We all know Sesame Street get nominated, and wins, plenty of daytime Emmys, but this year they've been nominated again for a primetime special!
You may recall that Sesame Street won a primetime Emmy last year for their HBO special Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas, and this year their latest special, The Magical Wand Chase, is nominated as well.
The Sesame gang is nominated in the “Outstanding Children’s Program” category where, they're up against Alexa & Katie, Fuller House, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Star Wars: Rebels.
The Emmy Awards will be held on September 17th on NBC.
Dame Gillian Lynne, who served as the choreographer on The Muppet Show on at least 17 episodes has died.
According to IMDB, Lynne choreographed the following episodes of The Muppet Show:
Joel Grey
Rita Moreno
Kaye Ballard
Nancy Walker
Don Knotts
Petula Clark
Leo Sayer
Gilda Radner
Liberace
Alice Cooper
Marisa Berenson
Lesley Ann Warren
Spike Milligan
Leslie Uggams
Jonathan Winters
Diana Ross
Melissa Manchester
Check out a few sample of her work below:
In addition to her work on The Muppet Show, Lynne also worked on the Sesame Street specials Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and
Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake.
She is perhaps best know though for her work on the stage productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats and The Phantom of the Opera.
At age 87, Lynne was made a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 New Year Honours List.
She has won, and been nominated for, numerous awards for her work. She has received the Silver Order of Merit, Golden Rose of Montreux Award, BAFTA, Molière Award and The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award by the Royal Academy of Dance (2001). She received a Special Award at the 2013 Olivier Awards.
She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to dance and musical theatre.
Lynne was nominated for the Tony Award twice for Choreography, for Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, and for the Drama Desk Award for Cats. She received the Olivier Award in 1981, for Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Musicals, for Cats.
Just this year The New London Theatre was renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre, making it the first theatre in the West End of London to be named after a non-royal woman.
She was 92.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced it will celebrate the 35 anniversary of Fraggle Rock with a brand new Blu-ray release!
Studio description: Described by its legendary creator Jim Henson as "a high-energy, raucous musical romp," Fraggle Rock stars a cast of puppet creatures called Fraggles, quirky cave-dwellers who live in an underground world alongside their industrious green neighbors, the Doozers, and a family of enormous Gorgs. The series follows the fun adventures of the furry subterranean creatures and features a unique mix of music from all genres including folk, blues, gospel, country and rock, all while embracing themes of friendship, tolerance, diversity and caring for the planet.
All 96 episodes in the 12-disc set from the show's four seasons are FULLY REMASTERED IN HIGH-DEFINITION and presented with lossless audio on Blu-ray. This set is also available in special limited edition "scrapbook" packaging, featuring rare behind the scenes photos and an introduction from Uncle Travelling Matt.
Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series is loaded with bonus content on Blu-ray, including the all-new "Fraggle Music Celebration," where viewers can enjoy their favorite Fraggle songs with sing-alongs for every episode (100 songs!) or hit shuffle and let the Fraggles choose the songs. Also newly included on the Blu-ray set is a fun and rare personal glimpse behind the curtain with creator Jim Henson, plus a 1993 throwback segment from "The Today Show" featuring Uncle Travelling Matt, along with more than eight hours of archival special features, including interviews with the cast and crew, featurettes, promos and the complete "Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series."
Synopsis: Join Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober and Red in celebrating the 35th anniversary for Fraggle Rock, from iconic creative mastermind Jim Henson. Catch all 96 episodes – now remastered in high definition – with this jam-packed Blu-ray™ set, featuring hours of special features and a behind-the-scenes scrapbook with an introduction from Uncle Travelling Matt!
Check out this amazing list of extras:
NEW Fraggle Music Celebration
Celebrate your favorite Fraggle songs with sing-alongs for every episode or hit shuffle and let the Fraggles choose for you!
