From the Balcony

Statler & Waldorf: From the Balcony is a multi-award winning webshow starring the Muppet characters Statler and Waldorf which ran biweekly on Movies.com from June 2005 until September 2006. The series spawned more than 35 episodes and featured many Muppet characters - both well known classics and newly-created characters. The two elderly curmudgeons would discuss upcoming films, watch the latest movie trailers and share the week's "balconism" from their theater box.

Many of the "webisodes" featured a segment (or segments) featuring other Muppet characters - for example Pepe the King Prawn often reviewed the recent DVD releases or gave remote reports, and fictional movie trailers or commercials featuring other Muppets were also common. Many established Muppet characters appeared - including Pepe, Rowlf the Dog, Johnny Fiama, the Swedish Chef, Bobo the Bear, Dr. Teeth, Animal, Sam the Eagle, and Sweetums. Plus many new recurring and one-time gag characters were also introduced. Several new characters that frequented the series included Larry and Oliver, Lester Possum, Ted Thomas, Stan and Louie, the Hollywood Pitchmen, The Blimp, Loni Dunne and a pair of musical performers..

Production
From the Balcony was produced by Movies.com in association with Muppet Studios and Hirsch Productions.

A test pilot was briefly available online in February 2005. The pilot featured Statler and Waldorf in a movie theater watching, rating and commenting on the latest trailers for The Pacifier and Constantine, additionally Pepe the Prawn appeared to give a rundown on the latest DVD releases. The pilot did not feature the classic balcony set seen in later episodes, a "Balconism" and other regular features the series would later include. The puppeteers on the pilot were Victor Yerrid (Waldorf) and Drew Massey (Statler and Pepe). The pilot was removed from Movies.com in the spring of 2005 and has not been officially released or reposted since.

In early June 2005, Movies.com announced that From the Balcony would soon become a regular feature of the site. Biweekly episodes started appearing on Movies.com beginning on June 26. The first eight episodes featured regular Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire and Bill Barretta performing the cast of Muppets in each episode. However starting with episode 9, and continuing until the end of the series, Victor Yerrid and Drew Massey returned to take over the main puppeteering duties on the project.

Victor Yerrid commented on his and Drew Massey's role in the series in a 2007 interview stating: "We did about ninety-five percent of the puppeteering so we worked on just about every scene together. We were also involved in the creative meetings and got to pitch characters and segment ideas."

The opening of each episode started with a quick first-person perspective traveling through the El Capitan Theatre. The song "Hey a Movie!" from The Great Muppet Caper was used as the theme song in early run of the series before being replaced with an original instrumental composition for later episodes (starting with episode 5). The show originally was produced in the traditional 4:3 (1.33:1) aspect ratio, but starting with episode 15, and continuing for the rest of the series' run, the picture switched to a 16:9 (1.78:1) widescreen format.

Through the 15-month run of the series, the show spawned more than 34 episodes. Aside from the biweekly episodes, the series produced sets of promotional Halloween and Oscar clips that were released to television news syndicates to promote the web series. Statler and Waldorf also appeared from the set of From the Balcony in a promotional tie-in to introduce the films for ESPN Classic's Reel Classics Extra and promote the webshow. The characters and set were also used in a public service announcement for the Will Rogers Institute in late 2005.

In October 2006, after the 34th episode of the webshow debuted online, Movies.com set the following message via the "Balcony Bulletin" mailing list (an e-mail mailing list that would alert subscribers when a new episode was posted): "Dear Statler & Waldorf Fans: As you know, your favorite cranky critics, Statler and Waldorf, are getting up there in years. While they're not ready for retirement, they've decided to take some time away from the balcony for some well-earned rest and relaxation (read: finding new things to complain about). Don't despair, though -- during the hiatus you can still enjoy classic From the Balcony. Every show is available for viewing in the archives! There's also a rumor going around that everyone's favorite curmudgeons may be popping in for special appearances on new parts of Movies.com. Stick around to find out where!"

Although the show is said to only be on a "hiatus", as of September 2007 no information on a possible return of the show or the production of new episodes has surfaced nor have Statler and Waldorf appeared in any other parts of Movies.com. At a public appearance in June 2007, Dave Goelz mentioned that they were working on several projects - including new Muppet webisodes. However. it was unclear if he meant a return of From the Balcony or the creation of a new web series.

Awards and Recognitions
In August 2006 TIME Magazine named the series among "the 25 Sites We Can't Live Without" (sharing the ranks with eBay and Amazon.com, Google and Wikipedia).

From The Balcony won a Silver Telly at the 2006 Telly Awards, for best use of comedy. Movies.com was awarded the highest-level Silver Telly Award for Best use of Humor in a Non-Broadcast Video for From the Balcony's creative spoof of the film Dukes of Hazzard.

In April 2007, the series was nominated for, and won, a Webby Award. Hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times, the Webby Awards are the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. The series' nomination, in the "Comedy: Long Form or Series" category, was Movies.com's first ever nomination for a Webby. Public voting ran on the Webby Awards website throughout April 2007 to decide the winners of the award. On May 1, 2007 it was announced that From the Balcony was the winner of the People's Voice 2007 Webby for Best Comedy Long Form or Series due to the show gaining the most votes of the five the nominees in the category.

Cast

 * Steve Whitmire (episodes 1-8)
 * Statler


 * Dave Goelz (episodes 1-8)
 * Waldorf


 * Bill Barretta (episodes 1-8)
 * Pepe the King Prawn, Rowlf, Johnny Fiama, The Swedish Chef, Bobo the Bear


 * Drew Massey (episodes 9-34)
 * Statler, Pepe, Animal, The Weather Guy, Sam the Eagle, Stan, Ivan the Villager, Clive Focus, Oliver, Mr. Movie, Ted Thomas, Oscar Envelope, Hollywood Pitchman, Tom Cruise, "Poseidon: The Musical" singer, Manny Folds, James Lipton, Long Joel Silver, Ted Thomas Sr., Woody Allen, Coach Gruesome, and others.


 * Victor Yerrid (episodes 9-34)
 * Waldorf, Dr. Teeth, Louie, Sweetums, Larry, The State of Indiana, Lester Possum, Billy, Loni Dunne, The Blimp, Detective, Hollywood Pitchman, Hugo, "Poseidon: The Musical" singer, Waldorf's Replacement, Craig Kent, Polly Wanna Cracker, David Hasselhoff, George Lucas, Flopsy, Close Encounters Alien,  and others.


 * Allan Trautman (episode 17)
 * Deliveryman


 * Alice Dinnean-Vernon (episode 33)
 * Whatnot dame



Crew

 * Executive Producer: Ian Hirsch
 * Cinematograper: Byron Werner
 * Editor: David Tarleton
 * Writers: Joe Nussbaum, Mike Pellettieri, David Young
 * Director: Ian Hirsch