Fraggle Rock was originally created for HBO back in the late 70's-early 80's, as memory serves. Today, reruns of that series have aired on The Hub (formerly Discovery Kids), so it stands to reason that The Hub is also the current home for the animated reboot of Fraggle, which spent one season on NBC in 1987.
The animated Fraggle was the 2nd collaboration between Jim Henson's production company and Marvel Television, the other being, of course, Jim Henson's Muppet Babies over on CBS. One wonders why fans of the original Fraggle never gravitated over to the cartoon, considering it had elements similar to the Smurfs, which was the centerpiece of NBC's lineup at the time.
HensonCompany (naturally) uploaded this sample from the episode, "Radish Fairy", to YouTube:
One reason why the series failed might've been because it was airing opposite Pee-Wee's Playhouse on CBS & Real Ghostbusters on ABC. Had it been slotted as a lead-in to Smurfs, maybe the Fraggles would've gained a greater foothold with the audience. But, I guess we'll never know.
I never saw the show, so I can't rate it fairly.
2 comments:
Perhaps it's because "Fraggle Rock" wasn't animated, but made using live muppets which drew it's fans in the first place. So they wouldn't necessarily be drawn to watching an animated version. Just as many fans of live action television or movies aren't drawn to their animated counter-parts.
In other words, it was no different than an animated series based on, for example, Laverne & Shirley (which somehow lasted 2 years in toon form) or the Dukes of Hazzard (ditto). Fair point.
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