User:MuppetArchives/Today on Muppet Wiki Archive 06

Archive of Today on Muppet Wiki, April 2007.

May 2007

May 31 • Big Bird (animated): Big Bird, as one of the most well-known residents of Sesame Street, has frequently been adapted for animation on the series and in related productions. He was the subject of an early 70s "Mystery Drawing" segment -- saying "It's me, you sillies!" when he's revealed -- and he appeared in the animated insert "The Noble Ostrich". Big Bird's most prominent appearance as an animated character was in two sequences in Follow That Bird -- blowing up a balloon to reveal the Warner Bros. logo at the start of the film, and in a dream sequence with his ideal Bird Family.

May 30 • Elmer is the country cousin of Elmo, introduced in the upcoming direct-to-video release Kids' Favorite Country Songs. Elmer comes to visit his cousin for a playdate, bringing along a boot, a chicken, and a guitar, so they can play country music. Elmer is identical to Elmo, but speaks with a Texas drawl, and wears a cowboy outfit. Elmo also has a Japanese cousin, Elmonosuke, and a Mexican cousin, Pepe.

May 29 • Jackie Robinson was the first African-American Major League Baseball player. He played with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947 to 1956, and he was named the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1949. Robinson recorded an insert for the first season of Sesame Street, saying the alphabet. Robinson's insert was included in a number of episodes, beginning with episode 0054.

May 28 • Animal Photo Puppet: Master Replicas plans to release a replica of a photo puppet of Animal in 2007, using the patterns and similar materials that the Muppet Workshop uses to produce the official photo puppets. The replica will be fully poseable with mouth expression, and moveable eyelids and full articulation at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles and fingers.

May 27 • Dane Cook is a stand-up comedian and actor who had a bit part in the 1997 Creature Shop film Buddy, as a cop at the World's Fair. A year later, he began appearing on Comedy Central and gradually gained increasing exposure on talk shows as well as the stand-up circuit. More films followed, and in 2006, he played his first leading role in Employee of the Month.

May 26 • Muppet mugs (Kiln Craft): Kiln Craft, an English pottery firm, produced three sets of Muppet Show mugs, featuring all the Muppet celebrities. This was in the late 70s, so it was perfectly acceptable to produce a mug with Beauregard's face on it. Ah, those were the days.

May 25 • The Daily Show is a comedy news program that airs on the Comedy Central network, currently hosted by Jon Stewart. Miss Piggy flirted with Stewart on the show in 1999 to promote Muppets From Space, while Kermit the Frog tested how far his late night demeanor would take him through an interview in 2001. The show has also made several references to the Muppets over the course of its run.

May 24 • In the Kitchen with Miss Piggy is a celebrity cookbook compiled by Miss Piggy in 1996. A portion of the proceeds from the book were donated to Citymeals-on-Wheels, a nonprofit organization in New York City that delivers meals to homebound elderly people. Celebrity recipes include those from Tipper Gore, Kristi Yamaguchi, Norman Schwarzkopf and Yo-Yo Ma.

May 23 • Gorg butter is made from the greaseberry plant. Just right for Gorgs, but Boober considered it to be too salty, while Doc thought it would need a bit of salt. Gorg butter was used by Ma Gorg to get Junior's out of the spout of her teapot, and it was again used to help Sprocket out of the Fraggle hole.

May 22 • Episode 4090: Cookie Monster is convinced that the Moon is a giant cookie, and he's desperate to travel there. Gordon tries to convince Cookie Monster that the Moon isn't a cookie -- and anyway, you can't get there by standing on a ladder. Cookie Monster consults with Slimey the Worm, who's visited the Moon, but Slimey says that he doesn't know if it's a cookie or not -- he didn't taste it when he was there. Finally, Gordon introduces Cookie Monster to guest Buzz Aldrin, who describes what the Moon is really like.

May 21 • Hase Spielhaus is a rabbit director who appeared on Sesamstrasse in March, 2007. Hase (literally "Hare") directs Samson in a commercial for green lemonade, but is frustrated by his star's clear dislike for the beverage. Finally, Rumpel, who loves the lemonade, substitutes for Samson as the star.

