archive of Today on Muppet Wiki, August - September 2007.

August 2007

 * August 31 &#8226; The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon will be on this weekend, raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The Muppets are scheduled to appear during the broadcast, which begins on September 2nd and airs through the 3rd. Bear, from Bear in the Big Blue House, will also make an appearance.


 * August 30 &#8226; Disney Adventures: We first heard in May about plans for a new Muppet comic strip by Roger Langridge to appear in Disney Adventures magazine, starting this summer. However, the plans were delayed, and we now hear that the magazine is folding as of November. It's unclear whether Langridge's completed strips will be published.


 * August 29 &#8226; Women Can Be is a Sesame Street song about the many careers women can have. Three women place a spotlight on their own personal stories of success with the medical field, the circus and rocket science. Other opportunities expressed include everything from an alligator hunter to an office clerk, a police officer to a clown college graduate, a mountain climber to a lumberjack, and a published author to a soda jerk.


 * August 28 &#8226; Old School: Volume 2: The second DVD set of early Sesame Street episodes is coming out in November, and we've got information on the contents. The set will include five complete episodes -- the season premieres from 1974 through 1978. There's also 57 bonus "classic clips", and one of the original test shows.


 * August 27 &#8226; Kermit AM Radio: Produced in 1984 by Power-Tronic, this radio was shaped like Kermit the Frog's head and upper body. Kermit is wearing a tuxedo, leaning his face on his hand and smiling.


 * August 26 &#8226; Loveable, Furry Old Grover in Please Don't Push the Red Button was a book-and-tape set released for the Child Guidance Talk 'n Play interactive toy in 1984. On the tape, Grover guides the listener through a series of puzzles and games, but requests rather emphatically that the listener never push the red button on the Talk 'n Play unit. If the red button is pushed, Grover usually offers gentle corrections ("We are not pushing the red button today!") but occasionally he becomes a bit exasperated.


 * August 25 &#8226; Fred Newman is an actor, writer and sound effects expert who worked on various Jim Henson projects in the 1980s, and now appears regularly on A Prairie Home Companion. Newman's first work with the Muppets was as a writer for Muppet Magazine. During this time, he provided content for celebrity interviews, as well as artwork for the Muppet Labs features. In 1984, he co-wrote the stage show The Muppet Show On Tour. Newman also played the leading role of puppeteer Gary on the sitcom pilot Puppetman, and appeared in the direct-to-video special Neat Stuff To Know & To Do. Newman has recently returned to the Muppets' world in the new season of Sesame Street, appearing in the "Mouths" episode of Elmo's World.


 * August 24 &#8226; Fraggle Rockin': A Collection is a 3-CD compilation of Fraggle Rock music, scheduled for release by KOCH Records on October 30, 2007.


 * August 23 &#8226; Muppet Soap: In the early 1980s, Hallmark produced a line of decorative soaps in the shape of Muppet characters. The soaps included the crew of the Swinetrek, and Miss Piggy as a mermaid.


 * August 22 &#8226; Ernie & Bert Show is a recurring segment on Sesamstrasse, debuting on October 7, 2007. In these unique German skits, Ernie (puppeteered and voiced by Martin Paas) and Bert (Carsten Haffke) appear in a game show, with Bert as host and Ernie as contestant. Also featured is the human reporter Norbert Neugier (played by German comedian Otto Waalkes) who supplies the questions, such as "What has long ears and can hop?" or "What do you have on your head that grows and has to be cut?" Ernie frequently goes through elaborate measures to find the answer, to Bert's chagrin.


 * August 21 &#8226; America's Got Talent is a reality TV series on NBC. The Muppets made a celebrity guest appearance on the two-hour season finale which aired tonight. Season finalist Terry Fator performed a duet of "You've Got a Friend" with Kermit the Frog, and the duo was joined by a chorus of Muppet chickens at the end of the number. The act was then "judged" by a panel of Muppet judges -- Animal, Beaker and the Swedish Chef.


 * August 20 &#8226; Sesame and Me is a kit containing materials to construct three home-made Sesame Street books -- We're All Superheroes!, Cookie Monster and the A to Z Zoo Hunt and Sesame Street Counts. Available separately, each book can be customized with the picture of an individual who appears in the story alongside Sesame characters.


 * August 19 &#8226; Howie Eatswell is the host of Meal or No Meal, a Sesame Street spoof of Deal or No Deal from episode 4138. Howie tells contestant Sadie Schwartzbaum that she must choose which dish (out of five) she thinks must have a healthy, delicious meal under the lid.


 * August 18 &#8226; Abby's First Day of School! is a "Jr. Cine-Manga" book published in 2007 by manga publisher TOKYOPOP. The book tells the story of Abby Cadabby's first day at Storybook Community School, from Sesame Street episode 4110. The book uses photos from the episode, with sound effects and word balloons to turn it into a comic book story.


