User:MuppetArchives/Today on Muppet Wiki

December 2006

 * December 4 &#8226; Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season: The box set is out in stores tomorrow -- your first chance to see the infamous Land of Gorch sketches on DVD. The set contains 14 Gorch sketches, including King Ploobis' disastrous Christmas party, Queen Peuta's torrid affair with Scred, Scred's duet with Lily Tomlin, and the Mighty Favog's desperate offer to Chevy Chase: If Lorne Michaels doesn't fire the Muppets, Favog can get him the Beatles. The decline and fall of Gorch, all on one DVD set.


 * December 3 &#8226; Bear in the Big Blue House Christmas Books: If anybody knows how to celebrate the holidays, it's Bear. He decorates the Big Blue House within an inch of its life, he buys presents for rambunctious young animals, and he helps out the homeless. And with all that to do, he still found the time to star in four storybooks -- including Bear's Berry Christmas, an adaptation of the 1999 special "A Berry Bear Christmas".


 * December 2 &#8226; Santa's Workshop is the home and assembly line workplace of Santa Claus and his elves. The workshop figures most prominently in The Great Santa Claus Switch, where it lays adjacent to the cave of Cosmo Scam and his Frackles. Elmo has visited the workshop twice -- in Elmo Saves Christmas and Elmo's World: Happy Holidays.


 * December 1 &#8226; Gorham Sesame Street Plates: Christmas is coming, so we might as well get started. We'll kick off with some pictures of the Sesame Street Christmas plates made by Gorham Fine China in the early 1980s, illustrated by Sesame artists Mike Smollin and Joe Mathieu. Gorham made a big series of neat collectibles, including figurines, Christmas music boxes, and piggy banks. Obviously, these are only available at places like eBay now, but if you can find them, they would make terrific Christmas gifts for the Muppet fans on your list, like for example the administrators of a certain Muppet-related encyclopedia website. I'm just saying.

November 2006

 * November 30 &#8226; Field Trip! is an upcoming 12-page Sesame Street board book by Sarah Albee, will illustrations by Joe Mathieu, due for release on March 27th. In the book, the Sesame Street gang goes on a field trip to the natural history museum. Each page includes a special fact about the exhibits pictured. The book comes with four finger puppets (Elmo, Zoe, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird). Field Trip! is one of many new Sesame books coming out early next year, including Guess Who, Elmo!, Lots of Opposites and I'm a Helper. Check out the 2007 page for a complete list of the upcoming projects and merchandise!


 * November 29 &#8226; Aunt Matilda is Bert's aunt, who has been mentioned in several Ernie and Bert sketches. In one sketch, Ernie finds a present in the apartment, and tries to guess what Bert is giving him. Ernie guesses that the present might be a football, a cake, or a reading lamp. When he's told that his guesses are wrong, Ernie excitedly unwraps the box. The present turns out to be a pink pillbox hat, with flowers and a veil, which Ernie commandeers. When Bert tries to explain that the hat was intended for Aunt Matilda, Ernie expresses surprise that he bought them both the same gift.


 * November 28 &#8226; University of Maryland: The Libraries at the University of Maryland holds the archives of the Children's Television Workshop in the National Public Broadcasting Archives -- part of the Broadcasting Archives along with the Library of American Broadcasting. These archives are accessible to the general public, and have been used as source materials for some of the articles on this wiki. The NPBA website has an index of the CTW archives holdings, and visitors can see the archives in person by visiting the Hornbake Library in College Park, Maryland.


 * November 27 &#8226; Episode 2615: In the finale for Sesame Street's 20th season, Maria is giving birth to her new baby. Oscar is racked with guilt -- he drove Maria and Luis to the hospital, which is a nice thing to do, and he's calling the gang at Hooper's Store to tell them how things are going, which is also a nice thing to do. He even admits to Luis that he feels happy that the new baby is coming! Does this mean that Oscar isn't a grouch anymore?


 * November 26 &#8226; When Parents Are Deployed is a television special produced by Sesame Workshop that focuses on the educational and emotional needs of children with parents and caregivers deployed by the military. The half-hour special is planned to premiere on December 27, 2006 at 9:00 pm on PBS. The special, hosted by Cuba Gooding, Jr., is targeted at educating adults about the issues and effects of parental deployment on children and what they can do.


 * November 25 &#8226; Eileen is Miss Piggy's department store co-worker in The Muppets Take Manhattan, played by Joan Rivers. Assigned to the perfume and cosmetics counter, Eileen has been having trouble marketing "Quelle Difference" perfume, so she turns her attentions to a clearly distraught Miss Piggy. Hoping to cheer up her colleague, she gives her a make-over. Eileen grows increasingly engrossed in this endeavor, adding make-up to her own face with each addition, and growing ever giddy, until manager Mr. Wrightson fires them both.


