How TV Made The Muppets

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  • Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
  • Hey folks, I'm a firm believer that to love cinema is to love The Muppets and to love The Muppets is to love cinema. I mean, cinema is all about the suspension of disbelief and what is more impressive than actually convincing the audience to love and care for a ragtag team of felt monsters? Their entire existence is absurd but yet they're adored and appreciated! That's why I wanted to make this video essay, to examine The Muppets' origins in TV and take them seriously as a subject. I put a tonne of work into this video, literally hundreds of hours of work researching, writing, recording and editing. I sure hope you enjoy it. If you do, please drop a like and a comment to let me know and consider sharing it with your friends! I'm really proud of how it came out and I'd love if it found an audience.
    Shoutout to three books that made this video possible:
    Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones
    Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show by Craig Shemin
    Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street by Michael Davis
    If you enjoyed the content of this video you should totally go check out all three books, they're all fantastic and were great resources for me.
    BIG NEWS: I'm going to Cannes next week! I'm taking part in the 3 Days In Cannes program for certified Film Heads like me. I'm hoping to soak up all the atmosphere and see some big movies (fingers crossed for Megalopolis!!), I'll be making a video about my experience and posting about the whole thing incessantly on my subtack and twitter so please subscribe here and give me a follow over there too.
    PRIMARY CINEMA WILL RETURN
    primarycinema.substack.com
    primarycinema
    letterboxd.com...
    LINK TO VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: pastebin.com/y...

КОМЕНТАРІ • 50

  • @tia-light
    @tia-light 4 місяці тому +9

    Ok, so (old lady here, shhh over 50) I grew up on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show ( and other gems like, The Electric Company, Viva Allegre, Zoom, and Romper Room, among others) The Muppets are indelibly stamped into my psyche. All I really want to say is, thank you for this delightful video! Can't wait to see more

  • @shopsshire9282
    @shopsshire9282 4 місяці тому +14

    It took me years to reconcile why I would see Kermit the frog on both sesame Street and The Muppet show. 45 years ago this summer I saw the Muppet movie in 1979.

    • @dyscotopia
      @dyscotopia 4 місяці тому +2

      Yes, I found it odd that this supposedly adult entertainer had such a proclivity for spending time around kids.
      Maybe the rent was cheap on the street? Variety acts don't make as much as you'd think

    • @amberfun9148
      @amberfun9148 4 місяці тому +1

      @@dyscotopia he’s not that kind of adult entertainer 😅

  • @MsDisneylandlover
    @MsDisneylandlover 4 місяці тому +10

    I can't wait 4 Jim doc may 31st on Disney plus

    • @mayflower7811
      @mayflower7811 4 місяці тому +1

      Same, I might cry watching it Jim Henson was a beautiful soul

    • @amberfun9148
      @amberfun9148 4 місяці тому +3

      I knew there was a reason why everyone was making content related to the Muppets. I don’t care the reason. I just know that there’s a wave of Muppet media coming straight at me.

    • @mayflower7811
      @mayflower7811 4 місяці тому

      @@amberfun9148 Exactly

  • @dyscotopia
    @dyscotopia 4 місяці тому +6

    Henson was never content to do what he'd done before. Always wanting to elevate the art form one more step.
    Great production and well presented and researched thesis... Muppets content always gets my clicks

  • @freyjasvansdottir9904
    @freyjasvansdottir9904 4 місяці тому +3

    I remember when my country’s sole tv station switched to colour transmission and the shock to see the Muppet Show in colour for the first time!

  • @daviniarobbins9298
    @daviniarobbins9298 4 місяці тому +2

    They had a hard time convincing guests to appear on the Muppet Show because the show was made in London. A lot of the celebs didn't want to fly over the ocean and spend a week in London. It was only once the show proved to be a success did people want to appear.

  • @Justintime619
    @Justintime619 4 місяці тому +3

    Thank you for making me care about something I had noooooooo idea I’d be interested in!!! Great video!

  • @Beaker709
    @Beaker709 4 місяці тому +1

    I have watched a number of videos that described who Jim Hensen and The Muppets were and how they became so popular but this is the first video I watched that tried to explain why. Great video!!!

  • @Claraclowns
    @Claraclowns 5 місяців тому +14

    silly guys rise up ✊✊

  • @TheLyonPuppets
    @TheLyonPuppets 4 місяці тому +2

    Very nicely done. Thoughtful and thorough. Deserves to be be seen by many more people.

