In other news, Disney has bought the Muppets, an evil triumph of Episode III proportions. As the Wall Street Journal notes, "Disney...believes it can reinvent the characters going forward, by expanding beyond their normal puppet realm and using them as the basis for computer-generated 3-D versions." Hmmm. Apparently neither Disney nor the post-Henson Creature Shop seem to realize that the appeal of the Muppets has always derived from their comfortable existence in the everyday world, which is what makes a show like Avenue Q so irresistible. Instead, they've meandered off into fantasy projects like Treasure Island and Muppets in Space, with increasingly wretched results. Far better to do Muppets at Harvard, as I suggested years ago. (Although I'd still love to see the creators of Avenue Q given a chance to produce their dream project, Kermit, Prince of Denmark.)