 * November 24 &#8226; Mo Momo is a customer in the Mopatop's Shop episode "Mouse Count." He's the proud owner of a toy mouse, and is desperately seeking three more to add to his collection. He seems oddly cavalier about whether his mice are inanimate, live, or a blue balloon mouse which will likely deflate in a comparatively short time. Mopatop offers no warranty for the product, but then again, no currency is exchanged either. The economics of Mopatop's shop are even more mystifying than those governing Hooper's Store.


 * November 23 &#8226; The Pilgrim Penguins are a group of penguins dressed in Pilgrim garb seen in episode 321 of The Muppet Show. The group performs "Alabama Bound" as they land at Plymouth Rock. Have a happy Thanksgiving!


 * November 22 &#8226; The Best Thanksgiving Ever: It's Thanksgiving at the Big Blue House and every year, Bear prepares a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. There's all sorts of delicious food, and Grandma Flutter and Doc Hogg are coming over to join the celebration. Everyone is very thankful for Bear's great feast, but Ojo wonders if there isn't more she can do to help. She becomes a sort of Thanksgiving commander and takes charge of the decorations and the Thanksgiving pageant. Ojo wants everything to be perfect, but soon finds things going outside her control.


 * November 21 &#8226; Taylor the Turkey appears in a "Tales from the Vet" segment in episode 102 of Muppets Tonight. Dr. Phil van Neuter begins the segment by announcing that Taylor loves Thanksgiving. Taylor is seen sitting in a roasting pan, enjoying what he believes is his sauna.


 * November 20 &#8226; Ralphie is Baby Bear's pet parrot, who made his debut on Sesame Street in 2002. In Episode 3985, Papa Bear tells his son that he can have a pet, but Baby Bear can't figure out what kind of a pet to have. Telly suggests a hamster, like Chuckie Sue. Elmo suggests a goldfish, like Dorothy. Old MacDonald and his animals suggest a cow or a pig. Even the Big Bad Wolf suggests himself as Baby Bear's pet. Finally, Papa Bear arrives with a parrot. Baby Bear excitedly names the bird Ralphie, and starts teaching him to talk.


 * November 19 &#8226; Puppet Up! - Uncensored is a one-hour television special of the Jim Henson Company's improv puppet comedy show, Puppet Up! The special is scheduled to air on TBS on Monday, November 20th, at 11pm Eastern/Pacific.


 * November 18 &#8226; Minor Characters in Time Piece: Here's a close look at some of the characters in Time Piece, including a traffic cop, a secretary, a stripper and a comic played by Don Sahlin. Only on Muppet Wiki!


 * November 17 &#8226; Animals in Time Piece: Jim Henson's 1965 short film Time Piece features several shots of live animals. I bet you're curious to know which animals appear, and what they represent. This is your lucky day.


 * November 16 &#8226; King Kong is another one of those pop culture icons that the Muppets just can't stay away from. Miss Piggy and Gonzo met an audio-animatronic Kong in Miss Piggy's Hollywood, Cookie Monster climbs the Empire State Building in Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic, and Jim Henson's Creature Shop created animatronic Kongs for two different TV commercials. Look out below!


 * November 15 &#8226; Sam the Super Automated Ghost of Christmas Future is the third ghost to visit Oscar the Grouch in the new direct-to-video special, A Sesame Street Christmas Carol Sam is summoned by remote control to show Oscar what Christmas will be like in the future. Voiced by Kevin Clash, the character was animated by Magnetic Dreams as a computer generated image. Sam displays several characteristics similar to his predecessor of the same name, Sam the Robot. His design appears to be influenced by the former, as evidenced by his eye movement, and his faulty speech pattern follows the same loop-hiccup which can apparently only be cured by a whack on the hardware.


 * November 14 &#8226; The Value of Imagination is a biography for children about the life of Jim Henson. The book is part of a series called "Value Tales", which teaches inspirational messages through the biographies of celebrated people, including Abraham Lincoln, Ludwig van Beethoven and Christopher Columbus. Proving that Henson didn't have a monopoly, the Charles Dickens biography is also called "The Value of Imagination." The story follows Henson from a young boy in Mississippi to Washington, D.C., and then on to fame and fortune. Because the publishers didn't have a license to produce a book with images of the copyrighted Muppet characters, the illustrations use generic Muppety-looking puppets instead. For example, a two-page spread illustrating The Muppet Show depicts two blue cows playing banjo and guitar, backing up a singing purple horse.


 * November 13 &#8226; Muppet*Vision 3D is a current attraction at the Disney-MGM Studios in Walt Disney World, Florida, the main feature of which is a 3D film that was the last project directed by Jim Henson. The attraction, which opened on the first anniversary of Henson's death on May 16, 1991, has since been duplicated at Disney's California Adventure at the Disneyland resort in California, which opened its own version in 2001. The attraction features an elaborate multimedia pre-show which begins the moment that guests arrive in the main Muppet*Vision plaza.


