PDA

View Full Version : The Muppets (ABC, Season 1)



Henry Gale
09-23-2015, 12:55 AM
http://static.east.abc.go.com/service/image/index/id/3020de37-c9ee-4336-b706-6d8adfee45bd/dim/2363x3150.jpg?cb=2

Apparently this is going to air here a day early every week, so I watched it last night. As someone who always has and likely always will watch anything Muppet-related, I had fun with the pilot, even if it felt like a slightly tired combination of 30 Rock, Modern Family and the American version of The Office, despite, in classic Muppet fashion, being very self-aware about that.

But now that the basic mechanics and tone has been set, with lots more cultural and mature humour than any of the recent movies or the past shows have attempted (Fozzie runs into difficulty finding women through online dating since he identifies as a "bear", Piggy faces having an audition tape leaked online, we get a revelation of Kermit and Piggy's relationship through archive paparazzi footage), amusing takes on the "real-life" personas of the characters that I suppose within the reality of this show only served as the basis of the archetypes that their past narrative work showcased on screen, and with Miss Piggy's late night talk show being a nice 2015 replacement for the original series' variety show as a device to have a constant cycle of guest stars, there's a nice foundation for it to improve.

Last thing that stuck out in my mind, because the actual pilot presentation (screened at Comic Con, subsequently posted here on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2B5d-8H588)) and the broadcast premiere are actually different, the episode falls into that very specifically awkward category of having to watch re-do's of a lot of the same jokes since it recycles a lot of them from the 10-minute presentation that allowed it to get picked up (which has also been the footage they've used for all of the promotional material). It's a minor quibble, but feels as odd as when U.S. comedy remakes (like The Office) simply re-use the same script as the pilots of the originals.

Spinal
09-23-2015, 05:47 PM
Haven't seen the show yet, but everything I've seen so far seems off-tone. Promos like the one above and the one where Miss Piggy ogles Nathan Fillion's butt aren't funny. They're just creepy in my opinion.