User:MuppetArchives/Today on Muppet Wiki Archive 07

Archive of Today on Muppet Wiki.

June 2007

 * June 30 &#8226; Big Bird Record Player was produced by Fisher-Price in 1983. The battery-operated toy was adorned with Big Bird's likeness and functioned as a fully working children's phonograph, capable of playing 33 1/3 and 45 rpm records.


 * June 29 &#8226; You Will Be My Music is a 1974 album of songs composed by Joe Raposo, performed by the Boston Pops. Half of the songs were from Sesame Street, including "Bein' Green" and "Somebody Come and Play".


 * June 28 &#8226; Two Princes is a song by the 90s jam band Spin Doctors modified by Christopher Cerf for a number featuring Chris Barron, Zoe, Telly and Elmo on Sesame Street. In the sketch, Chris mediates a discussion between the three about how the three of them can all play together.


 * June 27 &#8226; Puppety Sockman the Puppet features in A Behind the Scenes Look at Kermit's Swamp Years, a film by Joe the Armadillo. He is discovered on the set of Kermit's Swamp Years by director David Gumpel and immediately hired for a scene in the film.


 * June 26 &#8226; Stan is an accordion-playing turkey. In the story "Kermit's Christmas Diary", the Swedish Chef brings home the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. When the Muppets discover that the turkey is a performer, Kermit books him for three shows.


 * June 25 &#8226; For Our Children was a two-hour television special which aired on the Disney Channel in 1993, a televised benefit concert to raise funds for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Rotating hosts for the evening included Baby Sinclair, who sat atop a crate esconced in a large jungle gym set. Baby waved and grooved along to several songs, and introduced several performers.


 * June 24 &#8226; Claudia Bird is a friendly neighbor on Mopatop's Shop. Her puppet was recycled from the Muppet Show character Winny.


 * June 23 &#8226; Alexis Cruz appeared on Sesame Street for one year, playing Alex in Season 22. Alex was part of the teenage cohort that included Gina, Mike and Jelani. After his year on Sesame, Cruz played Skaara in Stargate and Rafael on Touched By an Angel.


 * June 22 &#8226; Episode 0847: Margaret Hamilton appeared in a 1976 Sesame Street episode, reprising her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. The Witch loses her broom, and tries to get it back from David, who refuses to give it up. Frustrated, the Witch makes it rain inside Hooper's Store, and threatens to turn Big Bird into a feather duster. Meanwhile, Oscar the Grouch develops a crush on the Witch. The episode garnered an unusual amount of negative mail from worried parents, who reported that their children were terrified of the Witch's frightening demeanor. Children's Television Workshop also received one letter from a disappointed Wiccan, who complained that the episode promoted unfair stereotypes of witches.


 * June 21 &#8226; *NSYNC is a boy band whose four albums, released between 1998 and 2001, rocketed the group to superstardom. The group appeared on Sesame Street during Season 31, singing "Believe in Yourself" with the Sesame cast. Their version of the song appears on the Songs from the Street CD set.


 * June 20 &#8226; Episode 3140: Best friends Gina and Savion walk to Hooper's Store together, where they receive a phone call from the only racist ever to live on Sesame Street. Seriously!


 * June 19 &#8226; Swamp demons: Leroy, T.R., Catgut and Rover Joe -- the traveling musicians of The Muppet Musicians of Bremen -- are just looking for a nice family to settle down with. What they find are the villainous, abusive farmers that they ran away from, who mistake the friendly animals for a pack of swamp demons.


 * June 18 &#8226; Winona Beamer is a teacher, composer, folk chanter, and leading proponent of the study of Hawaiian culture, establishing the first such department at Kamehameha Schools and coining the term "Hawaiiana." She was also crucial in reintroducing the standing hula for women. Beamer was one of several Hawaiian residents who guest starred on Sesame Street during the Hawaii story arc, beginning in Episode 1091, playing Aunty Nona.


 * June 17 &#8226; Happy Father's Day to all of the Muppet fathers -- Pa Gorg, Louie, Humphrey, Father Bunny, Papa Bear, King Ploobis and Thomas Twiddlebug.


 * June 16 &#8226; Muppets Puzzle Party is a rhythm-based matching game staring the Muppets. The game was released by Disney Mobile in 2006 and is available on mobile phones. Statler and Waldorf have turned the Muppet Theater into a dance club, operating as DJs Wally-D and StatCat. The main Muppet characters dance to block the old codgers' musical beats, and blow them out of the club. This game proudly continues the long history of embarrassing Muppet video games.


 * June 15 &#8226; Singing Abby Cadabby is the first Abby Cadabby toy produced; it's scheduled for release in July 2007. It will be released by Fisher-Price and will also come with a DVD.


 * June 14 &#8226; This Way to Sesame Street was a promotional special that aired on NBC stations on Saturday, November 8, 1969 at 5pm. The thirty-minute show, sponsored by Xerox, gave a special preview of the new National Educational Television series, Sesame Street, which was set to debut two days later. This is a rare and exciting look at the history of Sesame Street, and we've got a complete guide.


