Little Muppet Monsters

Premiere	September 14, 1985
Finale	September 21, 1985
Network	CBS
Seasons	1
Episodes	3 aired, 18 made

LittleMuppetMonsters edit1 — Tug, Boo, Molly and Scooter

Little Muppet Monsters was a short-lived 1985 Saturday morning TV show which aired only three episodes on CBS.^[1] 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, Tug, Boo, and Molly, living with Muppet rats, penguins and other characters. Muppet Show characters such as Scooter, Kermit, 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" (with Fozzie and Miss Piggy, and introduced by the puppet Kermit), "Muppet Sports Shorts" starring Animal, and Muppet Labs with Bunsen and Beaker. Gonzo would also have appeared in animated segments.

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 shows cancellation was the fact that Marvel Productions had trouble delivering the animation on time. Marvel "blew it," as series writer and puppeteer Kathy 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."^[2]

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

"In the Beginning" - 9/14/1985
"Space Cowboys" - 9/21/1985
"The Great Boodini" - 9/27/1985
"Hi, Mars" - Unaired
"Monster Measles" - Unaired
"Gonzo's Talent Hunt" - Unaired
"Can't Stop the Music" - Unaired
"Boo Monster Ace Reporter" - Unaired
"Feels Like Rain" - Unaired
"Foo-Foo Phooey" - Unaired
"Penguin for a Day" - Unaired
"Gunko" - Unaired
"Mail-Order Guest" - Unaired
"Episode 14 (Title Unknown)" - Unaired
"Episode 15 (Title Unknown)" - Unaired
"Episode 16 (Title Unknown)" - Unaired
"Episode 17 (Title Unknown)" - Unaired
"Episode 18 (Title Unknown)" - Unaired

Puppet Cast

Richard Hunt as Tug Monster, Scooter, and Janice
David Rudman as Boo Monster
Camille Bonora as Molly Monster

With

Pam Arciero (penguin), James J. Kroupa (Nicky Napoleon), Cheryl Blaylock ( cow and alien), Martin P. Robinson (rat and cow), Michael Earl Davis (penguin), Noel MacNeal (rat, cow, Magic Book)

And

Jim Henson as Kermit and Dr. Teeth
Kathryn Mullen as Rat
Frank Oz as Fozzie, Animal and Miss Piggy
Jerry Nelson as Floyd Pepper
Dave Goelz as Gonzo

Voice Cast

Frank Welker as Kermit, Chicken Crossing the Road, and others
Hal Rayle as Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and Animal
Greg Berg as Fozzie Bear and Dr. Julius Strangepork
Bob Bergen as Link Hogthrob and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew
Richard Hunt as "Muppet Sports Shorts" Narrator and Beaker

Crew

Imagination illustrated (1) — Michael Frith's design for Tug (Big Brother Monster)

Producers: Bob Richardson, Hank Saroyan
Animation Supervising Director: Bob Richardson
Creative Producer and Conceptual Designer: Michael K. Frith
Executive Producers: Margaret Loesch, Lee Gunther, Diana Birkenfield
Associate Producers: Adam Bleibtrau, John Gibbs, Ritamarie Peruggi
Writers: David Babcock, Sarah Durkee, Chris Grabenstein, Bradley Kesden, Steve Morgenstern, Kathryn Mullen, Julia Murray
Animation Writing Consultants: Chuck Lorre, Barry O'Brien, Jack Mendelsohn, Bob Smith
Story Editors: Rick Merwin, Hank Saroyan
Performance Director: Richard Hunt
Director: Terry Maskell
Creative Consultant: Andrew Wilk
Voice Director: Hank Saroyan
Production Design: Victor Di Napoli
Muppets By: Edward G. Christie, Larry Jameson, Joanne Green, Will Morrison, Jan Rosenthal, Rollin Krewson, Robert Flanagan
Set Dressing: Richard Termine, Karl Soderstrom
Score Composer/Conductor: Robert J. Walsh
Songs: Michael Carney, Michael Carroll, Joe Carroll, Christopher Cerf, Sarah Durkee, Kevin Joy
Music Coordinators: Don McGinnis, Joe Carroll
Music Consultant: Christopher Cerf

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. 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. ^[3]

Unaired Episodes

Puppet segments from the unaired episodes "Foo-Foo Phooey," "Gunko" and "Gonzo's Talent Hunt" exist in fan hands. These are incomplete but run 31 minutes in total. Songs are "Pooch On the Loose," "Gunko" and "Even Carrots Get the Blues." Some Fozzie and Kermit segments are missing.
In CBS' saturday morning preview special, Pee Wee Herman and Rowdy Roddy Piper introduced a scene with Piggy, Kermit and Gonzo from an unaired episode.
In a newspaper article, the unaired song "Gunko" is credited to "James Carroll." (Possibly Joe Carroll?) ^[4]

Notes

MuppetMonsters-30Years-19 — The cast in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years.

The three monster kids were also seen briefly in the special The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, which was broadcast in January 1986. The special was shot before the decision was made to take Monsters off the air, so the show cheerfully plugged the Muppets' latest production -- even though that production had been cancelled four months earlier.
The series aired as the hourlong "Muppets, Babies and Monsters," with one set of credits. Each hour began with a different, short clip from the upcoming Muppet Babies or Muppet Monsters episode, such as Tug Monster welcoming us to the show, before the "Muppets, Babies and Monsters" titles.
The opening sequence to episode 3 is slightly different from the others, containing a few animated clips from the episode. The "Muppets, Babies and Monsters" intro to episode 3 similarly contains two different animated Muppet Babies clips.
Tug Monster appears briefly in the introduction to The Muppets at Walt Disney World, mauling Michael Eisner. All three monsters were reused multiple times in Mopatop's Shop.
The penguin band are known as "Nicky Napoleon and his Emperor Penguins."
Posters for Pigs in Space, The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppet Movie and other Muppet productions appear on the set walls.