Hensonverse Speculation and Commentary
- Thread starter Ogrebear
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I could see Artie Esposito staying on as the Kermit understudy, if not a newer performer born after the 1970s. I think he could've made a fine Kermit with enough practice and coaching from Steve; his performances, while rough, sounded like he was basing his rendition on Jim's take, and he definitely had potential.
I'm glad that Steve doesn't get kicked out unfairly by Disney ITTL. I still maintain Matt Vogel was a straight-up miscast. He's much better as Big Bird and the Jerry Nelson characters. IMO Peter Linz would've made a better Kermit; his Ernie is very accurate to Jim's.
Also, I take it Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! would need new hosts other than Ryan Seacrest and Ken Jennings ITTL? Those shows aren't owned by Sony ITTL (but Time-Columbia), and Ken's Jeopardy! run would probably be butterflied. Plus, if the Mike Richards controversy doesn't happen on the latter, then Time-Columbia wouldn't need to go for a "safe" option.
Who would make good picks to host those shows?
Who would make good picks to host those shows?
He'd probably be a good fit. Let's hope that the idea of visiting Kermit's past would turn out much better than OTL's Kermit's Swamp Years.
Could anyone please remind me of what the live-action superhero shows are ITTL, and which network they air on?
possible excerpt from a netlog (OTL blog) post about daytime network television ITTL:
In the Spring of 1986, Ted Turner's CBS bought Merv Griffith Enterprises, and with it two of America's most popular game shows in Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. At the time, Wheel of Fortune had two versions: a daytime version that aired on NBC, and a syndicated nighttime version (as per OTL). Meanwhile Jeopardy was syndicated, often airing alongside the syndicated version of Wheel in many TV markets. Turner-CBS executives quickly made the decision to cancel the syndicated version of Wheel, move the daytime version of Wheel from NBC to CBS, and take Jeopardy out of syndication and move it to CBS, effective with the upcoming fall TV season. Programming executives liked the idea of airing Wheel and Jeopardy back-to-back (as was often the case in many cities with the syndicated versions of the shows) and combine it with mainstay The Price is Right to create a powerhouse daytime game show block.
CBS Daytime Schedule, Fall 1986. All times Eastern (OTL Big 3 daytime schedule for reference and comparison)
10:00 AM: Jeopardy (replacing The $25,000 Pyramid ITTL)
10:30 AM: Wheel of Fortune (replacing Card Sharks ITTL)
11:00 AM: The Price is Right
12:00 PM: No network programming. This time slot was cut out by the network to allow local affiliates to air their midday newscasts without worrying about preempting any network shows. Also serves as CBS' game show/soap dividing line - game shows before noon, soaps afterward.
12:30 PM: The Young and the Restless
1:30 PM: As the World Turns
2:30 PM: Capitol
3:00 PM: Guiding Light
Later that same season, the soap Capitol was cancelled and replaced with a new soap, The Bold and the Beautiful; concurrent with the new soap's premiere on March 23, 1987, the decision was made to have Bold and the Beautiful and As the World Turns switch places in the schedule (as per OTL). The resulting lineup would serve as CBS's daytime lineup for well over 20 years until As the World Turns and Guiding Light both ended their runs in 2010 (roughly per OTL, I see little to butterfly away the fundamentals that led to the decline of network daytime soaps) during the so-called "Soap Purge."
CBS Daytime Schedule, Spring 1987. All times Eastern
10:00 AM: Jeopardy
10:30 AM: Wheel of Fortune
11:00 AM: The Price is Right
12:00 PM: No network programming
12:30 PM: The Young and the Restless
1:30 PM: The Bold and the Beautiful
2:00 PM: As the World Turns
3:00 PM: Guiding Light
For virtually the entire tenure of the above lineup, CBS was the top-rated network in daytime (with ABC typically a close second and NBC often a more distant third). Turner-CBS executives' dream of a powerhouse game show block were more than fulfilled as Jeopardy, Wheel, and The Price is Right almost always finished each season as the top 3 daytime network game shows, the exact order varying from year-to-year. Over on the soap side of the daytime lineup, The Young and the Restless was often the #1 network soap opera overall (Y&R's performance is per OTL).