 * August 17 &#8226; Sesame Street Movie Viewer Cartridges: Before home video was common, Fisher-Price produced "Movie Viewers" for kids where they could hand-crank a film cartridge featuring cartoon and puppet stars. There was no sound, but the cartridges contained actual film cells. Several cartridges were produced for Sesame Street from 1974 to 1978, including Alphabet, Big Bird's Birthday Party, Cookie Monster Kitchen, Numbers, and On My Way to Sesame Street.


 * August 16 &#8226; 15,000 articles: They say size isn't everything, but don't say that to Sweetums! We hit 15,000 pages today -- that's over 2,000 Muppet characters, 1,000 Sesame Street episodes, 1,000 celebrities, 800 Muppet songs, 600 Sesame Street books, and 50 Muppets dressed up like animals. (Ah-ah-aah!) Thank you to all the amazing contributors who've helped to make this site the largest and most comprehensive Muppet information source ever assembled.


 * August 15 &#8226; Reflections of the Dark Crystal is a set of two behind-the-scenes featurettes on the new "25th Anniversary Edition" release of The Dark Crystal. The featurettes, which total 37 minutes, include comments from Brian Froud, Dave Goelz, Kathryn Mullen and Jane Gootnick, as well as never-before-seen test footage.


 * August 14 &#8226; Fred is Ernie's artist cousin. In the 1983 book Ernie's Little Lie, Ernie submits Fred's painting in the Sesame Street art show. In Grover's Bad Dream (1990), Ernie gives Big Bird a birthday card designed by cousin Fred.


 * August 13 &#8226; Episode 4135 is the premiere episode of Sesame Street’s 38th season which begins broadcasting today. Tina Fey stars in the "street segment" as a Bookaneer Captain, Brian Williams presents "Squid" as the Word of the Day and Murray Monster takes center stage in a new series of interstitials that run before each new episode of the show called "What's the Word on the Street?" Check out Abby Caddaby's new song, a spoof of CSI, and an all-new opening and closing credits sequence created for the "Sesame Street Theme."


 * August 12 &#8226; The Muppets Valentine Show is the original pilot for The Muppet Show, featuring guest star Mia Farrow. In the 1974 special, host Wally has writer's block -- he can't think of material for the show that represents the true meaning of love. He asks the other Muppets and Mia for assistance, with mixed results. This special has been released on DVD for the first time, as a bonus feature in the new Muppet Show: Season Two DVD.


 * August 11 &#8226; The Three Musketeers is a French novel written in 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, père. The novel, set in 1625, recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a musketeer. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis -- inseparable friends who live by the motto, "One for all, and all for one". The novel has been spoofed by Gonzo, Scooter and Link Hogthrob in The Muppets Go to the Movies, and by Grover, Telly Monster and Zoe in The Three Grouchketeers.


 * August 10 &#8226; Sam the Eagle is an American eagle, who feels his species and role as national symbol have placed certain responsibilities upon his shoulders. He has taken it upon himself to promote and protect wholesome American morals and values, and he works behind the scenes of The Muppet Show as self-appointed censor and advocate of cultural, educational acts. Sam is appalled by the nonsense that passes for entertainment on the series, and does his best to keep things in check, even though his pleas for an end to madness are usually ignored.


 * August 9 &#8226; The Muppets on Muppets: The Muppet Show: Season Two DVD set includes a newly-recorded 13-minute featurette, with interviews of the Muppet characters. Gonzo and Rizzo try to define their friendship, Miss Piggy talks about her marriage to Kermit, Pepe the King Prawn reveals his three secrets to success, and Animal talks about bunny rabbits.


 * August 8 &#8226; The Best of the Jimmy Dean Show: The second volume of the DVD series is out now! Rowlf the Dog became the first Muppet superstar with his regular appearances on The Jimmy Dean Show in the mid 60s. This new DVD series includes some of Rowlf's sketches in each volume.


 * August 7 &#8226; The Muppet Show: Season Two DVD set is out now! The set has the 24 episodes of season two on four discs, complete and uncut. Season two sees the introduction of Beaker and "Pigs in Space", and we see Miss Piggy and Gonzo develop into the characters that we know today. Memorable guest star turns include Steve Martin performing at the Muppet auditions, Rudolf Nureyev dancing with a giant pig, Elton John singing "Crocodile Rock" with Muppet crocodiles, and John Cleese reluctantly performing "The Impossible Dream".


 * August 2 &#8226; Numero Comparsa is a bilingual song performed on Sesame Street by Cuban singer Celia Cruz, with a salsa rhythm. She wonders if the audience knows that in Spanish, 1 is uno, 2 is dos, 3 is tres, and 4 is cuatro. Anything Muppets appear from under the stage, each carrying a number. And so the dia wears on.


 * August 1 &#8226; Haman's Ear, also known as hamantashen, is a three-cornered pastry, eaten during Purim. The name is derived from the Biblical character Haman, the villain from the book of Esther whose defeat Purim celebrates. On Rechov Sumsum, in a Purim episode, Moishe Oofnik, as Haman, explains how he invented the pastry, having rejected Haman's Foot and Haman's Nose.