May 20 • Markas is a robot who appears in The Ghost of Faffner Hall episode "Discovering New Sounds." The robot is delivered by mail order to Farkas Faffner, who finds the robot obeys his every command, and is overjoyed to have found a friend at last. He names the robot Markas, so as to rhyme with his own moniker, and orders the mechanical man to rid Faffner Hall of musicians.

May 19 • Slinky Pets Kermit: In 1999, Nanco released a Kermit hanging toy as part of their "Slinky Pets" line. He has a plush head, shoulders, arms, and legs. His torso is a "slinky" covered in fabric. He's just as cute as could be.

May 18 • Peter Falk is an actor best known for playing the eponymous detective Lt. Columbo on the TV series Columbo and in numerous TV movies. In 1979, Falk appeared as himself in the TV special The Muppets Go Hollywood, trading jests about the food with Fozzie Bear. Two years later, he made an unbilled cameo in The Great Muppet Caper as the bum on the park bench, valiantly attempting to predict what Kermit's life story is. Falk's gravelly voiced portrayal of Columbo was also the inspiration of the Sesame Street character Colambo.

May 17 • Smokey the Salmon takes a moment out of his anadromous lifestyle to provide Grover and his friends with a turgescent supply of litter that his lake has accumulated via an amalgamation of negligence and aggressive despoilment of nature's habitat in Sing-Along Earth Songs.

May 16 • Kids' Favorite Country Songs is a new direct-to-video Sesame Street release, starring Elmo and his country cousin Elmer. The hour-long video, due to be released on June 5th, includes celebrity guest appearances by Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Lee Ann Womack, John Popper and Allison Krauss.

May 15 • Happy Birthday, Bob: Every once in a while, something completely new turns up. This time, it's a 1978 primetime special that aired on NBC, celebrating Bob Hope's 75th birthday. The special featured the usual array of guest stars, including Pearl Bailey, George Burns, and Miss Piggy and Kermit. Nobody on the wiki had ever heard of this appearance, until someone posted a set of 1978 NBC commercials on Youtube, and there it was. Hooray for the internet!

May 14 • Muppet Show Jack in the Box: It was produced in 1980 by Palitoy, and sold in the United Kingdom. There's no particular reason to draw your attention to it today, but it's a lovely thing, isn't it?

May 13 • Big Bird's Mommy: For Mother's Day, we salute the strange, unseen figure that is Big Bird's mother. Unlike Grover's Mommy, who plays a dynamic role in her son's life, Big Bird's Mommy is a shadowy figure, and seems to have left most of his upbringing to Big Bird's grandmother and aunt Nani Bird. In Sesame Street episode 0302, Big Bird received a coat in the mail from his mother. Subsequently, however, all known birthday and Christmas presents come from Granny Bird or the residents of Sesame Street. Nobody knows what became of Big Bird's Mommy.

May 12 • Zuzu Fitzwaller is a Hungarian water juggler in The Muppet Show episode 406. Zuzu was booked as the opening act of the episode, but Miss Piggy tells him to go home, to make way for her salute to Kermit's birthday. A tearful Zuzu pours out his sorrows to the frog, pointing out that his act involves juggling an entire bucket of water, and that his girlfriend Gloria came all the way from Pittsburgh for the occasion.

May 11 • Aesop's Fables are a collection of stories credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller who lived in Ancient Greece. Aesop's Fables have become a blanket term for collections of brief fables, usually involving anthropomorphic animals. The fables remain popular in children's moral education and entertainment. The Muppets have performed many versions of Aesop's stories, including "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse," "The Tortoise and the Hare," and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."

May 10 • Monica DeVertebrae is the brontosaurus who lives next door to Earl and Fran on Dinosaurs. Introduced in the second season episode "Unmarried ... With Children," Monica is a career woman, a real estate agent selling the house next door. Monica also holds the distinction of being the first dinosaur to divorce her husband, deciding not to renew her marriage license. As a four-legged dinosaur (only her neck and head are ever shown), she often encounters racial prejudice. Earl generally thinks of her as a radical, filling Fran's mind with wild ideas about independence.

