Culture Blues

Puppet Wars!

Come on, this is hilarious.

Last week, it was reported that Lionsgate had picked up the rights to Happytime Murders, an R-rated muppet movie to be directed by Jim Henson’s son, Brian. Geek Tyrant offers this synopsis:

“The film takes place in a world where humans and puppets coexist, with the puppets viewed as second-class citizens. When the puppet cast of 1980s children's TV show 'The Happytime Gang' begins to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet -- with a drinking problem, no less -- takes the case with his former human partner.”

Man, that sounds so familiar. Where have I heard this idea before? Oh yeah, that’s right. Back in May, Comedy Central released its 2010-2011 production slate which included a show called The Fuzz (because that word can be used to describe puppets AND police officers!). Here is the description from Comedy Central’s press release:

“A police procedural cop series set in a corrupt city where humans and puppets co-exist. Viewers follow Herbie, the police force's first puppet detective, valiantly trying to improve his detective skills without becoming disillusioned and hardened, and his human man-child partner Sanchez as they unravel high-profile cases that touch upon such hot-button issues as jellybean smuggling, the anti-human movement, and puppet sex-crimes. Dead bodies, compromised forensics and shoot-outs are par for the course in the visually exciting, seam-splittingly hilarious and gritty puppet world of The Fuzz.”

A Hollywood brainstorming meeting

I’m a firm believer in the idea that the bean counters at movie studios and TV channels are essentially part of some parasitic hive mind feeding off the zeitgeist. That’s why we get Volcano and Dante’s Peak or Armageddon and Deep Impact or Driving Miss Daisy and Mississippi Burning released so close to each other. But two separate puppets and cops properties? Seems like someone is cheating.

The Happytime camp claims their idea has been getting kicked around since 2008. How convenient! The only problem is that The Fuzz was created by Waverly Films and is clearly based on their Puppet Rapist series of shorts, which they produced way back in 2006 (watch them, they’re funny!).

Of course, it doesn’t matter who had the idea first, only who gets it out there first. What, you think I’ve never thought of writing a TV show based on boozing, smoking, womanizing ad execs that starts in the 60s and takes the viewer through decades of American history? Of course I did. Weiner just beat me to it. You think I’ve never plotted out an overly intricate and misleading show in which a bunch of castaways land on a magical island ruled over by malevolent gods that turns out to be the back of a giant turtle? Those were my 5^th grade doodles, bro! Abrams and Lindelof just know the right people.

Comedy Central seems to have a head start on Lionsgate, but it looks like their current plan is to produce some webisodes to run on their online arm, atom.com, which no one pays any attention to. Way to squander opportunity!

I  saw Puppet Rapist at those Channel 102 screenings way back in ’06, and I’m looking forward to what Waverly Films can do with a bigger budget (this trailer from back in 2009 already indicates that the puppetwork will be more intricate, and funnier). They deserve to be the ones who finally bring puppet cop action to the masses, but I fear that if Comedy Central keeps farting around, Lionsgate will get there first. Lionsgate also has the benefit of no TV restrictions and the higher budget a feature film affords. Not to mention the ultimate trump card in the puppet world, the Henson name. I'm rooting for The Fuzz, but if it doesn't get out to the public soon, it won't even matter that they originally filmed the idea almost five years ago.