The Land of Gorch (original) (raw)
The Land of Gorch was a recurring adult puppetry skit that appeared in season one of the American comedy television program Saturday Night Live, featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. His characters appeared regularly on the late-night comedy television program. After Sesame Street, Henson feared he would become typecast into working on children's television series. His talent agent Bernie Brillstein, who represented Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Lorne Michaels helped him transition to Saturday Night Live.
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| dbo:abstract | The Land of Gorch was a recurring adult puppetry skit that appeared in season one of the American comedy television program Saturday Night Live, featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. His characters appeared regularly on the late-night comedy television program. After Sesame Street, Henson feared he would become typecast into working on children's television series. His talent agent Bernie Brillstein, who represented Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Lorne Michaels helped him transition to Saturday Night Live. The premise of The Land of Gorch featured Muppet characters, who were members of a royal family, in a faraway locale. They behaved boorishly and made frequent references to drug abuse, sexual activity, and consumption of alcohol. Characters included King Ploobis, Queen Peuta, their son Wiss, and servants Scred and Vazh. These characters often consulted their oracle Mighty Favog for advice. The writers of Saturday Night Live clashed with Henson's vision for the program. Michael O'Donoghue, Alan Zweibel, Al Franken, and Tom Davis often tried to avoid writing the weekly sketches. Henson felt they were trying to write for situational comedy rather than staying within his intended story. Frank Oz eventually agreed the partnership between Henson's team and the show's writers was imperfect, and was thankful they moved on to The Muppet Show. Commentators agreed the reception for The Land of Gorch was universally negative; The A.V. Club said it was an in-joke that nobody wanted to keep the sketches on Saturday Night Live. San Francisco Chronicle called the characters the opposite of Kermit the Frog and compared them to trolls. DVD Talk called the feature the worst mistake in the first season of Saturday Night Live. Academic Michael J. Bernsten wrote in his essay "The Muppetry of Nightmares" that the idea failed because the characters were irredeemable and unfunny. Nonetheless, The Land of Gorch had a significant impact on later Henson works, including both the 1982 feature film The Dark Crystal and the 1991 television show Dinosaurs. (en) |
| dbo:completionDate | 1976-09-18 (xsd:date) |
| dbo:creator | dbr:Jim_Henson |
| dbo:executiveProducer | dbr:Lorne_Michaels |
| dbo:genre | dbr:Comedy |
| dbo:narrator | dbr:Don_Pardo |
| dbo:numberOfEpisodes | 16 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger) |
| dbo:numberOfSeasons | 1 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger) |
| dbo:releaseDate | 1975-10-11 (xsd:date) |
| dbo:starring | dbr:Richard_Hunt_(puppeteer) dbr:Frank_Oz dbr:Fran_Brill dbr:Jerry_Nelson dbr:Jim_Henson |
| dbo:thumbnail | wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/The_Land_of_Gorch.jpg?width=300 |
| dbo:wikiPageExternalLink | https://web.archive.org/web/20150402094502/http:/www.salon.com/2013/09/28/escape_from_saturday_night_live_birth_of_the_muppet_show/ https://archive.org/details/jimhensonworksar0000finc%7Curl-access=registration%7Cyear=1993%7Cfirst=Christopher%7Clast=Finch%7Cpublisher=Random https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/cast/the-land-of-gorch-muppets-72496 http://www.salon.com/2013/09/28/escape_from_saturday_night_live_birth_of_the_muppet_show/%7Ctitle=Escape |
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| dbp:country | United States (en) |
| dbp:creator | dbr:Jim_Henson |
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| dbp:executiveProducer | dbr:Lorne_Michaels |
| dbp:firstAired | 1975-10-11 (xsd:date) |
| dbp:genre | dbr:Comedy |
| dbp:language | English (en) |
| dbp:lastAired | 1976-09-18 (xsd:date) |
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| dbp:narrated | dbr:Don_Pardo |
| dbp:numEpisodes | 16 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:numSeasons | 1 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:originalairdate | 1975-10-11 (xsd:date) 1975-10-18 (xsd:date) 1975-10-25 (xsd:date) 1975-11-08 (xsd:date) 1975-11-15 (xsd:date) 1975-11-22 (xsd:date) 1975-12-13 (xsd:date) 1975-12-20 (xsd:date) 1976-01-10 (xsd:date) 1976-01-17 (xsd:date) 1976-01-24 (xsd:date) 1976-02-28 (xsd:date) 1976-03-13 (xsd:date) 1976-04-17 (xsd:date) 1976-04-24 (xsd:date) 1976-05-08 (xsd:date) 1976-09-18 (xsd:date) |
| dbp:quote | "They are probably the most unlikable Muppets ever created." (en) |
| dbp:salign | left (en) |
