Craig Ferguson is teaming up with The Jim Henson Company for a puppet competition special at NBC. According to Deadline, the network is developing a special produced by Ferguson, Henson’s company, and The Voice producer Talpa Media called Top Puppet, “a new competition special set out to discover the next great puppet act.†Here’s more from Deadline’s report:
In Top Puppet, competitors will battle it out in front of a live studio audience and three judges who will seek originality. The goal is to feature the full spectrum of puppeteering on the show — from hand puppets to giant walkers, marionettes to humanettes, ventriloquists to singing hand puppets; with acts as grand as the spectacle of The Lion King or realistic as War Horse, or simple as sock puppets.
Ferguson is not currently expected to host the special, which is slated to premiere next summer and could possibly turn into a series if the special does well.