In the Spring of 1986, Ted Turner's CBS bought Merv Griffith Enterprises, and with it two of America's most popular game shows in Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. At the time, Wheel of Fortune had two versions: a daytime version that aired on NBC, and a syndicated nighttime version (as per OTL). Meanwhile Jeopardy was syndicated, often airing alongside the syndicated version of Wheel in many TV markets. Turner-CBS executives quickly made the decision to cancel the syndicated version of Wheel, move the daytime version of Wheel from NBC to CBS, and take Jeopardy out of syndication and move it to CBS, effective with the upcoming fall TV season. Programming executives liked the idea of airing Wheel and Jeopardy back-to-back (as was often the case in many cities with the syndicated versions of the shows) and combine it with mainstay The Price is Right to create a powerhouse daytime game show block.
CBS Daytime Schedule, Fall 1986. All times Eastern (OTL Big 3 daytime schedule for reference and comparison)
10:00 AM: Jeopardy (replacing The $25,000 Pyramid ITTL)
10:30 AM: Wheel of Fortune (replacing Card Sharks ITTL)
11:00 AM: The Price is Right
12:00 PM: No network programming. This time slot was cut out by the network to allow local affiliates to air their midday newscasts without worrying about preempting any network shows. Also serves as CBS' game show/soap dividing line - game shows before noon, soaps afterward.
12:30 PM: The Young and the Restless
1:30 PM: As the World Turns
2:30 PM: Capitol
3:00 PM: Guiding Light
Later that same season, the soap Capitol was cancelled and replaced with a new soap, The Bold and the Beautiful; concurrent with the new soap's premiere on March 23, 1987, the decision was made to have Bold and the Beautiful and As the World Turns switch places in the schedule (as per OTL). The resulting lineup would serve as CBS's daytime lineup for well over 20 years until As the World Turns and Guiding Light both ended their runs in 2010 (roughly per OTL, I see little to butterfly away the fundamentals that led to the decline of network daytime soaps) during the so-called "Soap Purge."
CBS Daytime Schedule, Spring 1987. All times Eastern
10:00 AM: Jeopardy
10:30 AM: Wheel of Fortune
11:00 AM: The Price is Right
12:00 PM: No network programming
12:30 PM: The Young and the Restless
1:30 PM: The Bold and the Beautiful
2:00 PM: As the World Turns
3:00 PM: Guiding Light
For virtually the entire tenure of the above lineup, CBS was the top-rated network in daytime (with ABC typically a close second and NBC often a more distant third). Turner-CBS executives' dream of a powerhouse game show block were more than fulfilled as Jeopardy, Wheel, and The Price is Right almost always finished each season as the top 3 daytime network game shows, the exact order varying from year-to-year. Over on the soap side of the daytime lineup, The Young and the Restless was often the #1 network soap opera overall (Y&R's performance is per OTL).
Well, I would have no doubt that Matt Vogel and Peter Linz would still be included with them, with Matt Vogel taking over the Jerry Nelson characters (I could also imagine Matt Vogel could be ideal in taking over the role of Gobo in Waggle Rock as well) as well as performing Sweetums (for while John Henson survives ITTL, he's probably more going to preoccupy himself with his work at the Henson Center, so maybe handing the role of Sweetums over to someone used to full-body puppetry like Vogel is, due to him being Carroll Spinney's understudy, is a necessity). As for Linz, I'm not sure who he would portray, unless it was TTL's version of Walter (Hey, maybe Alice Dinnean orLeslie Carrara-Rudolph could portray his sister, who is inspired by the "Molly Moolah" fan!) or Robin the Frog or he beats out Artie Esposito for the position of Kermit's performer, or he could simply be relegated to "additional" Muppet performer.
I'm guessing The Muppets Return would be a good introduction for TTL's Walter counterpart. Giving him a sister would be a great way to balance out Miss Piggy in terms of female representation (Skeeter was created for that reason when Muppet Babies was made IOTL).
John Tartaglia (Ernie in Season 2 of Play With Me Sesame IOTL), Billy Barkhurst (Ernie from 2014-17, and a substitute voice in some stage shows before that) or some younger Henson/Sesame performers not involved with Disney IOTL could also be good auditionees for the role of Kermit understudy (assuming they can do a decent Kermit impression, of course).
Do the Rambo still exist ITTL and if yes are they the same as OTL?
It might just be me but she looks kinda like Tia Carrere.
It might just be me but she looks kinda like Tia Carrere.
Well, I would suspect that the first three movies are the same as OTL, it's really a case of what Stallone wants to do.
In OTL, Stallone just couldn't find a motivating story for a good long while until 2008's Rambo, and there was also the fact that the film's original producer, Carolco Pictures, went bankrupt in 1995 and thus Miramax brought the rights in 1997, then tried to make another Rambo the following year, only for Stallone to be at that stage when he no longer wanted to make action movies.