May 9 • Muppet comics: A new series of Muppet comics is scheduled to begin appearing in the pages of Disney Adventures beginning in August of 2007. Roger Langridge will be writing and drawing the comics which are intended as one or two-page stories to run in the regular edition of the magazine with larger stories (ten to twelve pages) in the ComicZone specials. This series marks the return of the Muppets to comic form, previously seen in The Muppets comic strip and the pages of Muppet Magazine.

May 8 • Episode 4127: Grungetta is playing with her pet Rottendoodle, Itchy -- a flea-ridden grouch dog that does absolutely nothing she asks it to do. Oscar the Grouch is inspired to adopt his own Rottendoodle, Cranky -- but there's something wrong with his new pet. She obeys his commands, finds lost items, and gives everyone kisses! Worried, Oscar takes his pet to Gina, the veterinarian...

May 7 • Sesame Street Beans is a set of Sesame Street plush toys produced by Tyco in 1997. The set was the Sesame version of the Beanie Babies fad, which was at its height at the time. The "collectible" aspect of the Beanie Baby fad depended on having a large number of items in the set, with some more common than others. To fill out the set to include 24 different Beans, a number of minor characters were produced as plush toys for the first time, including Barkley, Benny Rabbit, Guy Smiley, the Amazing Mumford and Telly Monster. In 2000, Kellogg's cereals packaged a set of 24 "mini-beans" in cereal boxes.

May 6 • The Best of the Jimmy Dean Show is a new DVD compilation of The Jimmy Dean Show, the 1960s variety show starring country singer Jimmy Dean. Rowlf the Dog was a regular part of the show, appearing in a comedy sketch with Jimmy in every episode. This DVD is the first commercial release of these vintage Rowlf sketches, and they're fantastic. The hour-long compilation includes two Rowlf sketches from 1963, "Song and Dance Man" and "Swinging on a Star". In both sketches, Rowlf begs Jimmy to invite canine star Lassie on the program. Lassie did appear later that year, so maybe that'll show up in a future DVD release...

May 5 • The Muppet Show: Season Two: We've been waiting a while for this -- we finally have details on the upcoming Season Two set! The announced release date is August 7th. The set will include the 24 episodes from the second season of The Muppet Show: John Cleese refuses to sing, Steve Martin is stuck at the Muppets' auditions, Rudolf Nureyev dances with a ballerina pig, and Cloris Leachman is suspicious that the pigs have taken over the show. Bonus features will include the original pilot The Muppets Valentine Show, a new featurette called "The Muppets on the Muppets," and a feature with Weezer and the Muppets, including the "Keep Fishin'" music video.

May 4 • Abby Cadabby walk-around: Starting this month at the Sesame Place theme park, visitors can meet a full-size Abby Cadabby. The new character first appeared on Sesame Street in August, and now she's prowling the streets of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, shaking hands and posing for pictures. Abby also stars in a new musical show at the theme park, Abby Cadabby's Treasure Hunt.

May 3 • Big Bird Marionette: Friends Industries produced a kit in 1977 for a styrofoam marionette of Big Bird. The kit included separate pieces for his head, neck, body, chin ruffle, neck ruffle, wing feathers, feet, top feathers and legs. When assembled, Big Bird stood just over a foot tall, and it looks just as great as it sounds.

May 2 • Dinosaurs: The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons DVD set is out today! We thought Dinosaurs was extinct back in 1994, but here it is, roaming the Earth again. The new set brings us up to date with the final 36 episodes, including Baby Sinclair's toilet training, Robbie's steroid problem, Earl's attempts at sex education, and, of course, the end of the Sinclair family, and everything they know and love. Pure family entertainment, now available in stores.

May 1 • Muppet Show Medleys: There's nothing like a good medley -- and, if you ask Statler and Waldorf, the Muppets' performances are nothing like a good medley.

April 2007

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April 30 • Old School: Volume 2: The second Old School DVD set's been announced! The first volume, collecting skits and episodes from the first five seasons of Sesame Street, was released last October. The second volume is planned for this fall. There's no details yet about what'll be on the set, but it's good to know it's coming.

