I try not to assume that the popular culture of my childhood is inherently superior to anything that came before or after it. It annoys the crap out of me when Baby Boomers just insist that the sixties created the most cosmically significant versions of everything. Music? Better in the sixties. Political outrage? Better in the sixties. Fashion? Food? Unfiltered cigarettes? You get the idea.
But I’m not immune to nostalgia. I pine for my lost innocence like anyone else, and like so many Americans my age, my innocence mostly involves Saturday morning cartoons. Like Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies.
I’m not saying this is the best cartoon ever created, but I am saying it’s a memorable slice of 80s pie. Like a dense poem, the following clip provokes multiple, contradictory reactions:
The Good:
– The entire show is about using your imagination to have fun. Sure, kids aren’t using their brains when they watch TV, but maybe after Muppet Babies, they’ll go outside and invent a magical world.
– The characters are all really nice to each other. Even their teasing is polite.
– For a kids’ show, the writing is witty.
The Dubious:
– Why do the girl Muppet babies have to be nurses? Couldn’t Skeeter be a damn anesthesiologist? Or couldn’t Kermit be a nurse? Let’s imagine ourselves into some nonrestrictive gender roles!
– This animation probably won’t make it in the time capsule.
The Deliciously Crazy:
– The intercut footage of an actual ambulance. Because when Muppet babies dream, they dream episodes of Rescue 911.
– Nanny’s giant stockings, which linger in my dreams to this day.
The Questions:
Did you guys watch this show? Is it still on anywhere? What did/do you think of it?
4 responses so far ↓
1 Collin H // Oct 24, 2008 at 8:21 am
Muppet Babies was a show that I watched because it was the best option available at that timeslot. I recall always being somewhat bored with the show and spending most of the half hour it was on concentrating on Legos.
Still, if I recall correctly in won several awards, so I guess it wasn’t has bad as I remember. If nothing else, it did have Professor Bunson and Beaker, which is something The Smurfs never gave me.
In related muppet news, FAO Schwarz has introduced the best muppet product ever. Its like Build-a-Bear, only you make a personalized muppet.
Check it out, but be aware that a video of Kermit will autoplay.
http://www.fao.com/catalog/boutique.jsp?WT.mc_id=999126&parentCategoryId=98&categoryId=793&name=Muppet+Whatnot+Workshop
2 Amanda // Oct 24, 2008 at 10:35 am
Holy Crap! Those cuts to the real world were creepy. Yowza. Animal wearing a bonnet=also a bit creepy.
So, this post made me want to let you know that lately my favorite pastime is watching retro Sesame Street clips on Hulu. If you want to see a persuasive argument for the agony of childbirth, watch the clip of John-John counting to 20 with Herry the Monster. The cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Also, Jim Henson is my hero. I’ll even watch Muppet Babies with his name attached to it.
3 Amy // Oct 24, 2008 at 11:16 am
I also watched Muppet Babies because it was the best option in that timeslot. I love the fact that Skeeter only existed in this rendition of the Muppets. Sad, but I think Kermit’s cousin Robin (a tadpole in a bowl) was my favorite character in the show. What made me angriest was that the stuff they did, didn’t work in real life — like pulling wax paper over the television and then drawing mustaches on characters. I haven’t seen it on television in a long time, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the title sequence!
4 sasha // Oct 24, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Okay, my sister and I religiously watched the Muppet babies and the Smurfs every Saturday Morning.
Where have all the great Saturday Morning Cartoons gone?
I long for something hilarious, imaginative, dopey, sweet and fun on Saturday Mornings, and Hannah Montana does not do it.
Pepper Ann, Kim Possible and Recess are the most recent cartoons I have seen that remind me of the good old muppet baby days – and they are not running any longer.
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