And there's also the Rocky to take into account. Rocky V originally had an ending written where Rocky is killed in the final fight, but that wasn't popular and thus, had to be changed. Rocky V became what many feel, to be an unsatisfactory conclusion to the Rocky films, which lead to Rocky Balboa in 2006, which revitalised his career.
ITTL, things might be different, as Stallone's doing The Impossibles franchise (TTL's equivalent to the Expendables), which might have changed things around a bit for his career.
In OTL, Stallone just couldn't find a motivating story for a good long while until 2008's Rambo, and there was also the fact that the film's original producer, Carolco Pictures, went bankrupt in 1995 and thus Miramax brought the rights in 1997, then tried to make another Rambo the following year, only for Stallone to be at that stage when he no longer wanted to make action movies.
And there's also the Rocky to take into account. Rocky V originally had an ending written where Rocky is killed in the final fight, but that wasn't popular and thus, had to be changed. Rocky V became what many feel, to be an unsatisfactory conclusion to the Rocky films, which lead to Rocky Balboa in 2006, which revitalised his career.
ITTL, things might be different, as Stallone's doing The Impossibles franchise (TTL's equivalent to the Expendables), which might have changed things around a bit for his career.
As for who currently does which character, here are some suggestions of mine for a few of them:
- Bill Barretta as Waldorf. Dave Goelz is fine, but I feel Barretta would've been more accurate to Jim's take, given his work as Rowlf (speaking of, I'd still think Jim would personally train him as his successor for the role once Jim can't do Rowlf anymore, as it was stated that Rowlf was the only character Jim alone would perform by 1999) and Dr. Teeth. Plus, Barretta joined the Muppets several years earlier IOTL. For Statler, I'd speculate Jerry Nelson would still take on that role (which he originally played on the Sex and Violence pilot, before his limited availability throughout The Muppet Show's first season led to Hunt taking that role), before passing it onto Steve Whitmire or Peter Linz once he retires.
- Rickey Boyd as Scooter. While David Rudman is good, Boyd's Scooter is easily the most accurate of the post-Richard Hunt Scooters, and apparently Goelz and Steve Whitmire even complimented him for his performance. A shame that Wizard of Oz special had to be his sole performance IOTL. Of course, it was already stated that Rudman and Whitmire would split those roles, but still.
- Tyler Bunch as Janice. He also sounded spot-on in the role.
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Hmmmm. A good idea, but I probably don't think the logistics of getting them into those roles would work. Plus, it was already stated that Rudman and Whitmire (as well as John Henson for Sweetums) would take over the roles of the Richard Hunt characters, with presumably Rudman performing Scooter and Janice, with Whitmire as Beaker and Statler.
Unless the arrangement is that David Rudman only performs Janice/Scooter from 1992 to 1993, in which Tyler Bunch, who had joined the cast of Sesame Street in 1993 in OTL, maybe performed Janice for The Muppets Do Shakespeare and takes over, or Rickey Boyd also takes over as Scooter around that time.
Another character David Rudman could portray in compensation is actually the Swedish Chef (for he portrayed him in The Muppet Christmas Carol in OTL), with Steve Whitmire doing the hands.
While Bill Barretta could portray Waldorf (I'm personally fine with Goelz still portraying that role), Kevin Clash could be another candidate (as he had portrayed him in two episodes of Muppets Tonight). And I am fully in agreement that maybe Bill is personally trained by Jim to be his successor as Rowlf, in order to portray the character full time and enable Rowlf to have more appearances.
Unless the arrangement is that David Rudman only performs Janice/Scooter from 1992 to 1993, in which Tyler Bunch, who had joined the cast of Sesame Street in 1993 in OTL, maybe performed Janice for The Muppets Do Shakespeare and takes over, or Rickey Boyd also takes over as Scooter around that time.
Another character David Rudman could portray in compensation is actually the Swedish Chef (for he portrayed him in The Muppet Christmas Carol in OTL), with Steve Whitmire doing the hands.
While Bill Barretta could portray Waldorf (I'm personally fine with Goelz still portraying that role), Kevin Clash could be another candidate (as he had portrayed him in two episodes of Muppets Tonight). And I am fully in agreement that maybe Bill is personally trained by Jim to be his successor as Rowlf, in order to portray the character full time and enable Rowlf to have more appearances.