The Muppets (TV series)

The Muppets (stylized as the muppets.) is an American television comedy series that premiered on September 22, 2015 on ABC. Co-created by Bill Prady and Bob Kushell, the series is produced by ABC Studios and The Muppets Studio, with Randall Einhorn and Muppet performer Bill Barretta serving as executive producers alongside Prady and Kushell.

The series is set in Los Angeles and depicts the everyday personal and professional lives of The Muppets during production of Up Late with Miss Piggy; a fictional late-night talk show starring Miss Piggy and airing on ABC after Jimmy Kimmel Live!.The Muppets serves as a parody of other mockumentary-style series, such as Modern Family, Parks and Recreation and The Office, by employing the same single-camera setup filming style with the implication of a documentary crew filming everyone. The series stars Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Peter Linz in multiple roles.

Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted is a 2014 American musical comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films, and the eighth theatrical film featuring the Muppets. Directed by James Bobin and written by Bobin and Nicholas Stoller, the film is a sequel to 2011's The Muppets and stars Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, and Tina Fey as well as Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Peter Linz. In the film, the Muppets find themselves unwittingly involved in an international crime caper while on tour in Europe.

Aside from co-writer Jason Segel, the majority of the production team behind The Muppets returned for Muppets Most Wanted including Bobin, Stoller, producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, music supervisor and songwriter Bret McKenzie, and composer Christophe Beck.Principal photography commenced in January 2013 at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England.

Muppets Most Wanted had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on March 11, 2014 and was released theatrically in North America on March 21, 2014. The film grossed $80.4 million worldwide.

The Muppets

The Muppets are a group of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Having been created in 1955 by Jim Henson, they are the namesake for the Disney media franchise that encompasses films, television series, music recordings, print publications, and other media associated with The Muppet Show characters.

Henson once stated that the term "Muppet" had been created as a blend of the words "marionette" and "puppet", but also claimed that it was actually a word he had coined. The Muppets debuted on the television program Sam and Friends, which aired locally on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1955 to 1961. After appearing on skits in several late night talk shows and advertising commercials during the 1960s, Henson's Muppets began appearing on Sesame Street when that show debuted in 1969. The Muppets then became the stars of multiple television series and films, including; The Muppet Show (1976–1981), The Muppet Movie (1979), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), and The Jim Henson Hour (1989). After Henson's death in 1990, The Muppets continued their presence in television and cinema with Muppets Tonight (1996–98), a series continuation of The Muppet Show, and three films, The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), Muppet Treasure Island (1996), Muppets from Space (1999); the former two were co-produced with Disney, who sought to acquire the characters since the late 1980s. In 2004, Disney purchased the rights to the Muppets (except for the Sesame Street characters, which were sold separately to Sesame Workshop, as well as Fraggle Rock and other characters retained by The Jim Henson Company), and later formed The Muppets Studio; a division created specifically for managing The Muppets franchise.

America the Beautiful

"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates, and the music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward.

Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, "Pikes Peak", first published in the Fourth of July edition of the church periodical The Congregationalist in 1895. At that time, the poem was titled "America" for publication.

Ward had originally written the music, "Materna", for the hymn "O Mother dear, Jerusalem" in 1882, though it was not first published until 1892. Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled America the Beautiful.

The song is one of the most popular of the many American patriotic songs.

History

In 1893, at the age of 33, Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, had taken a train trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to teach a short summer school session at Colorado College. Several of the sights on her trip inspired her, and they found their way into her poem, including the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the "White City" with its promise of the future contained within its alabaster buildings; the wheat fields of America's heartland Kansas, through which her train was riding on July 16; and the majestic view of the Great Plains from high atop Zebulon's Pikes Peak.

America the Beautiful (Disney)

America the Beautiful was a circle-vision movie attraction in Disneyland In California and Walt Disney World in Florida. The footage first shot in 1955 and ran in Disney Circle-Vision 360 film theaters.

Circle-Vision 360 is a film technique that uses multiple cameras arranged in a circle. The viewing image is displayed on a large circular screen. The film's rendition of the title song would later be used in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

360 film technology was created and refined by Disney Legends Don Iwerks and Ub Iwerks in the 1950s.

References

America the Beautiful (film)

America the Beautiful is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Darryl Roberts about self-image in the United States. The film had a limited release on August 1, 2008.

External links