April 29 • Grover's Daddy: While the life of Grover's Mommy is well-documented, there are only a few scraps of evidence that Grover even has a father. He's never seen on-screen, and he's never even been pictured in storybooks. The only evidence that Grover's dad ever lived with Grover is in a poem published in The Sesame Street Library. Another book, When Grover Moved to Sesame Street, strongly suggests that Grover's mom is a single mother.

April 28 • Vegetable Soup is an episode of Sesame English, a TV/video series co-produced by Sesame Workshop and Berlitz International as a way of teaching English as a second language. In this episode, the main Muppet character, Tingo, makes a pot of hot soup -- very hot soup, actually, because everybody keeps adding pepper to it.

April 27 • The Muppet Show Diary 1979 is a schedule book for the year 1979, published in the UK. The pages of the book follow the format of an episode of The Muppet Show, treating 1979 as the "guest," complete with an At the Dance segment, Scooter's introduction ("15 seconds 'till curtain, 1979!"), Fozzie's act, Sam's monologue, and other recurring sketches. Other pages feature commentary by the characters on specific dates.

April 26 • The Man from Alphabet was a series of four five-minute film segments made for the Sesame Street Pilot Episodes in July, 1969. Created by David Connell, the segments referenced such tongue-in-cheek spy series as Get Smart and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The series starred the Man from Alphabet (played by Gary Owens), a bumbling spy in a trenchcoat who, with the help of a young paperboy (H.B.), tried to catch the villainous Digby Dropout and his henchman Dunce. As one of the earliest film segments completed, series was heavily featured in advance promotion for Sesame Street, including an ad in comic books featuring Superman and Batman. However, the film series didn't test well with children, and it was dropped before the series aired.

April 25 • Rowlf's Very First Book of Classic Themes is a 1993 book of sheet music for easy piano, including the "Ode to Joy" and the "William Tell Overture". The book featured a photo of Rowlf playing the piano on the cover, and illustrations of the Muppets in scenes reminiscient of the musical themes. Care should be taken when playing the pieces in this book not to disturb the Bust of Beethoven sitting on your piano.

April 24 • Sesame Street Needlecraft Kits: One of the fun things about Muppet Wiki is that we're constantly unearthing little bits of Muppet merchandise that you'd never expect. Check out these fantastic needlecraft kits; they're lovely.

April 23 • Close Encounters of the Third Kind: After Earth Day, it seems only fair that we head out into space. The 1977 Steven Spielberg film has a Sesame Street connection -- in one scene, "The Square Song" plays on a record player in a little boy's room as his toys are brought to life by extra-terrestrial influence. The Muppets have made reference to the film in many forms, including Close Encounters of the Frog Kind and Clothing Counter's on the Third Floor.

April 22 • Earth Day 1990 was the international umbrella organization created to coordinate the efforts of more than 200 million people in 141 countries planning to take part in the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Day held on April 22, 1970. The Jim Henson Company produced a PSA using Earth Day 1990's popular slogan, "Who Says You Can't Change the World?" The spot featured Kermit the Frog singing his signature song, "Bein' Green."

April 21 • Three books were released in 1993 by Western Publishing with a particular "green" theme. In Ready, Set, Recycle!, Kermit teaches Miss Piggy the necessity of reusing items rather than letting them go to waste. In Pretty Park, Piggy and her friends become active by cleaning up a local park of its pollution and vandalism. Finally, Off to the Woods! features a story with the Frog Scouts and their attempt to preserve the forests.

April 20 • Willie Wimple is a careless youth who appeared in Sesame Street animated inserts beginning in 1972. Through a jaunty song, Willie would routinely throw garbage, chop down trees, and leak oil into the waters. The chorus always pointed out how "if every kid did it, can't you see what a messy world it would be," typically ending with a shot of a ruined earth. Willie's purpose was to demonstrate how one person's actions can harm the planet, since in fact individuals are seldom alone in their waste.