NEW Life on Set: Moments with Jim Henson
NEW 1993 "The Today Show" Segment featuring Uncle Travelling Matt
Down at Fraggle Rock: Behind the Scenes (48-minute version)
Fraggle Songs & Doozer Music
Interviews with Fraggle Rock Creators and Puppeteers
Seasons 2, 3 and 4 Overviews
Docs and Sprockets
"All Around the World" Music Video
Travelling Matt
20 Travelling Matt Segments
Special Tribute to Jerry Juhl
Scared Silly: Art Imitating Life
Production Design Featurette
Electro-Mechanical Puppetry
Doozer Design
How the Trash Heap Came to Be
Gorg Design
Interviews with Michael Frith, Kathy Mullen and Gerry Parkes
HBO Promos
You Cannot Leave the Magic: Excerpts from the Last Day of Shooting
Dance Your Cares Away: The Evolution of the Theme Song
The Inner Gorg: An Interview with the Performers Inside the Costumes
Let the Music Play: An Interview with Phil Balsam and Dennis Lee
Celebrating Fraggle Rock: Excerpts from the Wrap Party
Designing the Puppets: An Interview with the Puppet Makers
Directing the Fraggles: An Interview with Eric Till and George Bloomfield
Additional Interviews:
Dennis Lee with Mokey
Jerry Juhl with Gobo
Jocelyn Stevenson with Red and Mokey
Faz Fazakas with Cotterpin Doozer
A Minute with Travelling Matt
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
All 13 Episodes of
Animated Series Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
Animated Series Character Galleries
Animated Series Opening Scene Storyboards
That's everything from the previous DVD releases, plus three new extras, and everything in bold has been FULLY REMASTERED For Blu-Ray!
The set will be available September 25th and we'll update the post once and it's now available for pre-order from Amazon.
Robbie Knott, the special effects guru on The Muppet Movie has died.
His death was due to complications from a scuba diving accident that occurred in 2006 during a visit to Micronesia, when Knott got the bends and became paralyzed from the waist down.
Knott helped build the giant Animal puppet with a 15-foot head that came after accidentally ingesting one of Dr. Bunsen's "insta-grow" pills.
"There were things like having to pull six-foot custard pies out of your hip pocket within a week — plus a mechanical billboard to throw the pies," Knott told American Cinematographer in a 1979 interview. "We were asked to provide very top-budget film-type gags, with no time to do them. But it was fun."
He also worked on special effects for NBC's Remington Steele and notable films such as Repo Man, Dances With Wolves, Field of Dreams, Dante's Peak,The Nutty Professor remake, Donnie Darko, Stuart Little 2, and his final credit, 2006's For Your Consideration. He was 73.
More at The Hollywood Reporter.
The Jim Henson Company announced that it is in the process of developing a new series featuring the Slumberkins, a Vancouver-based toy, in a new educational television series.
Slumberkins co-founders Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard will co-produce the show, but as of now production has not officially begun. The Jim Henson Company is currently looking for a network/distribution outlet as well.
“We know that parents want to help their kids be prepared for the challenges of the world,” said Halle Stanford, president of television for the company. “There is a lack of tools to help teach children how to handle their ‘big feelings’ in a healthy way. Slumberkins provides support to kids and families through books, plush and soon, with the help of the Jim Henson Co., through video entertainment.”
Slumberkins co-founders Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard
Co-founded in 2016 by Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard, an educator and a family therapist respectively, Slumberkins strives to empower children and parents through the use of their characters to help navigate life in a balanced way. Through the interactive board books and storylines that incorporate therapeutic techniques that accompany each creature, parents are able to create a deeper, more meaningful bond with their children and turn to the brand through all developmental milestones that children experience.
Each Slumberkin has a specific social-emotional life skill it promotes, such as self-esteem, relaxation, transition/coping with change, mindfulness, conflict resolution, growth mindset, and authenticity. Associated creatures include Bigfoot, Sloth, Fox, Yeti, Hammerhead, Narwhal, and Unicorn, with more creatures on the way!
“The Slumberkins are the new 100 Acre Woods for an anxious time,” says Stanford. “Callie and Kelly have created a successful franchise by tapping into what the modern family wants for their children: empathy, self-expression, and emotional regulation. What we love about fashioning the Slumberkins into a puppet series for preschoolers is that we will introduce a whole new line of creature friends who will encourage kids to take action against the problems that affect them, whether that’s change, self-confidence, bullying, or uncertainty in a mixed-up world. Puppets are the best medium to realize these gorgeous designs because not only will they establish an immediate intimacy with our viewers, but they are also the best medium when working with children on expressing their feelings.
“We couldn’t think of a better partner,” Oriard said. “They’re so in-line with our thinking. When you have a child’s attention, it’s special and meaningful, and you should do everything you can with their attention, like help them learn.”
Slumberkins caught on quickly enough that it wound up on the prime-time business pitch show “Shark Tank” in November 2017. Christensen and Oriard’s pitch for $175,000 in investment was turned down, but they said they continue to grow. After making more than $550,000 in sales last year, they expect to grow sales “over 250 percent.”
“Our goal is to make Slumberkins a household name and we see ourselves as the modern ‘Sesame Street’ or ‘Mister Rogers’ (Neighborhood),’ and we really see ourselves in the business of education,” Oriard said.
