It had many years since The Muppet Show or Muppets Tonight had graced TV, and puppet shows were not on as much as perhaps before, with the exception of black comedy puppet sitcom Mongrels, so it was good to see The Jim Henson Company bringing us this new comedy puppet game show. Hosted by big-chinned chirpy Vernon Kay based puppet Dougie Colon (Dave Chapman), the show invites two celebrities to compete against each other in a number of themed games to try win the £10,000 prize that they can give to a charity of their choice. Each of the games are run and hosted by an "expert" in their field, these include Neil Fox looking music expert Eddie Watts (Dave Chapman), big-nosed and Miss Trunchbull like sports expert Jemima Taptackle (Louise Gold), armadillo mental agility expert The Amazing Ian (Brian Henson), mad science expert Dr. Strabismus (Henson), Australian big-nosed wide-chinned nature expert Jake Hamilton- Jones (Victor Yerrid), and blue purple haired showbiz expert Amber O'Neill (Gold). We also the crew members backstage that run the show and studio, including curly-haired TV producer and Amber's older sister Mancie O'Neill (Colleen Smith), cow studio chairman Udders McGhee (Nigel Plaskitt), crab Clyde Stravinsky (Victor Yerrid) who is the scorekeeper, the Hot Dogs who appear in various roles in and out of the game, tortoise show runner Fenton (Plaskitt) and the unnamed Monkey and Mouse (Yerrid and Henson), and in intervals we also see a family of puppets watching it on TV commenting. Games of the show are Saucissong - the two celebrities completing a well known song verse putting singing hot dogs in the correct order of their singing parts, Punch Your Lights Out – the two celebrity wearing 100 lights on them have to punch out as many as they can in 45 seconds, Nosey Neighbor – the two celebrities jump up and down to see over a garden fence and are asked a series of questions about what the hot dogs on the other side are doing, Paddlestar Galactica – the two celebrities have to knock off six ping pong balls floating like planets on blowers using ping pong balls, Life's a Speech – the two celebrities have to read an autocue speech but filling in the missing words on subjects, Cheek to Cheek - the two celebrities slow dance to a popular song playing backwards and have to guess the song, Dart Attack – one celebrity fire darts through a blow pipe to hit targets on a spinning while the other spins on the wheel, Glow Balls – the two celebrities try to memorise the positions of balls that were glowing in the dark, Blow By Blow – the celebrities race to try and blow out 100 candles, Bird Droppings – the two celebrities have to mimic memorised bird calls and catch their eggs, and The Puppet End Game - the final round where the two celebrities answer general knowledge questions by the experts on their specific subjects. Celebrities who have appeared on the show to play the games, meet the puppets and try and win the charity prize have been Jonathan Ross, Katherine Jenkins, Freddie Flintoff, Gary Lineker, Jack Dee, Alex Jones, Shane Richie, Claudia Winkleman, Mel Giedroyc, Vernon Kay, Tess Daly and Ronan Keating. I will agree with critics that it is very old-fashioned and lacks some of the wit and wackiness of The Muppet shows in the past, but you cannot help loving most of the characters, especially with the ongoing crushes storyline between Eddie and Mancie, the games are ridiculous fun, the celebrities are up for the fun, and there are some relatively funny moments in amongst everything, all in all a likable family comedy puppet game show. Worth watching!
3 Reviews
Like the Muppets...but not
studioAT10 September 2013
In an attempt to bring back family entertainment the BBC launched 'That Puppet Gameshow' which made a lot of people say "It's a bit like that Muppet programme". This alone presented a huge problem as this show is nowhere near as smart or as funny as The Muppet Show and the puppets nowhere near as endearing.
To be fair, the game show element of it is entertaining enough but once you'd seen celeb's punching little lights on their costume out with boxing gloves once, you didn't really want to see it again. Some of the contestants looks bewildered by the puppets and at times it all resembles too much like a kids game show with rather little for the adults to enjoy.
Apparently some of the best comedy writers in the industry were hired to write the 'back stage' scenes but these prove to be anything but funny.
It seems as though the BBC have lost faith in this show as in recent weeks it has been moved further and further away from the Saturday night slot and into late afternoon. If it ended up on the CBBC channel it may find a more supportive audience.
To be fair, the game show element of it is entertaining enough but once you'd seen celeb's punching little lights on their costume out with boxing gloves once, you didn't really want to see it again. Some of the contestants looks bewildered by the puppets and at times it all resembles too much like a kids game show with rather little for the adults to enjoy.
Apparently some of the best comedy writers in the industry were hired to write the 'back stage' scenes but these prove to be anything but funny.
It seems as though the BBC have lost faith in this show as in recent weeks it has been moved further and further away from the Saturday night slot and into late afternoon. If it ended up on the CBBC channel it may find a more supportive audience.
21st Century Muppet Show
profusionk13 September 2013
The Muppets have always struggled to overcome the deep-seated notion that puppets are for children. So, despite yet another product out of Jim Henson studios that is more intelligent and inventive than most television fare, too many people are passing it by.
To Brian Henson's great credit, he has managed to recreate the 1970s The Muppet Show for the vastly different entertainment landscape of the 2010s without pandering to the more puerile elements of "reality television." Henson has moved the concept from vaudeville theatre to the contemporary action game show genre. Like the original, the scenes switch between on-stage and backstage actions and the real life celebrity game show guests are on equal footing with the backstage Muppets and their everyday problems. Henson wisely does not use any previous Muppet characters, creating a new batch of personalities, mostly human rather than animals, unlike most Muppets. Through it all, the show gently skewers the cult of celebrity and the absurdity of television today. Some of the skits and bits are inspired, like Sausisong and Paddlestar Galactica. Not all of it works but that is to be expected from a new show. The first few episodes of The Muppet Show were not that good either but it grow into one of the great series in television history.
I hope viewers and the BBC give the show a chance and a second series to grow. It is doubtful it will ever top its inspiration but it sure is better than yet another retread of the pabulum genres of almost every other "entertainment" show on television today.
To Brian Henson's great credit, he has managed to recreate the 1970s The Muppet Show for the vastly different entertainment landscape of the 2010s without pandering to the more puerile elements of "reality television." Henson has moved the concept from vaudeville theatre to the contemporary action game show genre. Like the original, the scenes switch between on-stage and backstage actions and the real life celebrity game show guests are on equal footing with the backstage Muppets and their everyday problems. Henson wisely does not use any previous Muppet characters, creating a new batch of personalities, mostly human rather than animals, unlike most Muppets. Through it all, the show gently skewers the cult of celebrity and the absurdity of television today. Some of the skits and bits are inspired, like Sausisong and Paddlestar Galactica. Not all of it works but that is to be expected from a new show. The first few episodes of The Muppet Show were not that good either but it grow into one of the great series in television history.
I hope viewers and the BBC give the show a chance and a second series to grow. It is doubtful it will ever top its inspiration but it sure is better than yet another retread of the pabulum genres of almost every other "entertainment" show on television today.
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