A very Muppety post

The Muppets
Film, 2011, dir. James Bobin

A totally charming movie that leaves you feeling good.  I don't know that it added anything to the franchise other than a new muppet, but it was endearing and nostalgic and funny and everything else you want it to be.  I dare you not to cry when Kermit plays "The Rainbow Connection."  And who doesn't love Jason Segel?  He and Amy Adams were both cute and appropriately Muppet-y enough to fit in with the puppets themselves.  The comic highlight for me was probably the cameo by Jim Parsons, although I also laughed out loud when James Carville appeared for no particular reason.


Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street
Nonfiction. Michael Davis, 2008

This is a good book and an interesting book but not the book I wanted it to be.  It would more aptly be subtitled The Complete History of the Origins of Sesame Street and a Glance at the Show Itself.  As you may have seen in an earlier post of mine, it takes about half the book to get to the point when Sesame Street is on the air.  This isn't, in principle, a bad thing; the show's brilliant creators deserve their time in the sun, and Davis tracks the show business beginnings of each.  Along the way, he captures some interesting anecdotes about the shows that influenced Sesame Street, including Howdy Doody, Captain Kangaroo, and the puppet-centric show Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.

It's a pleasant little thrill when the book finally does get to the show being on the air and you start to recognize the stories of beloved characters or songs from episodes you remember.  The book still focuses on the people behind the camera or under the puppets, though, so little time is spent on talking about the various episodes.  Thus entire decades are covered in one chapter.  The book misses out on some of the late history of the show, opting instead to follow its original characters through their retirement from the show, or, in many cases, the ends of their lives (Jim Henson, Joe Raposo, Northern Calloway, Dave Connell, Jon Stone, etc.)  This leaves you with a sort of depressing end to the otherwise triumphant story of one of the most important television shows in history.
I'd recommend this book if you're looking for a nonfiction read that's not too heavy and you have an interest in television production.  If you're just looking for a Muppet story, though, this is not your book.  Go see the aforementioned movie instead.