FINALLY! Worth the wait. Again, the commentary is brilliant – made me cry with laughter and also made me cry some of those other tears.
Some snippets I love:
This pair of stalwart scientists serves as a wonderful example of the difference between Sesame Street (an educational show for children) and The Muppet Show (a variety show for adults). On Sesame Street, Telly wonders which of these things is not like the other. On The Muppet Show, Bunsen blows up Beaker�s face. On Sesame Street, children are taught the permanence of death in an honest and heartfelt way. On The Muppet Show, Bunsen dissolves Beaker�s head with sulfuric acid.
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is a terrible person.
And
There are Muppets you can like because there is a lot of emotion behind their character or they have a lot to say, or you can like them because they can’t figure out how to hang a picture up or they just constrantly gorge themselves on food. Each one is different and there is a different reason to enjoy them. I try to like things for good reasons and try to be able to explain several reasons why I feel that way, but there are times that I enjoy something because it reminds me of being little and it puts a smile on my face. That’s what the Twiddlebugs are to me.
And
He has no ulterior motives; he never loses his temper or complains. He simply wants to be a comedian and to help his friends the best he can, even though at times he isn�t successful at either endeavor. He is exceptionally pure of heart even for a Muppet, which makes it so hard to watch when he�s sad.
And
He is not smart, or strong. He can’t sing or dance. He has no defining characteristics. He waits tables for a living. Grover is the absolute median of us all, letting kids know that if they don’t grow up to be a Romanian Count or a shop owner or an amnesiac cowboy they might grow up to be normal… and that that’s okay.
And
I think Cookie, more than any other Muppet, is the purest representation of what Jim Henson was going for when he started out. He wanted to make something ridiculous to make people smile in a world that frowns on the ridiculous. The learning and the friendship came later. Before letters and numbers and musical acts with Elton John, he was sitting with a pad of paper and, for whatever reason, thought “very hungry” was all the character development he needed. And you know what? Almost 40 years later little kids are wearing bibs with Cookie Monster on them.
See, that makes me cry.
Go read the whole thing. Well done! Thank you so much!
Grover was always my favorite of the Sesame Street “regulars” (I also loved the Twiddlebugs and those yip-yip-yip-boo-yah Martians, but for different reasons).
I loved Grover because I recognized, even as a kid, that he was kind of a screw-up. And that his being a screw-up was closer to reality (my reality, at least) than the competence of Kermit (who could relate well to small children, who could be a roving reporter, who could do so many things well) or the babyishness of Big Bird (I suppose that trait is now Elmo’s; I wonder how Big Bird distinguishes himself now?) or Ernie’s sunny disposition.
And even though he was a screw-up, Grover kept trying. Even though he failed a lot and fell down a lot. He never said, “**** this, I’m leaving” or “You can take this frickin’ waiter’s job and shove it.”
As for the Muppets, my allegiances shifted between Fozzie and Gonzo and a couple of the minor characters. I think Gonzo had a little bit of Grover’s screw-up-ish-ness but Gonzo covered it with a sort of shaky ego and a tendency to say shocking things. (I mean, he liked being HURT. Even as a fairly innocent pre-teen I realized there was something a little kinky about that. And that’s why Gonzo wasn’t my unalloyed favorite; I was troubled by that little oddness in his behavior).
Grover was definitely one of my all-time favorites. He was so sweet and gentle – I felt protective of him, yet I also knew that with all of his mistakes – he’d be okay.
And about Gonzo – I think we have covered this before in previous Muppet discussions: what exactly IS he? He’s some kind of inter-species freak – like: is he animal? Human? Shellfish? Insect? It’s unclear. I believe the fact that he is a morphed in-between alien, an evolutionary oddball – that gives him some of his weirdness and masochism.
He may be in some sort of extended existential crisis.
That’s what’s so brilliant in the Great Muppet Caper when they just label his cage “WHATEVER.” There’s Kermit, marked “FROG” and Fozzie is marked “BEAR.” Gonzo’s just “WHATEVER.” Like people have just given up trying to even guess at identifying what he is.
I think the great thing about that list is how unpredictable and original it was.
hahaha I know – imagine having your entire species labeled as “WHATEVER’. That has got to give one an inferiority complex! And perhaps a love of self-inflicted pain.
Y’all might like “Muppets From Space” then – it centers on Gonzo’s weirdness.
I always loved the Muppets that made me laugh and would do zany unpredictable things, and not only do it, but do it with flair and LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT…like Animal, and the Swedish Chef. They got away with things, whereas I knew I never could get away with the impulses I had. I was always punished for going out on a limb.
Well, there was also Beaker…poor hapless Beaker…
One of my favorite moments from early Sesame Street was Cookie Monster singing the alphabet with one of the kids and every fifth letter or so, he’d break in with “Cookie Monster” – you know…just in case you didnt forget about him.
I used to have a Sesame Street LP with all the ‘popular’ songs from the early days of SS. One of the saddest songs on there was “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” Always brought a tear to my eye. And then there was Big Bird’s attempt to say a brand new word that turned out to actually be the alphabet. And “Rubber Ducky, you’re the one…”
That was just as enjoyable as Part I. It’s a little sad it’s done now.
I liked the Twiddlebugs but I always wondered about the mom’s costume. Was she walking around in a bikini top all the time? Seems indecent.
And Dr. Bunsen Honeydew–where WERE his eyeballs?
Sharon–my parents still have all our Sesame Street LP’s and now are playing them for my almost-3 year old niece. She loves them and demands that Mom-Mom put on “Sunny Day”!
I can’t argue with any of the rankings in either of those posts…and yet I can’t help being a little bummed that the SNL Muppets appear destined, like Sha-Na-Na at Woodstock, to go down the memory hole.
Oh God, that part about Fozzie the Bear when they compare him to real bears? HILARIOUS
When they talked about Bert and Ernie selling their beloved possessions to buy each other gifts to store said possessions? It got dusty around here.
Nightfly – oh yes. Rampant dust.
Gift of the Magi. And Mr. Hooper!!!!!
Gulp!!
well i don’t agree one bit that Bunsen Honeydew is a terrible person i can’t and i never will, he and beaker will always be my favorites, im 16 so i wasnt around for alot of the muppets but i still cant help but truely love them they remind me so much of my childhood ( well being really little im still technically a child) esspesialy muppet babies OMG Bunsen and Beaker where over the top adorible in that show!!
Jamie – No offense, but you really need to work on punctuation and spelling. You’re in high school now. Your prose is vaguely incomprehensible, and that should not be the case for a 16-year-old.