April 19 • "The Future is Counting on You" is sung by Baby Rowlf and his future grandson, Lieutenant Woof. Woof explains that the future looks so good because previous generations took such good care of the Earth. The point is made that everything we use originally came from the Earth; so treat it kindly, because the "future is counting on you."

April 18 • Better World Society was an organization developed in the late 1980s by media mogul Ted Turner, aimed at encouraging Hollywood to produce media that focused on environmental and social issues. Kermit the Frog was a spokesfrog for the organization, and the Muppets produced two Public Service Announcements that posed the question: "What if everyone in the world lived in one house?"

April 17 • National Wildlife Federation is a conservation organization that aims to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for future generations. Earth Day is coming up on Sunday, so this is a good time to remember that Jim Henson was passionate about environmental causes, and advocated for protecting the environment and living creatures in many productions. One example is the series of Public Service Announcements that the Muppets did for the National Wildlife Federation in the late 80s and early 90s, featuring Kermit, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Rowlf and Robin the Frog talking about pollution and energy conservation.

April 16 • Fisher-Price publicity still: In the early 1980s, Fisher-Price used a Kermit puppet as part of an advertisement about toy safety. The toy is pictured being stretched on a rack, to make sure that "little hands" won't pull him apart.

April 15 • Mars is a planet that orbits Sol, the same star system in which Earth can be found. It's the fourth celestial body classified as a planet, and it's also the home planet of Sesame Street's most famous extraterrestrial visitors, the Martians. Speaking primarily in a series of "yip-yip"s and "uh-huh"s, these strange explorers have journeyed to Earth from their planet to learn about such odd human concepts as telephones and clocks.

April 14 • Muppet Eyes: The eyes are the windows to the soul, and there's nothing more important for Muppets than eye placement in defining the character's personality. In the 1960s, puppet builder Don Sahlin developed "the Magic Triangle", a simple but effective approach to postioning eyes, creating a triangle in relation to the nose and mouth. Jim Henson explained the importance of eye placement: "It would be the last thing [Sahlin] would do, and he always wanted me there, to make sure it was right for both of us -- making sure the eyes had a point of focus, because without that you had no character." This article is the latest to be awarded Quality article status on Muppet Wiki. Visit the Quality nominations page to nominate and vote for the best pages on Muppet Wiki!

April 13 • The Luck Child: It's Friday the 13th, so this is a good time to watch "The Luck Child", assuming that you're not busy walking under ladders or stepping on cracks in the sidewalk. This StoryTeller episode is about the seventh son of a seventh son, who's blessed with good fortune, and is sent to fight the terrible Griffin.

April 12 • The Muppets Take Manhattan teaser trailer was shown in theaters to promote the upcoming release of The Muppets Take Manhattan in 1984. Like many teasers, it consists of footage shot especially for the trailer, with a surprise twist at the end. The teaser hasn't been released on video, and hasn't been seen anywhere since 1984.

April 11 • The Kit-Cat Clock is a novelty wall clock introduced in the mid-1930s, and has become a part of Americana. The clock is shaped like a cartoon cat, with roving eyes and moving tail. The clock has also often been referred to as or assumed to be a "Felix the Cat" clock, due to a certain resemblance to the pioneering cartoon character. A Kit-Cat Clock, or a reasonable facsimile, adorns the wall of Eliot Shag's Apartment in nearly every episode of Dog City.

April 10 • What Makes You Giggle? is a new Sesame Street storybook which suggests to the reader various possibilities for what might bring pleasure and delight. Options include a grouch birthday party, giraffes and monkeys in the zoo, a Snuffleupagus race, a wiggly nose contest, dressing up for Halloween, looking inside Oscar's trash can, playing at the pool, a Twiddlebug picnic, and Grover at a rodeo.

April 9 • Gonzo's Family has long been a canonical conundrum within the Muppet universe. Members of Gonzo's family are rarely seen or even mentioned, and the family history of Gonzo is a bit of a mystery -- even to Gonzo himself. Muppet Babies showed an infant Gonzo, like many of the Muppets, raised exclusively under the care of Nanny. No parents or other relatives were visibly present in the little weirdo's life. However, a fantasy segment in the third season episode "Fozzie's Family Tree" showed Gonzo tracing his family tree back to the planet of Crouton located in the Soup Galaxy. However, according to the Muppet Kids book series, an adolescent Gonzo was raised by his grandmother and his aunt.

