This past Tuesday was supposed to have been a day of celebration at the Muppet Holding Company. The day when Kermit the Frog would be appearing on “Good Morning America” and reveal that the Walt Disney Company would be holding a 15-month-long celebration in honor of that character’s 50th year in show business.
But — by the time Tuesday evening rolled around — nobody at MHC was in much of a partying mood. You see, word had just come down that — reportedly at Bob Iger’s direct order — much of the senior staff at the Muppet Holding Company was being let go. Vice President and General Manager Chris Curtin was removed from power, as were most of the people that he’d hand-picked to run MHC. By the end of the day, only three senior staffers still had their jobs.
Photo by Jeff Lange
As to why these firings occurred when they did, there are now dozens of theories bouncing around the Mouse House. Some have suggested that Curtin was let go because — after 18 months of being the head of the Muppet Holding Company — he had so little to show for his efforts. That Disney is now looking to put someone much more dynamic in charge of MHC so that the corporation could then capitalize on these characters that much quicker.
While still others are suggesting that Chris was removed from his job as head of the Muppet Holding Company for strictly political reasons. That Curtin did in fact have MHC on the right track. But that Disney’s new CEO was looking for a way to get the word out that the Eisner era was finally officially over.
And given that Chris Curtin had long been Michael Eisner’s right hand man. More importantly, given that Disney’s outgoing CEO had hand-picked this young executive to run the Muppet Holding Company (Back in April of 2004, when the Walt Disney Company had finally completed its acquistion of these creative assets) … Well, what better way is there for Iger to say that “It’s really a new day at Disney” than to start removing from power the people that Eisner had personally put in place?
Photo by Jeff Lange
As to what this all means long-range for Muppet Holding … There’s no word yet about a successor for Curtin. Or even if the Muppet Holding Company will continue to run in its present form. There’s reportedly already been some talk of shutting MHC down so that the corporation can then find a faster way to intregrate these characters into the Disney family.
But — as of right now — things are (understandably) pretty grim at the Muppet Holding Company. In spite of all the exciting things that are supposedly in the works for the characters (I.E. “Kermit’s World Tour,” the new Christmas special, “America’s Next Muppet,” the recent auditions for puppeteers to appear in new Muppet shows at the Disney theme park and/or on the Disney cruise ships), now all of these projects are on hold …
… At least until Iger names a new head of the Muppet Holding Company. More importantly, until the new management team at the Walt Disney Company decides what it really wants to do with this set of characters.
Obviously, JHM will be following up on this story come Monday morning. But — for now — that’s the news coming out of MHC.
Your thoughts?