 * November 12 &#8226; A Sesame Street Christmas Carol is a new direct-to-video Sesame Street special, coming out on Tuesday, November 14th. Oscar the Grouch stars in the Ebenezer Scrooge role for a Sesame Street version of the classic novel by Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol was previously adapted by the Muppets in the 1992 film The Muppet Christmas Carol, and has been spoofed in Muppet Magazine, a Sesame Street calendar, and the 1978 TV special, A Special Sesame Street Christmas.


 * November 11 &#8226; C is for Cooking: Recipes from the Street is a Sesame Street cookbook set to be released on April 17, 2007. The 112-page hardcover book will feature over 50 recipes that parents can make for, or with, their children. The recipes are illustrated with photos of the Sesame Street Muppets.


 * November 10 &#8226; K.I.T.T. is the computer intelligence that controls a black Pontiac Trans-Am in the 1980s television series Knight Rider. In the Spring 1984 issue of Muppet Magazine, K.I.T.T. was interviewed by Gonzo for that issue's edition of Mondo Muppet. The two misfits chat about their mutual affection for lunatic daring, eating a healthy breakfast (a mixture of high-tech fuels which Gonzo requests the recipe for), responding to fan mail and the pleasures of the drive-in movie theatre experience. K.I.T.T. would later make an appearance on The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour, which also featured the Muppets.


 * November 9 &#8226; Rabbi: When Fozzie Bear tries to pull a rabbit out of a hat in episode 421 of The Muppet Show, he produces a robot, and then a rabbi. The elderly gentleman replies to a confused Robin, "You was expecting the Pope, maybe?"


 * November 8 &#8226; George and Barbara Brush are cleaning tools of the White House establishment. Caricatures of George and Barbara Bush, the Brushes are made from a hairbrush (George) and toilet brush (Barbara), accessorized minimally but appropriately. Though not strictly Muppets, this patrician pair was featured in Cheryl Henson's 1994 book The Muppets Make Puppets, and they accompanied Henson on talk show appearances.


 * November 7 &#8226; Sesame Place Presidential Election: On May 7, 1988, while George H. W. Bush, Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson were busy bringing their messages to America's adult voters, the Sesame Place amusement park gave young visitors a taste of presidential campaigning with the 1988 Sesame Place Presidential Election. Visitors of Sesame Place got their first taste of the elective process as they used real voting machines, loaned by the city of Philadelphia, to cast their vote for one of seven famous Sesame Street Muppet characters -- Big Bird, Cookie Monster, the Honkers, Bert, Ernie, Grover and Prairie Dawn. The park was covered in campaign signs (each with unique character campaign slogans) and the walk-around characters were out shaking hands and campaigning with the young voters all day. By the end of the day, one of the seven characters was elected President of Sesame Place. Those young voters are of legal voting age by now -- please join them in going to the polls today!


 * November 6 &#8226; Season 37: The latest season of Sesame Street continues this week, with a three-part story about Gina adopting Marco, a baby from Guatemala. Marco's story is the second major adoption on Sesame Street -- Miles, Gordon and Susan's son, was adopted in 1985.


 * November 5 &#8226; Mayor Thaddeus Twiddlebug is another in the list of mayors that you probably shouldn't vote for -- not because he's corrupt or anything, it's just that he's only a couple inches high. Thaddeus is the mayor of Twiddlebug Town, which is located in Elmo's window box. It's not clear whether the community of Twiddlebugs in Ernie's window box is a separate political entity.


 * November 4 &#8226; The Grouch Mayor: Another mayor that you probably shouldn't vote for, the Grouch Mayor is the leader of Grouchland USA in the film The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. The Mayor wears a "Groucho" nose and glasses, and his costume was inspired by the Mayor of Munchkinland in the MGM film version of The Wizard of Oz.


 * November 3 &#8226; Mayor Kickbark: Election day is coming up, so Muppet Wiki is featuring a selection of mayors that you probably shouldn't vote for. First up, Mayor Kickbark, the mayor of Dog City. Introduced during the second season, Mayor Kickbark is an unctuous politician who often undermines police chief Rosie O'Gravy's authority, intentionally or otherwise.


 * November 2 &#8226; Happy birthday, Cookie Monster! Our furry blue friend was first created for an unproduced snack food commercial in 1966. The next year, he was used in "Coffee Break Machine", an industrial short made for IBM. In 1969, the puppet was named Arnold the Munching Monster for a set of Munchos commercials... and then he moved to Sesame Street, and the rest is history. Since then, he's also been seen as Alistair Cookie, Casey McPhee and the Great Cookie Thief. November 2nd is his official birthday. Remember, cookies are a sometimes food, so please celebrate responsibly.


 * November 1 &#8226; Puppet Up! - Uncensored is a one-hour television special set to air on TBS on November 20th, based on the live Puppet Up! shows that the Jim Henson Company has produced this year. The improv puppet troupe, headed by Brian Henson, will be performing at the Comedy Festival in Las Vegas this month, and the performance will be filmed for TV.

Archive

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