I think the real mistake for both parties was the lack of a full merger. Disney's had issues trying to figure out what to do with the Muppets while the Jim Henson Company lost the engine that was driving things forward and holding things together. They haven't gotten any theatrical features off the ground in years, the experiments in adult-aimed puppetry have mostly been dead ends. Really they've been surviving on those CGI kids shows for PBS and licensing out the Fraggles and Creature Shop movies. I get the desire Brian Henson had to be able to have the creative freedom to do that mature skewing puppetry but they lack the resources to really get it done.
It is not fading into extinction. I have clients involved in the creation of new material for the show. I don't think it is being implemented during such a short closure, however, so sometime in the not so distant future.
It's been said for a while that they made a new preshow but never got around to installing it.
Ha ha. That's all I can say. I've actually already said too much already, but I just get tired of all these people insisting that the show is closing when that could not be further from the truth. I imagine an announcement is coming soon. Maybe this quick "refurbishment" is for them to evaluate what's going to change and how long the overhaul will take, etc. That's just a guess.
Gonna be really cynical, but "The Muppets" was successful probably because people wanted to see Jason Segel more then they did the Muppets. Which is a damn shame because Muppets Most Wanted was really fun and actually about the Muppets rather then Segel's self-inserts.
