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I'm surprised that The Muppet Show was well known outside of the US and Canada. Was it broadcast there in the 1970s?
by CoastalCoder 3y ago
I'm surprised that The Muppet Show was well known outside of the US and Canada.
Was it broadcast there in the 1970s?
- MarkusWandel 3y agoI grew up with it in Germany, dubbed of course. Late 70s.
- jameshart 3y agoThe Muppet Show was actually shot in the UK at Elstree Studios, produced by Lew Grade at ATV. It was syndicated globally, including to the US, but it was not actually an American show.
- detritus 3y agoWell, Gosh! 'TIL', as they say. Turns out it was first aired in the UK too (according to the following link, anywa)! https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Muppet_Show https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Muppet_Show
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- twic 3y agoThat was partly a hiring decision - most of the muppets themselves were alumni of the Royal Shakespeare Company of course.
- asveikau 3y agoJim Henson was American though and the Muppets were first on American television, first in local Washington DC stations and then apparently (just looked this up) the UK show had two pilot episodes on ABC in the US.
- jameshart 3y agoSure. Which indeed makes it natural that Americans would assume it was an American show and might not be known overseas. But the surprising truth is it ran first in the UK, and was filmed just outside London. I sense that you’re reacting to this news as if I shared it with a tone of ‘what idiot doesn’t know that?’, when my intent was to share it more in a tone of ‘So, actually, fun fact…’ If you ever wondered why the heck there was a muppet show with John Cleese as the guest star… this would be why.
- asveikau 3y ago> I sense that you’re reacting to this news as if I shared it with a tone of ‘what idiot doesn’t know that?’ Not really. Just sharing why people may think of it as American. eg. Wikipedia describes The Muppets as: "an American ensemble cast of puppet characters".
- LaundroMat 3y agoEveryone in Belgium above a certain age (I was born in 1974) knows it, and I bet half of them could at least name 5 characters. Update: I was once on a client mission in Rochester, NY, and when I told the people there that we are deluged with/very knowledgeable of American culture they were very surprised (which in turn surprised me very much).
- toyg 3y agoWell known in Italy in the '80s.
- retrac 3y agoOh, Kermit wasn't just on The Muppet Show; he was on Sesame Street too, with dozens of local language adaptations. Though it's not always popular in other countries as it is in the USA, it has been a worldwide phenomenon for decades. It puts Kermit is in the same league as Mickey Mouse. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of people worldwide recognize him, certainly a large majority in the west.
- wkat4242 3y agoWe had sesame street in Holland and it was broadcast way into the 90s. But the muppet show too, yes!
- djaychela 3y agoThe muppet show was huge in the UK in the late 70s/early 80s.
- 4ndrewl 3y agoWait, what? The Muppets was a failure during pilots in the US and only became a worldwide success after it was bought by ATV in the UK - the Muppet Show was produced at Elstree studios in the UK...
- ozymandias1337 3y agoReruns of It & Sesame Street was broadcast on the Public TV Channel, in the early '00s. In the Anglophone African country I was currently residing in at the time.
- surfingdino 3y agoIt's tangential, but the Muppet Show was also shown in the 80s in Eastern Europe. I can only assume that it was a packaged deal of some sort, e.g. that licensing it and showing on state TV (there was no other at the time) was a condition for getting a loan or being allowed to sell local produce to the US?
- Doctor_Fegg 3y agoYes, to the extent that “muppet” is now common British English slang for a foolish person - e.g. “some muppet has parked badly and blocked the pavement again”.