Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony

Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony is a multi-award-winning webshow starring the Muppet characters Statler and Waldorf which ran biweekly on Movies.com from June 2005 until September 2006. The series produced 34 episodes and featured many Muppet characters — both well-known classics and newly created characters. The two elderly curmudgeons would discuss upcoming films, watch the latest movie trailers and share the week's "balconism" from their theater box.

Many of the webisodes featured a segment (or segments) featuring other Muppet characters — for example, Pepe the King Prawn often reviewed the recent DVD releases or gave remote reports; and fictional movie trailers or commercials starring other Muppet characters were also commonly seen. Many established Muppet characters appeared — including Rowlf the Dog, Johnny Fiama, The Swedish Chef, Bobo the Bear, Dr. Teeth, Animal, Sam the Eagle, and Sweetums. Plus many new recurring and one-time gag characters would appear in segments, sketches and parodies. Several new characters that frequented the series include Larry and Oliver, Lester Possum, Ted Thomas, Stan and Louie, the Hollywood Pitchmen, the Blimp, Loni Dunne and a pair of musical performers.

Production
From the Balcony was produced by Movies.com in association with Disney's The Muppets Studio and Hirsch Productions.

A test pilot was briefly available online in February 2005. The pilot featured Statler and Waldorf in a movie theater watching, rating and commenting on the latest trailers for The Pacifier and Constantine, additionally Pepe the Prawn appeared to give a rundown on the latest DVD releases. The pilot did not feature the classic balcony set seen in later episodes, a "Balconism" and other regular features the series would later include. The puppeteers on the pilot were Victor Yerrid (Waldorf) and Drew Massey (Statler and Pepe). The pilot was removed from Movies.com in the spring of 2005 and has not been officially released or reposted since.

In early June 2005, Movies.com announced that From the Balcony would soon become a regular feature of the site. Biweekly episodes started appearing on Movies.com beginning on June 26. The first eight episodes featured regular Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire and Bill Barretta performing the cast of Muppets in each episode. However, starting with episode 9, and continuing until the end of the series, Yerrid and Massey returned to take over the main puppeteering duties on the project.

Yerrid commented on his and Massey's role in the series in a 2007 interview stating: We did about ninety-five percent of the puppeteering so we worked on just about every scene together. We were also involved in the creative meetings and got to pitch characters and segment ideas.

The opening of each episode started with a quick first-person perspective traveling through the El Capitan Theatre. The song "Hey a Movie!" from The Great Muppet Caper was used as the theme song in early run of the series before being replaced with an original instrumental composition for later episodes (starting with episode 5). The show originally was produced in the traditional 4:3 (1.33:1) aspect ratio, but starting with episode 15, and continuing for the rest of the series' run, the picture switched to a 16:9 (1.78:1) widescreen format.

Through the 15-month run of the series, the show produced 34 episodes. Aside from the biweekly episodes, the series produced sets of promotional Halloween and Oscar clips that were released to television news syndicates for incorporation in news broadcasts to promote the series. Statler and Waldorf also appeared from the set of From the Balcony in a promotional tie-in to introduce the films for ESPN Classic's Reel Classics Extra beginning in October 2005. The characters and balcony set were also featured in a public service announcement for the Will Rogers Institute in late 2005.

In October 2006, after the 34th episode of the webshow debuted online, Movies.com set the following message via the "Balcony Bulletin" mailing list (an e-mail mailing list that would alert subscribers when a new episode was posted): Dear Statler & Waldorf Fans:

As you know, your favorite cranky critics, Statler and Waldorf, are getting up there in years. While they're not ready for retirement, they've decided to take some time away from the balcony for some well-earned rest and relaxation (read: finding new things to complain about).

Don't despair, though—during the hiatus you can still enjoy classic From the Balcony. Every show is available for viewing in the archives! There's also a rumor going around that everyone's favorite curmudgeons may be popping in for special appearances on new parts of Movies.com. Stick around to find out where! Although the show was said to only be on a "hiatus", as of January 2014, no information on a possible return of the show or the production of new episodes has surfaced, nor have Statler and Waldorf appeared in any other parts of Movies.com. At a public appearance in June 2007, Dave Goelz mentioned that they were working on several projects - including new Muppet webisodes. However it was unclear if he meant a return of From the Balcony or the creation of a new web series.

Due to the acquisition of Movies.com by Comcast's Fandango, the series is no longer available at Movies.com.

While there has been no word of upcoming From the Balcony episodes, The Muppet Newsflash: A Jim Henson News Blog announced on Sept. 17, 2009, that Statler and Waldorf will release a book titled From the Balcony in 2010.

