♬ “It’s time to dim the lights…
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the season below.
To review The Muppets’ official return to TV is to tell the story of the mistakes that were made in the fall and then the attempt to course correct those missteps with a new show runner, added halfway through the season. And look, the show was by no means laugh-less. There were funny lines and several standout characters, but what happened was that these beloved, iconic puppets – who were successfully, and endearingly, resurrected in a 2011 movie – were “updated” and inserted into a modern workplace comedy. Which only served to turn them into dour, glum shells of their former selves.
Using the Late Night TV format as a base, The Muppets now all worked on an after-primetime talk show hosted by Miss Piggy. Their roles were delegated out, 30-Rock style, from producers to writers to reception. Of course, the classic Muppets series also involved the running of a TV show. That of a yesteryear variety hour filled with skits, songs, and special guests. But this new incarnation really leaned into the soul-sucking grind of production. Such that Kermit now experienced endless anxiety and had trouble sleeping.
Most of the Muppets’ core characteristics still remained, but they were now muted under an umbrella of a rather misanthropic sitcom befitting the modern era. The kind that reveled a bit in seeing worker bees suffer the weight of their over-demanding jobs. And with the Muppets’ dampened spirits also came an icky emphasis on their sex lives. One of the “hooks” that got this show on their air was the fact that Kermit was now dating a new pig. Not just “someone new” – another female pig so as to specifically remind us that Kermit’s preference is that of pig sex.
And so it went. Soon just about everything was about hooking up. Whether it was Fozzie and his human girlfriend, Ed Helms (and Nick Offerman) putting the moves on Janice, or Scooter dating a sexually aggressive Chelsea Handler, the scales of the series began to tip uneasily toward the side of Muppet f***ing. And not much else.
Yes, there were some nice moments sprinkled in here and there. Aside from the occasional funny line, the first half of the season had a great story about Gonzo longing to return to his daredevil roots. Likewise, in the 2016 batch of episodes, I enjoyed the story about Piggy realizing that Deadly was her best friend. So there were some parts of the series that landed well. Dave Grohl and Animal’s drum off. Spare moments with Beaker, Chef, and Big Mean Carl (who was one of my favorite characters).
On the series regular front, Deadly was outstanding. As was Pepe. Interesting to note here how little the second half of the season featured Fozzie when he was so prominent in the fall episodes. I mean, I’m not complaining. Like his jokes, a little Fozzie can go an extra long way. And he almost felt like the second lead after Kermit in those first handful of episodes.
Speaking of the midseason episodes, the show came back from its winter break with a new showrunner, Kristin Newman, and the drive to add more heart and fun to the series. Gone was most of the emphasis on romance (human/muppet coupling for sure) save for the immediate directive to get Kermit and Piggy back together. Which meant busting up Kermit’s current relationship with Denise and maneuvering him, and Piggy, back into each others’ orbits. It also meant making Piggy a bit less selfish. Hell, the new opening credits even featured her bringing him a latte and smiling.
So did the last few Muppets episodes turn the show around? Well, not completely. Instead, the series chose to more or less vilify the initial hook of the entire reboot – in the form a brand guru named Pizza (pronounced PAH-CHAY) who stood in as a surrogate for the mindset involved with needlessly updating The Muppets so that they blend in with everything else in 2016 and not stand on their own. In an act of rebellion, Kermit decided to take an old school stance on the show-within-a-show and make ALL of the Muppets a part of the act. So the slight tonal shift wasn’t without some major on-the-nose ideas. In the end, it all still felt committee’d to death.
ABC’s new Muppets series sank itself and then desperately scrambled for a life preserver halfway through. A somewhat flat, joy-free affair at the start, the show did improve over the course of the season. And there were some standout characters and decent jokes throughout. Ultimately though, the series didn’t feel worth saving by the time the changes came around.
