Salon.com > puppets

Must do’s: What we like this week

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

BOOKS

The American Psychiatric Association gears up to deliver the new DSM-5, the manual that serves as the mental health industry's bible, but with "The Book of Woe," psychotherapist Gary Greenberg cautions Americans to question the authority of a guide that is largely "built on fiction." Laura Miller writes:

“Psychiatric diagnosis is built on fiction and sold to the public as fact.” So writes psychotherapist Gary Greenberg in “The Book of Woe: The Making of the DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry.” That’s an explosive assertion but also one that doesn’t quite mean what most of you are probably thinking. Scientologists, settle down: Greenberg is not on your side. And talk-therapy pooh-poohers, spare us all those chortles of vindicated scorn; he doesn’t agree with you, either.

The very original “Felt,” a puppet-enacted reality TV show

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:10:00 +0000

2013 isn’t half over, but the most creative reality TV show of the year has already premiered. "Felt,” which began Monday night on Logo, takes the audio from real couples therapy sessions and reenacts it — with puppets. As the New York Times instructed over the weekend, “think Bert and Ernie, but in couple’s therapy, and real.” Twenty-four couples were given free therapy sessions in exchange for agreeing to have those sessions taped, but only the audio. The result is an exceedingly adorable show about troubled and disintegrating relationships.

By using puppets “Felt” has drastically reduced the skeezy voyeurism inherent in a series about sex therapy. There is much sex talk and even sex on "Felt," but of all the things puppets can do — and apologies to Miss Piggy — they cannot be sexy. The kind of person who would agree to have his or her couples therapy session taped and then played out by puppets, his or her identity largely protected, does not have the same will-to-15-minutes-of-fame as a person who wants to, themselves, be on camera. There's nothing particularly salacious, sordid or invasive happening here.

Nerdist debuts show about Neil Patrick Harris’ puppet dreams

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:02:00 +0000

Actor Neil Patrick Harris, the nerd's Everyman who plays the womanizing Barney Stinson on "How I Met Your Mother," today debuts in "Neil's Puppet Dreams," a Web series on Nerdist, co-produced by the Jim Henson Co. Harris told Nerdist that "Each episode revolves around one of my puppet-laden dreams." "As it turns out," he says, "I’m a bit of a narcoleptic, and, unfortunately, all of my dreams involve creatures of the felt persuasion, ranging from lullabies to documentaries, from fantasies to music videos."

The series stars the "Henson Alternative Miscreant Puppets," Harris says, "because while they are a new breed to most, they may be familiar to hardcore Henson fans."

Watch the first episode below:

Puppet march planned in D.C. to defend PBS funding

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:22:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 1,000 puppeteers and public broadcasting supporters have signed on for a march on the National Mall in Washington three days before the election.

The so-called Million Puppet March being planned online is scheduled for Nov. 3. By Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 participants had responded on Facebook, saying they would attend.

It comes after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's remarks during a presidential debate calling for the elimination of funding for PBS, which airs the popular children's show "Sesame Street."

Organizers originally called the event a Million Muppet March. But they note that they've changed the name to include sock puppets, hand puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets and mascots.

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Million Puppet March: http://millionpuppetmarch.com/