Awards and recognitions
In August 2006 TIME Magazine named the series among "the 25 Sites We Can't Live Without" (sharing the ranks with eBay, Amazon.com, Google and Wikipedia).

From The Balcony won a Silver Telly at The Telly Awards in 2006, for best use of comedy. Movies.com was awarded the highest-level Silver Telly Award for "Best use of Humor in a Non-Broadcast Video" for From the Balcony's creative spoof of the film Dukes of Hazzard.

In April 2007, the series was nominated for, and won, a Webby Award. The series' nomination, in the "Comedy: Long Form or Series" category, was Movies.com's first ever nomination for a Webby. Public voting ran on the Webby Awards website throughout April 2007 to decide the winners of the award. On May 1, 2007 it was announced that From the Balcony was the winner of the "People's Voice 2007: Webby for Best Comedy Long Form or Series" due to the show gaining the most votes out of the five the nominees in the category.

Reel Classic Extra
Starting on August 28, 2005 (and continuing for 19 weeks), Statler and Waldorf hosted ESPN Classic's Reel Classics Extra, a weekly sports-themed movie programing block, with antics from the balcony. The brief introductory clips were filmed as part of production for Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony - using the same puppets, sets, crew. Aside from introducing the films, the clips heavily promoted the webshow with on-screen pop-up advertisements saying "for more Statler & Waldorf go to movies.com". An archive of these introductions was added to the From the Balcony website afterwards in 2006; they remain part of the show's video collection at Movies.com.

Statler and Waldorf's 19 special "Reel Classic Extra" intros were for the following films:
 * {| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="background:transparent;"


 * style="width:50%; vertical-align:top;"|
 * Eight Men Out
 * Hoosiers
 * Hustle
 * Let It Ride
 * One on One
 * Rollerball
 * Semi-Tough
 * The Black Stallion
 * The Scout
 * Victory
 * style="width:50%; vertical-align:top;"|
 * North Dallas Forty
 * American Flyers
 * The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh
 * Three
 * Searching for Bobby Fischer
 * Cobb
 * Fast Break
 * Blue Chips
 * Through the Fire
 * }
 * }

Muppet performers

 * Steve Whitmire - Statler (episodes 1–8)
 * Dave Goelz - Waldorf (episodes 1–8)
 * Drew Massey - Statler (episodes 9–34), Animal (episode 9), The Weather Guy (episode 10), Sam the Eagle (episodes 11, 15, 18, and 33), Stan the Rat (episodes 12, and 22), Ivan the Villager (episode 13), Clive Focus (episode 13), Oliver (episodes 14, 20, and 32), Alvy Mellish (episode 16), Mr. Movie (episode 17), Ted Thomas (episodes 17, 19, and 27), Oscar Envelope (episode 18), Hollywood Pitchman #1 (episodes 21 and 34), Tom Cruise Muppet (episodes 23, and 29), Beaverine (episode 24), Manny Folds (episode 26), James Lipton Muppet (episode 28), Long Joel Silver (episode 28), Ted Thomas Sr. (episode 31), Woody Allen Muppet (episode 31), Coach Gruesome (episode 32)
 * Victor Yerrid - Waldorf (episodes 9–34), Dr. Teeth (episode 9), Louie the Rat (episodes 12, and 22), Sweetums (episode 13), Larry (episodes 14, 20, and 32), The State of Indiana (episode 15), Lester Possum (episodes 16, and 18), Billy (episode 17), Loni Dunne (episodes 17, and 23), Detective (episode 18), Hugo the Dog (episode 19), Hollywood Pitchman #2 (episodes 21 and 34), The Blimp (episodes 24, and 33), Waldorf's Replacement (episode 25), Superman Muppet (episode 27), Craig Kent (episode 27), Polly Wanna Cracker (episode 28), David Hasselhoff Muppet (episode 29), George Lucas Muppet (episode 31), Close Encounters Alien (episode 31), Flopsy (episode 32), Jimmy Pureisle (episode 34)
 * Bill Barretta - Pepe the King Prawn (episodes 1, 3, 5, 6, and 8), Rowlf the Dog (episode 2), Johnny Fiama (episode 3), The Swedish Chef (episodes 4, and 26), Bobo the Bear (episode 7)
 * Alice Dinnean - Whatnot Dame (episode 33)
 * Allan Trautman - Deliveryman (episode 17)

Crew

 * Executive Producer: Ian Hirsch
 * Cinematographer: Byron Werner
 * Editor: David Tarleton
 * Writers: Joe Nussbaum, Mike Pellettieri, David Young
 * Director: Ian Hirsch
 * Art Director: Marcus Vaughn
 * Set Dresser: Amy Mullin