"Screw edutainment!"
February 20, 2004
Wednesday's Angel episode, Smile Time, was one of the best hours of television this year, not merely because it featured extremely sharp writing, wit and style. Why? Puppet Angel:
It's too bad that WB has decided to cancel Angel, as it remains one of the most clever and critically appreciated shows on television. But with mediocre, albeit very consistent, ratings and a high production cost, it shouldn't be all that surprising. After all, why bother to employ writers, actors and effects artists when you can just try to find a little person a bride or have a Celebrity spelling bee.
Posted by Andrew Raff at February 20, 2004 07:06 PMJake freaked out when he saw this episode. He said it was the scariest hour of television he'd ever seen.
Do you know if the puppet was designed by the guy who did the puppets for Avenue Q?
Posted by: Jen on February 25, 2004 02:47 PMThe puppeteers for Angel included puppeteers from Crank Yankers, Greg the Bunny and the Muppets:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-82039
http://www.victoryerrid.com/resumepuppeteer.htm
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0227771/
The Angel puppets do look somewhat like the Avenue Q puppets. Rick Lyon, the creator of the Avenue Q puppets, is another former Muppeteer and also worked on Crank Yankers until it moved to LA. He's based in NY: http://www.lyonpuppets.com/ Since Angel films in LA, I doubt that Lyon was involved. I think the puppets are similar because they're based on the same basic principles as Muppets.
Posted by: Andrew on February 25, 2004 07:21 PM