| dbp:shortsummary | Queen Peuta tells Scred she feels guilty about their affair. King Ploobis plans to kill anyone who has been having an affair with his wife. Not sure about what to do, Scred goes to The Mighty Favog for advice. (en) King Ploobis wants to eat some Gligs but only two remain. King Ploobis goes to The Mighty Favog to ask how to make more Gligs. (en) Scred develops a crush on Lily Tomlin and they sing "I Got You Babe". (en) King Ploobis and Scred discover that Wisss is smoking craters and try to get Wisss to stop. (en) King Ploobis and Scred go to The Mighty Favog for medical advice when Queen Peuta is unable to "shoot her darts". (en) King Ploobis and Scred realize they are no longer welcome on the show. They could not get lucky with Raquel Welch, who states that they "don't exist below the waist". Chevy Chase tells King Ploobis and Scred their act is canceled. Later in the show, King Ploobis, Scred, and the other characters consult The Mighty Favog, who tells them to get into a trunk. (en) King Ploobis and Scred go to The Mighty Favog for fiscal assistance. (en) King Ploobis has a headache and Scred tries to cure him of it. (en) After "hitting the sauce", King Ploobis and Scred visit The Mighty Favog. (en) The characters from "The Land of Gorch" are ostensibly attending the Grammy Awards, so Chevy Chase acts out the sketch. This is the final time the Land of Gorch set is seen, although no Muppets appear in the episode. (en) King Ploobis throws a Christmas party but most of the guests he has invited have gone to the Killer Bees' Christmas party instead. When Candice Bergen appears at King Ploobis' party, she is disappointed by what she sees. Candice, King Ploobis, and Scred then sing "Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas", after which Scred takes Candice to the Killer Bees' party. (en) The Muppets are announced in the opening credits and were scheduled to appear, but did not feature in the broadcast. Ron Nessen apologizes at the end of the episode, blaming the Muppets' absence on "technical complications". (en) While King Ploobis is out of town, Scred shows Queen Peuta his new sex device. Rollie Krewson served as assistant puppeteer in this sketch. (en) King Ploobis, Queen Peuta, Scred, and Wisss wake in a filing cabinet and assume they are in the afterlife. They think their sketch has been revived and find The Mighty Favog under a dust cover that King Ploobis removes. The Mighty Favog says this may be their last chance on the show and they must do whatever they tell them to do. Lily Tomlin visits The Land of Gorch and states she heard about The Muppet Show that began last week, Wisss says they won't let them be on that show because it is a family show. Lily and "The Land of Gorch" Muppets try to sing "I Whistle a Happy Tune," but "The Land of Gorch" Muppets cannot whistle. Lily leaves, planning to find something else for her and "The Land of Gorch" Muppets to do. The characters appear towards the end of the episode to join everyone in "The Antler Dance". (en) Scred and The Mighty Favog cut a deal with Chevy Chase stating if he can get Lorne Michaels to revive their sketch, The Mighty Favog will arrange for The Beatles to appear on Saturday Night Live. (en) King Ploobis and Scred approach Anthony Perkins for help to get their sketch back on the air. King Ploobis and Scred return for help in the middle of a later sketch. At the end of the episode, they appear on-stage during the credits and The Mighty Favog appears in the audience. (en) As Gilda Radner is about to introduce the musical guest, Scred appears in a bee costume planning to appear in the bee version of The Andy Griffith Show, where he is supposed to play Aunt Bee. Gilda tells Scred the sketch was canceled and they both introduce Neil Sedaka. (en) |
| dbp:source | —Michael J. Bernsten, "The Muppetry of Nightmares" (en) |
| dbp:starring | dbr:Richard_Hunt_(puppeteer) dbr:Frank_Oz dbr:Fran_Brill dbr:Jerry_Nelson Jim Henson (en) Alice Tweedie (en) |
| dbp:title | Anthony Perkins Episode (en) Buck Henry Episode (en) Candice Bergen Episode (en) Elliott Gould Episode (en) George Carlin Episode (en) Jill Clayburgh Episode (en) Lily Tomlin Episode (en) Madeline Kahn Episode (en) Paul Simon Episode (en) Peter Cook and Dudley Moore Episode (en) Raquel Welch Episode (en) Richard Pryor Episode (en) Rob Reiner Episode (en) Robert Klein Episode (en) Ron Nessen Episode (en) |
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| dbp:writtenby | dbr:Jerry_Nelson dbr:Jim_Henson |
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| rdfs:comment | The Land of Gorch was a recurring adult puppetry skit that appeared in season one of the American comedy television program Saturday Night Live, featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. His characters appeared regularly on the late-night comedy television program. After Sesame Street, Henson feared he would become typecast into working on children's television series. His talent agent Bernie Brillstein, who represented Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Lorne Michaels helped him transition to Saturday Night Live. (en) |
| rdfs:label | The Land of Gorch (en) |
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