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MuppetMonsters-30Years-4
Premiere September 14, 1985
Finale September 28, 1985
Network CBS
Seasons 1
Episodes 3 aired, 13 made
LMM promo Edit
Slide scan
LMM The Works Edit
Tug, Boo

Boo, Scooter and Tug

LittleMuppetMonsters edit1

Tug, Boo, Molly and Scooter

Muppets babies and monsters poster 1

Promotional poster

Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters was a 1985 Saturday morning TV show which aired only three episodes on CBS,[1] with as many as 10 episodes going unaired.[2] The first season of Muppet Babies did very well in the ratings, so CBS decided to expand the series from half an hour to an hour-long block, pairing Muppet Babies with Little Muppet Monsters to make an hour-long package (with its own intro) called Muppets, Babies and Monsters.

The show was anchored by three young Muppet monsters, TugBoo, and Molly, living with Muppet rats, their house band Nicky Napoleon and His Emperor Penguins, and other characters. Muppet Show characters such as ScooterKermit, Janice, and Floyd appeared in cameos. The Electric Mayhem were featured in both intros watching the show on television, as they excitedly bounced about on a living room sofa. Miss Piggy also appears in the intro.

Muppet segments included "Fozzie's Comedy Corner," with Fozzie discussing issues related to old jokes, illustrated through animation of a baby chicken, and Gonzo presenting a cavalcade of weirdness, using silent film footage. Each episode also featured an original Muppet song.

Recurring animated segments included "Pigs in Space," "Kermit the Frog, Private Eye" (as introduced by the puppet Kermit, with Fozzie and Miss Piggy), "Muppet Sports Shorts" starring Animal, and Muppet Labs with Bunsen and BeakerGonzo would also have appeared in animated segments.

The show was split at about 50% animation and 50% puppetry, with appearances by Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo and others being shot in London, and the rest in New York.

Jim Henson was inspired by the potential of kids using camcorders to make their own television, saying:

Now kids can actually — kids, artists, all kinds of people – can do things with television. I think it’s going to change the whole way kids think about television. Before it’s always been something that kids were subject to or watched, but now they can participate in it, they can be part of that, they can manipulate it. And I think it’s a huge difference, and we’re going to see some results of this in about ten years when these kids grow up and start doing things in the medium.[3]

Storyboard director Scott Shaw discussed the show in MuppetZine issue #3 (Winter 1993):

The concept of this second half-hour was neither simple nor particularly well-developed. A trio of new (live-action) Muppet Monster Kids, working from the basement of the adult Muppets' home, create their own television station which broadcasts only to the TV sets in the house upstairs... Although eighteen episodes were produced, only three of them ever aired; Henson Associates and CBS agreed that the concept had never been properly thought out and just wasn't up to Henson's high standards. To Jim's credit, it was his idea to pull the show from the Saturday morning lineup. ...I've always felt that the juxtapositioning of live-action and animated Muppets invited an unfavorable comparison, to which the cartoon version inevitably suffered; the puppetry was just too good. The combination of Muppet babies, adults and kid monsters was very disorienting. Also, due to a lack of development time, the concept -- and therefore, the writing and designs -- never quite jelled.

A major factor that contributed to the show's cancellation was the fact that Marvel Productions had trouble delivering the animation on time. Marvel "blew it," as series writer and puppeteer Kathryn Mullen remembered in 2013, and there were no completed shows to fill the extra half hour: "So they [CBS] put another Muppet Babies on, two episodes back-to-back, the viewership shot up, and they said, 'Forget Little Muppet Monsters.'" As for the unaired episodes, "We never finished them. The puppet wrap-arounds were done, but they never put the animation in."[4]

Even after Little Muppet Monsters was cancelled, an instrumental version of its opening theme was used in the Muppet Babies end credits from 1985 onward.

Episodes[]

Aired
Unaired

Puppet Cast[]

91f8b-noelrichard copy

Behind the scenes: Noel MacNeal, Richard Hunt, and Tug Monster

With
And

Voice Cast[]

Crew[]

Concepts[]

Merchandise[]

PlayskoolLittleMuppetMonstersBoo

Playskool frame tray puzzle by Guy Gilchrist

Henson archivist Karen Falk spoke about the series' licensing campaign: 

As to Little Muppet Monsters, I do not have any licensed product from that show. There was an ambitious licensing program discussed (toys, games, puzzles, apparel, housewares, and stationery) but very little produced.

According to the Henson newsletter, Toy Fair 1986 would have seen the launch of plush by Hasbro, board games and puzzles by Milton Bradley, puzzles by Playskool, costumes by Ben Cooper, stickers by Diamond Toy, balloons by Balloon Concepts, boys and girls sportwear by Allison Mfg., greeting cards by Hallmark, belts by Lee Belts, pajamas by PCA Apparel, and party supplies and gift wrap by Beach Producers. However, the show was not on the air long enough for this to occur. A Playskool puzzle drawn by Guy Gilchrist was produced in very limited quantities.[6]

Unaired Episodes[]

  • Incomplete Muppet footage exists from the unaired episodes "Foo-Foo Phooey," "Gunko," and "Gonzo's Talent Hunt." Original songs include "Pooch on the Loose," "Gunko" and "Together."
  • The episode "Foo-Foo Phooey" featured a "Frog Scouts" segment. A cartoon model sheet for Gonzo shows him wearing a scoutmaster uniform (and crash helmet).
  • In CBS' 1985 Saturday morning preview special (All-Star Rock 'N' Wrestling Saturday Spectacular), Pee-wee Herman and Rowdy Roddy Piper introduced a scene with Piggy, Kermit and Gonzo from an unaired episode, and a different take of Gonzo's segment from the premiere episode.
  • Steve Morgenstern wrote the episodes "Gunko," "Foo-Foo Phooey" and "Gonzo's Talent Hunt," while Sarah Durkee wrote the episode "Feels Like Rain." This included the song "No Chance of Rain."
  • Known songs from the unaired episodes include "In the Wash Reggae,"[7] "Hallelujah Tug is Gonna Live,"[8] "Penguin Ritual,"[9] "We're Gonna Miss You,"[10] "Welcome Home," [11] and an all-animal performance of the "William Tell Overture."[12]

Notes[]

MuppetMonsters-30Years-19

The cast in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years.

  • The three monster kids are seen briefly in the special The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, broadcast in January 1986. The special was shot before the decision was made to take Monsters off the air, so the show promoted the Muppets' latest production -- even though the series had been cancelled four months earlier.
  • One set of closing credits was used for the Muppets, Babies, and Monsters package. Each hour began with a different, short clip from the upcoming Muppet Babies or Little Muppet Monsters episode before the main title.
  • An early concept for the show was titled "Muppet Monster Television", which was to have featured adult monsters and have Floyd Pepper and Janice serve as guest hosts.[13]

Gallery[]

See also[]

Sources[]

External Links[]

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