April 8 • The Easter Bunny, that magical furry sugar distributor, has been seen in a number of different Muppet productions. Harvey Fierstein played a grumpy, out-of-work Easter Bunny in the 1996 special Elmo Saves Christmas, and John Candy put on the bunny suit for a photo spread in Muppet Magazine. In one Sesame Street sketch, Cookie Monster appeared as the Cookie Bunny, and Ernie tried to guess where he'd hidden his cookies. Turned out he hid them in his stomach.

April 7 • Bean Bunny's Alternate Identities: And while we're on the subject of springtime and bunnies, we need to mention the Muppets' only Easter-type special, The Tale of the Bunny Picnic. This story introduced the world to Bean Bunny, who was later hired by the Muppets to be cute so that they didn't have to bother. You can see how cute Bean can be in the "Alternate Identities" page, where we've got pictures of Bean as a tree, a prince, a dragon and a VietNam War vet.

April 6 • Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring: Here's another unlikely springtime event -- a primetime Julie Andrews special which aired in 1978, featuring Leslie Uggams, Leo Sayer and the Muppets. Julie ends up tangling with the Muppets during the special -- trading catty barbs with Miss Piggy, waking Gonzo up from a nap, and dressing Kermit up in an ugly hat. The whole thing ends up with a big "Easter Parade" production number, including giant monsters in Easter bonnets. Ah, primetime TV was different back then.

April 5 • Spring Fever: These springtime books just get more and more improbable. In Spring Fever, all it takes is for Elmo, Zoe and Baby Bear to say that they're sick of winter, and all of a sudden, a group of birds drop a silver flute, a lute and a basket of flowers into their hands. I mean! How does a thing like that happen? They start playing and scattering flowers all over the place, and that somehow magically raises the temperature and makes the trees and flowers bloom. Ducks and lambs even show up. I just don't see how that's possible.

April 4 • The Bunny Hop is an Easter book detailing yet another series of unlikely events. It's springtime on Sesame Street, and suddenly there are bunnies, like, everywhere. There's a bunny under Elmo's bed, three bunnies in Oscar's trash can, and a good half dozen in Bert's broom closet. Hoots the Owl finds a bunny nestling in the bell of his saxophone, which doesn't seem like the kind of place that a bunny might go. Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies! You know, it's possible to have too many bunnies.

April 3 • Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street: And who can blame him? In this 1985 Little Golden Book, Big Bird is down in the beak because winter is dragging on, and he can't ride his unicycle or roller-skate. He decides to cheer himself up by buying a bouquet of flowers from Mr. Macintosh and decorating his nest. On his way home, he runs into several of his friends, and impulsively gives each of them a flower. When he gets back to the nest, the generous bird doesn't have any flowers left.

April 2 • Fozzie's Fabulous Easter Parade: It's almost Easter, and that means it's time to drag out the Muppet Easter books again. First up is Fozzie's Fabulous Easter Parade, a 1998 Little Golden Book that tells the story of how the Muppets spend a spectacularly dull afternoon. They're planning a Most Beautiful Easter Egg Contest, an annual event which they hold in an empty field with nobody else around. Fozzie Bear has lost his special egg, and tracks it to Camilla the Chicken's house. It's revealed that Camilla steals other people's eggs and hatches them when nobody's looking.

April 1 • The Voice Is an Instrument: As yet another public service provided by Muppet Wiki, we present the detailed synopsis for a completely crackers Ghost of Faffner Hall episode. Who else gives you access to that kind of information? Nobody, that's who. In this episode, the villainous Farkas Faffner has sold Faffner Hall to a zookeeper, who plans to capture all the Hall's musicians and display them in a zoo. It's up to the ghost of Fughetta Faffner to reclaim the Hall, with the help of her musical guests.