    • @PrimaryCinema1
      @PrimaryCinema1  4 місяці тому +1

      Thank you so much Rick, means a lot 🙏

  • @milob.2412
    @milob.2412 4 місяці тому +2

    wow, this is so interesting and informative! a great angle to cover to provide more context to the full story. it's always worthwhile learning about the much larger situations / broader circumstances and factors that catch on / play into successes rather than the idea that these successes solely come from deliberate and "ideal" strategies chosen by a select few people somehow helming the full picture. thank you for making this, a fantastic contribution as a fan

  • @kcindc5539
    @kcindc5539 4 місяці тому +2

    Excellent and most insightful video. Well done! I also enjoyed your charming pronunciation of “DOUBLE-YOO-OAR-SEE” for WRC-TV Channel 4 in Washington DC. Subscribed!

  • @zekewalker1350
    @zekewalker1350 5 місяців тому +3

    Happy Birthday Gavin!! Excellent essay! I had never considered the way Television specifically shaped how the Muppets came to be what they are today. Excited to see what's next.

  • @mindtheater
    @mindtheater 5 місяців тому +5

    Lovely video, you killed it with this one!

  • @AnnabelleLeeTx
    @AnnabelleLeeTx 4 місяці тому +3

    Amazing video!!! I like the take on why they are unique to tv, I hadn't thought about it before. Henson was ahead of his time. Loved the inclusion of old pics and footage. Must have taken a lot of work. 👍

  • @jonbradley4789
    @jonbradley4789 4 місяці тому +1

    Nicely done. I definitely recognize the amount of work thoughtfully put into this.

  • @rickoshay8317
    @rickoshay8317 4 місяці тому +1

    Insightful, enlightening, and entertaining!

  • @rosezingleman5007
    @rosezingleman5007 4 місяці тому +1

    I went to high school in Georgia with Steve Whitmire. He went to an event and carried along his version of Kermit. Incredibly, Henson hired him.
    (Hi Steve, if you see this!)

  • @anniebodyhome1999
    @anniebodyhome1999 4 місяці тому +1

    really loved this video, and the perspective you took gave a lot of insight and context that I haven’t seen in other videos on the topic - thank you!

  • @billcinic
    @billcinic 4 місяці тому +1

    really good Gavin, thanks

  • @Dumpsterfiregrace
    @Dumpsterfiregrace 4 місяці тому +1

    Well done! Fun fact ,Jim made the first Kermit from one of his mom's old coats. 😊

  • @SockzStudio
    @SockzStudio 4 місяці тому +2

    Such an incredible video! Will share it with everyone I know. Thank you for the brilliant work you put into it!

    • @PrimaryCinema1
      @PrimaryCinema1  4 місяці тому +2

      What a lovely comment! Thanks so much!!

  • @EvanDiem
    @EvanDiem 4 місяці тому +2

    I like this video, I'm subscribing, and I'm gonna share it with my friend

    • @PrimaryCinema1
      @PrimaryCinema1  4 місяці тому +1

      Thank you Evan !!!

    • @EvanDiem
      @EvanDiem 4 місяці тому

      @@PrimaryCinema1 I gotchu bro

  • @pdrg
    @pdrg 4 місяці тому +2

    You found an audience :)

  • @yanghyomi
    @yanghyomi 5 місяців тому +2

    Excellent video ! Always love finding new content to listen to during my work flow. I would love some sort of instrumental in the background to help guide the audio, but that’s just my note as someone who listens half-way drawing! Amazing content regardless!!!!

    • @PrimaryCinema1
      @PrimaryCinema1  5 місяців тому +2

      Thanks for the kind words! This was my first video at this kinda length so this feedback is really useful, thank you.

  • @davba2
    @davba2 4 місяці тому +4

    This isn't quite correct. Lou Grade was the head of ITC and ATV in the UK. ATV commissioned the show for the ITV network, and was made at their Elstree studios in London. The series was therefore broadcast in the UK first in September 1976.

  • @Hirosdad
    @Hirosdad 5 місяців тому +4

    Do you think muppets poop? I’ll take my answer off the air

  • @traitorfm8043
    @traitorfm8043 Місяць тому

    Excellent analysis!

  • @robertharker
    @robertharker 4 місяці тому

    Great video. Thanks!

  • @5argetech56
    @5argetech56 5 місяців тому +4

    I got exposed to the Muppet's watching one of the first episodes of Sesame Street with my little sister. It was a special on NBC about the CTW Children's Television Workshop in 1969!

  • @CrystalClearNews
    @CrystalClearNews 4 місяці тому

    thank you for this

  • @MsDisneylandlover
    @MsDisneylandlover 4 місяці тому +1

    Love the intro n I love the muppets 2 n it's my childhood as well
    #DisneyDiva

  • @lucafigari1438
    @lucafigari1438 4 місяці тому

    ❤❤❤❤

  • @bobs2809
    @bobs2809 4 місяці тому

    Actually you mean it figuratively.

  • @supme7558
    @supme7558 4 місяці тому

    Ting?

  • @saskiagrace
    @saskiagrace 4 місяці тому +2

    this was brilliant!! i thoroughly enjoyed watching this video!! definitely subscribing!! 🫶🫶