mndtrp

http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2005/033105.shtml

Mark your calendars. Call off work. Set your VCR's and program your TiVo because the television premiere date of the highly anticipated Muppets television-movie has been announced today.

The Muppets Holding Company has revealed that "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" will air in the United States on Friday, May 20, 2005 at 8:00 pm EST on ABC (check local listings for full details). The film's debut will be a two-hour television event (the film itself running 88-minuets, plus commercials and ads).

The decision to sway away from the traditional Saturday night “Wonderful World of Disney” movie programming block was made in hope to get a larger family and child audience. Hopefully the Friday night debut will be able to not only pull in the ratings, but it will also entertain and delight millions of viewers. The premiere should be an uplifting and encouraging experience for Muppet fans, as the Monday prior (May 16) will mark the 15th anniversary of the death of Muppet-creator Jim Henson.

Additional information and details on international airings and home video releases should be available later this month. And sources report that Disney is working on setting up deals to have the film replayed over the summer on ABC, ABC Family, or the Disney Channel. Nothing has been official arranged or announced yet.

Chew

Friday at 8EST? Wow, ABC must really be behind this one.

Here's hoping it's in HD.

BigDave

I hope it's in HD too.

raven56706

muppets are still freaking hilarious

BigDave

http://abc.go.com/movies/muppets.html

It looks like it will be in HD. The ABC-HD logo is in the synopsis.

JuryDuty

Wow--I've been really looking forward to this one, but can't believe they're throwing it on Friday night. Lame.

Morf

Is this a remake of the Wizard of Oz movie, or a faithful adaptation of the book? As much as I'd love to see a movie that stayed true to the book, it would probably confuse too many people...

bboisvert

It's a Muppet movie. I'd expect this to be as faithful as Muppet Christmas Carol or Muppet Treasure Island. Which is to say -- not.

Giles

Friday night - oh come on... who's home on a Friday night?

how about a Monday night... when there's really only crap on TV anyway.

Groucho

If only there were a way to somehow capture, or "record" a broadcast and watch it later. Oh well.

Charlie Goose

Ashanti as Dorothy, I won't miss it.

I won't watch it, but I certainly won't miss it.

Xander

I'm kind of skeptical, but as I'm such a big Muppets fan, I'll most likely check this out.

Rogue588

Goddamnit, you read my mind.

Brian seems like a nice guy, and i'll always be grateful to him for Farscape, but this is a .

Morf

Yeah, I know. I should have asked if the Muppet version will be incorporating parts from the book that aren't in the original movie.

Giles

I assume we wont be seeing any muppet hanging in a tree...

JasonF

I can't believe it's already been 15 years since Jim Henson died.

Quack

I have a feeling the voices will sound a little weird like when they did the X-Mas movie a couple years ago.

majorjoe23

Ok, let me see if I can guess who is who without reading a synopsis:

Gonzo: The Tin Man
Kermit: The Scarecrow
Fozzie: The Cowardly Lion
Mr. Piggy: Good Witch

Giles

that Miss not Mister....

Cameron

The Disney Store was running the trailer in store last month. Someone should have that online by now, but I can't find it.

the old thread

Muppet's Wizard of Oz

Aint It cool News Blurb

Chew

Don't forget Pepe: Toto

majorjoe23

She's played by a man, Mrs. Piggy is the RuPaul of the puppet world.

Groucho

Wow, that Gonzo-as-TinMan is really cool. I'd buy a toy of that.

Cameron

agreed....i think he looks great. I do like the idea of Disney re-introducing the muppets on television for free, rather than suffer a poor box office. I think this can be a good television event, and time to get the dvd out for Xmas.

rfduncan

Did anyone catch the promo for this last week during ALIAS? It was in the very last commercial break, last spot prior to the episode's final scene. Ms. Piggy was flipping around in a bright red wig (a la Sydney in the pilot) doing judo moves then pops up and says something like, "I'm Ms. Piggy. I don't NEED an alias!". It was hilarious.