Muppets Haunted Mansion

The best thing about this project is the fact that it exists. I'm not crazy about it myself, but Muppet material needs to be regular, and frankly unending. Whether I like the project or not, proper versions of these characters need to constantly be in the spotlight. Disney is mishandling the property otherwise.

And frankly, this wouldn't just be good for Disney. It would be good for the Henson Company. Henson has made some truly questionable choices in the past decade (I refuse to see The Happytime Murders on general principle) and as far as new material goes, it tends to be of two kinds (The Dark Crystal prequel being a joyous exception): Sesame Street and preschool garbage miles worse than Sesame Street. I'm not saying The Henson Company didn't make crap when Henson was alive. It did. But even its worst stuff back then like Muppet Babies was challenging the medium. The current non-Sesame-preschool stuff is SO bad (particularly the Muppet Babies reboot) that I'm just glad to see these characters back in a normal project.

And I'll tell you what was refreshing about the normalcy. This isn't an adaptation of something else with the Muppets playing famous fictional characters, or a mockumentary, or a reality show. It has a refreshing lack of a gimmick. And we need more traditional Muppet stuff in that vein.

The best thing is that this specific project gave us Muppets from every era. Bean and Clifford, the most recognizable creations from The Jim Henson Hour era are absent, but everyone else got a cameo. From The Muppet Show, to Muppets Tonight, the Jason Segel Muppet Movie, to the Muppets Mockumentary, to Muppets Now. A very familiar rat labeled "Ballroom Rat" in the credits got special notice from me. I think that was actually Rizzo and the producers testing the water for a new voice for him in the future. But as far as Deep Muppet Cuts go, we got Walter, and Bobo, and Uncle Deadly, who have been old standbys in the recent stuff. But we also saw Johnny Fiama and Sal, Andy and Randy Pig, Dr. Phil Van Neuter, Wayne and Wanda, Marvin Suggs, Carl, Chip the IT Guy, Yolanda, and others I probably missed. Brian Henson even came out of witness protection to do Sal so I'm glad everybody had a turn.

As far as the human casting goes, I wonder if this is the first time John Stamos has actually worked with the Muppets. If it is, it shouldn't have been. Also like the special being dedicated to Ed Asner. I actually missed his cameo because I didn't recognize him under the ghost make-up. And finally, I love whenever Danny Trejo works with the Muppets, because I always invariably check out his IMDB page soon-after, and the guy has a more interesting and eclectic career than any other actor living or dead.

Gonzo's old puppet was suitably freaky. That nose will give me nightmares. It looks like the end of radish.

These are all the good things I can say about the special. Now it's sadly time to talk about what didn't work.

Just so you know how I felt about the quality, I always felt the ballroom sketches were the absolute worst, more embarrassing part of The Muppet Show (which is saying something). Them being able to bring it back here with zero change to the formula is not a compliment to this special's quality.

Muppetphiles have patiently pointed out again and again that Gonzo is sadly not a Muppet that can carry his own project. It didn't work in Muppets In Space. You can argue it did in The Muppet Christmas Carol, and I'd argue back that Michael Caine did the heavy lifting there. And the problem is, at least in the near future, Gonzo SHOULD probably have a huge role in every project, and making him the lead WILL be tempting. Because Dave Goelz is the last of the old guard still performing, and not retired, dead, or fired. As such, Henson Co. is gonna want to put him front and center. So I'll tolerate it for that reason. But I don't exactly like it.

The second problem is that they shouldn't have paired him up with Pepe. Rizzo makes a perfectly fine sidekick, because outside of The Muppets Take Manhattan, Rizzo is a cipher, and works entirely as a second fiddle in every single Muppet project, usually to Gonzo. With Steve Whitmire (justifiably) fired, Rizzo has to be set aside for now (at least until the Ballroom Rat's reception is gauged). But Pepe is a poor replacement as second fiddle to Gonzo. Because Pepe overshadows him. He's funnier and more flamboyant than Gonzo, which makes him the worst straight man ever. I think on some level the special knew this, and separated them for a large part of it for that reason, but it's a flawed idea from the ground up. You want to put Gonzo in the spotlight, don't put Pepe there beside him. Pepe will outshine him.

So, I was not bowled over, but I don't need to be every time. There needs to be a LOT more Muppet stuff than there currently is, coming out far more frequently than it does. I want more specials like this. We'll worry more about quality once the Muppets are back in the cultural zeitgeist where they belong. ***.