Muppets may return to prime-time TV

Muppets may return to prime-time TV
LOS ANGELES -- The Muppets could come back to prime-time television with their own reality show.
ABC has ordered a script and five episode outlines for "America's Next Muppet," in which viewers may join in choosing the newest member of the puppet family that includes Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, a network spokeswoman said this week.
The premise has the ring of such shows as "American Idol" or "America's Next Top Model," in which the audience picks potential new stars.
ABC is part of the Walt Disney Co., which purchased the Muppets franchise from the Jim Henson Co. in 2004 and the right to use the characters in its theme parks, movies, TV shows and retail products. The ABC television movie "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" aired earlier this year.
The late Jim Henson's Muppets got their first regular, widespread exposure on PBS' "Sesame Street" starting in 1969.
The syndicated "The Muppet Show" aired from 1976-81 and was seen in more than 100 countries. The characters also briefly starred in "Muppets Tonight," which aired for four months in 1996 as part of ABC's primetime lineup.
Henson's puppets moved to the big screen in 1979 with "The Muppet Movie," followed by movies including "The Great Muppet Caper" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan."
Quote/unquote
"I was a Girl Scout. I loved getting badges, even thought now I don't remember which ones I got, and I loved selling cookies." -- Paris Hilton, in InStyle.
"I thought there was a way to straddle the line between being smart and being cool, so I never felt like I had to just be smart or just be fly." -- Alicia Keys, on what she was like in high school, in Teen People.
"My friends I got in trouble for rolling the waists of our skirts down to shorten them." -- Nicky Hilton, on her high school escapades, in US Weekly.
Lowdown: what's legal
File sharing is a broad term used to de?ne the electronic transfer of information from one user to another. Online programs such as LimeWire and Kazaa enable users to transfer files free of charge to other users (known as peer-to-peer, or P2P, transfers). Depending on what you transfer, this procedure could be against the law. Legal download services, such as iTunes and iMesh, charge a fee. Here's a summary of what's legal and not, according to the Music United Coalition, a music-industry group:
WHAT IS ABSOLUTELY ILLEGAL
UUploading copyrighted files (such as music MP3s) over an instant messenger or a P2P file-sharing network.
UDownloading copyrighted material you don't own with peer-to-peer software.
UBurning CDs of copyrighted material and distributing them, even for free.
UHosting a copyrighted file for download on a personal Web site.
WHAT'S PROBABLY OK DEPENDING ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES
UBurning personal backup CDs or making cassettes of albums you own to preserve the original copy.
UImporting music from CDs you own onto your hard drive for personal use.
UPutting legal music copies on a portable music player such as an iPod or a mini-disc player.
WHAT IS COMPLETELY LEGAL
UPurchasing MP3s from licensed online stores such as iTunes or subscribing to a legal service such as Napster or Rhapsody.
UDownloading royalty-free or non-copyrighted music and other files.
-- By Justin DeRosa, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Did you know?
Since Halloween is traditionally supposed to be the eve of All Saints' Day, it was known as All Hallows Eve. Oct. 31 was the equivalent of New Year's Eve, but on the old Celtic calendar, which was a witches' night. "Hallow" was the Old English word for "saint" and "Halloween" is actually the shortened form of "Allhallowmas even" (meaning All Hallows Eve).