 * June 13 &#8226; Molière was a 17th century French theatre writer, director, and actor, and is considered to be a significant figure and master of satire and farce. His works generally satirized all layers of French society and focused on ridiculous figures, undone by vanity, greed, or ignorance, and the farcical complications and miscommunications which surround them. Some of his best known plays include The Imaginary Invalid, Tartuffe, The Mischievous Machinations of Scapin, and The Doctor in Spite of Himself.


 * June 12 &#8226; Fletcher Bird is a full-body, multi-colored dancing bird performed by (and named after) Graham Fletcher. He first appeared on The Muppet Show in episode 302, where he danced during the song "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing". He later appeared in episode 309, where he spoke his only line on the show.


 * June 11 &#8226; Slimey to the Moon: NASA's space shuttle Atlantis launched into space last weekend, so now is a good time to take a look at Slimey the Worm's trip to the Moon in 1998. Covering a six-episode arc, Oscar the Grouch's pet worm applied to WASA and became a member of the wormship Wiggleprise amongst a complement of five lucky worms. After Slimey was safe and sound at home, Tony Bennett paid tribute with a song, and the journey was immortalized in book form one year later.


 * June 10 &#8226; Captain Impressive is the superhero persona of Earl Sinclair. In the fourth season Dinosaurs episode "Earl, Don't Be a Hero," Earl leaps into a lake filled with toxic waste. When he resurfaces, he has a strange glow which brings out the color of his eyes. The glow fades, but Earl finds that he can fly through the air. Roy Hess uses his knowledge of comic books to surmise that Earl has gained a vast arsenal of superpowers: flight, heat vision, and the ability to guess the weight of anything within a single pound.


 * June 9 &#8226; Professor Albert Einslime is a worm scientist who leads the team of WASA experts during Slimey's trip to the Moon. Headquartered at mission control on Sesame Street, Dr. Einslime's first call to action was during a crisis on board the Wiggleprise in episode 3713. With Oscar's help, Einslime oversaw a recovery assignment to get the ship back on course after the crew became stir crazy and fought over a pink bowling ball. He again played an integral part during the moon landing in Episode 3740, often relaying information to Oscar, who would translate for special Sesame Street News correspondent Robert MacNeil.


 * June 8 &#8226; The Giant Man-Eating Chicken terrorizes John Denver and the Muppets in Rocky Mountain Holiday. She lives in the valley where the group is camping, walking the woods looking to exact revenge on an old prospector who once stole a handful of her feathers to keep warm. When John warns the gang that she comes around looking for campers who have chicken feathers in their sleeping bags, Gonzo figures on tracking down the beauty for a date. He reasons that she's a man-eating chicken; she doesn't eat whatever he is.


 * June 7 &#8226; Sesame Street Test Show 1: In July 1969, the Children's Television Workshop produced five pilot episodes for Sesame Street, to test the educational value and child appeal of the new show. The episodes were broadcast on a Philadelphia public broadcasting station over five days, and children in the area were tested before and after the broadcast. There are some striking differences between the test shows and the first broadcast episode -- the most obvious being the absence of Muppets. Ernie and Bert are the only Muppet characters in the test shows, and they only appear in inserts -- but they tested so well with children that Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch soon joined the humans out on the Street. We've got a full episode breakdown of the first show, with pictures and everything.


 * June 6 &#8226; 2,000 Muppet Characters - Yesterday was Muppet Wiki's 18-month birthday. That's a year and a half of adding Muppet characters from the likes of The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock and the seemingly endless supply of characters found in movies, specials and appearances made by the Muppets for over 50 years. Will we ever make it to 3,000?


 * June 5 &#8226; Jean-Honoré Fragonard was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the ancien régime, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings. One of Fragonard's most famous paintings, The Swing, was spoofed by Miss Piggy in The Miss Piggy Calendar 1980.


 * June 4 &#8226; Mold: Gonzo owns what he claims is the world's biggest mold garden, made up of fungus, truffles and spores. He explains to John Denver in episode 401 of The Muppet Show that he'd gone away on vacation, forgetting to clean out his refrigerator. When he returned, the food was all green and fuzzy: too cute to throw out.


 * June 3 &#8226; The Log Bird appeared in the Sesame Street "Monsterpiece Theater" presentation of "Twin Beaks". The Log Bird is the resident expert in the town of Twin Beaks, who gathers information by consulting with his Log. The Bird is very protective of his log, and turns angrily on Agent Cookie when he feels his lumber has been insulted.


 * June 2 &#8226; Beasty and the Beaut: Lesley Ann Warren and Doglion performed the ballet "Beasty and the Beaut" as the opening number of episode 315 of The Muppet Show. The ballet is a parody of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast. At the climax, Lesley and Doglion kiss, and Lesley is transformed into a creature with a Doglion-esque head. The happy couple finish with a joyful dance.


 * June 1 &#8226; Surfin' USA: It's the beginning of June, so it's a good time to start thinking summer thoughts. "Surfin' USA" is a Beach Boys song, performed performed on The Muppet Show in episode 518. Kermit the Frog, as Sinbad the Sailor, is trying to steal the treasure from a cave guarded by Sweetums. The ogre is on the lookout for Sinbad the Sailor, so Kermit explains that he's Sinbad the Surfer. To prove it, he and his gang sing "Surfin' USA". Sweetums is convinced, and joins in.