On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 12:57 PM, Mark J. <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Apr 27, 11:51 am, "Kevin M." <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 9:37 AM, Mark J. <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > But the Schulz family is still involved and seemingly still has a > > > power of veto, as they did when Scripps/United Feature owned the > > > characters (and when the artists took over ownership of their > > > creations in the 90s, Schulz still let Scripps/UFS retain ownership of > > > the characters). It's not like I'm expecting to see Candie's ads with > > > Britney having sex with Linus. > > > > A fair point (and a disturbing visual). Remind me though, how many > > years between Jim Henson's death and when Beaker flipped Scrooge the > > middle finger in "A Muppet Christmas Carol," or when Miss Piggy > > started shilling for Pizza Hut? As I recall, family had creative > > control over those characters, too. > > > > <Insert Charlie Brown's rant about commercialization here> > > The Muppet characters (excepting the "Sesame Street" characters) had > been selling things for years. Henson's initial national impact, > besides Ed Sullivan, was through a series of ads he did for Willets > Coffee in Washington, DC and franchised to other beverage brands in > other markets. The ads featured a character that could well be > considered at the least a prototype Kermit. > > And I would swear that I had seen the "Muppet Show" characters in ads > before Henson's death. > > They most certainly did do ads (though not nearly as much as in the post-Henson years). Henson appeared in a famous American Express "Do you know me?" ad with Kermit and the gang appearing the late 70s. The 80s saw the Muppets selling Polaroid cameras. I think Jim's approach to ads was to have creative control and so he didn't do a lot of them with his Muppet Show cast because he was so busy. But any idea that he was against advertising is wrong. Also, Beaker didn't flip Scrooge off. He was telling him off, but more in a "Sir, you are a horrible person and I protest!" type of way. Besides, he only had four digits. He has no middle finger. > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > -- +++++++++++++++ Joe Coughlin http://www.twitter.com/inturnaround -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
