117: “A Blue Furry Charles Dickens Who Hangs Out With A Rat?” – The Muppet Christmas Carol

When We Were Young - an 80s and 90s pop culture podcast

Do you feel that chill in the air? This holiday season, When We Were Young’s listeners will be visited by three all-knowing spirits who serve as guides through the past, present, and future of all things Muppet.

Our last episode chronicled the humble beginnings of Kermit and company through their rise to global superstardom with The Muppet Show and The Muppet Movie in the late 70s. In this episode Chris, Becky, and Seth discuss their youthful memories of more recent Muppets exploits like the original MUPPET BABIES cartoon of the 80s, the MUPPETS TONIGHT primetime series that aired on TGIF in the 90s, and a star-studded pop album called KERMIT UNPIGGED that at least one of our hosts cherished.

Next we revisit the Muppets’ musical retelling of Charles Dickens’ classic ghost story in 1992’s THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL, which stars a pitch perfect Michael Caine as yuletide-loathing miser Ebenezer Scrooge, and a bunch of puppets as Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, the Marleys, and even the author himself. Then we are confronted by the present and future of Jim Henson’s beloved creations since the Muppets were officially taken over by Disney in the early 2000s.

Does The Muppet Christmas Carol still warm our hearts and send us out into the snowy streets to pass out savvy pop culture critiques to the needy? Or have the years turned us into cold, cruel Scrooges ready to say, “Bah, humbug!” to this Disneyfied departure from the Muppets’ scrappy roots? Celebrate the 30th anniversary of this furry, funny holiday classic with When We Were Young!

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