‘Muppets’ in hot tub time machine
Proof that even timeless franchises have to deal with shifting attitudes, tastes and perceptions, “Muppets Mayhem” arrives on Disney+. The entire season is now available.
“Mayhem” stars Lily Singh as Nora, a beleaguered music producer wannabe who toils at Wax Records, an old-school company on the verge of a going-out-of-business sale. Determined to make her mark and save Wax from its final vinyl, she unearths a half-century-old contract with the shaggy 1970s relics Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.
Apparently, the band never delivered its first album. As we learn, they have been on an unending tour in a psychedelic van that can never really be put in park, lest it never start again. Nora tries to corral their manic energy and stoner vibes.
The main source of humor is the contrast between Nora’s logical and disciplined approach and the band’s groovy disregard for common sense. When they break into Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite,” she mishears the second line as “And part of every day.” Because to Nora, you can’t party every day; you’d get exhausted.
Cameos include Ryan Seacrest and Danny Trejo. “Mayhem” captures a shaggy 1970s spirit that may amuse the parents, or more likely the grandparents, of Disney+’s intended audience.
› Produced by FX, “Class of ‘09” will stream exclusively on Hulu. Set at the FBI, it follows several agents in three distinct periods: their training days at Quantico, ending with their 2009 graduation; the present day, 2023, and a futuristic look at 2034, when one of our heroes has become head of the FBI and has turned the entire country into a surveillance state using AI, ever-present cameras and even cameras and digital abilities implanted right into agents’ eyeballs.
Kate Mara stars as Amy Poet, a former prison nurse who becomes one of the bureau’s best agents. She also projects a brittle earnestness that is at the heart of this series, that seems to have put all its energy into time-shifting before developing characters we can care about.
Screening “‘09,” I kept waiting for its FX-ishness to kick in. For better or worse, FX series have an edge and a sense of breaking new ground in TV narratives. “Class of ‘09” has the feel of something CBS might air over the summer while its audience waits for the new “NCIS” episodes to return in September.
› Viaplay, the streaming platform for Scandinavian content, presents “Nadia Nadim — Gamechanger,” a profile of the influential Afghan female footballer.
› Speaking of game changers, Netflix debuts the limited documentary series “Queen Cleopatra,” unearthing all we know about the Egyptian queen who beguiled Julius Caesar.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS ›
A patient seems skittish about hospitals on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› The limited series “Wild Scandinavia” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) begins with a glance at the ecosystem of Sweden’s portion of the Baltic Sea.
› Cindy’s cancer rattles Herrmann on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› Time to tidy up some loose nukes on “True Lies” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
› Upton falls down a rabbit hole on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› ABC News presents “The Game Show Show” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-PG), a history of the sturdy television format and what these distractions have revealed about a changing society over the past eight decades.
› “Iconic America” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) looks at the origins and many interpretations of the “Don’t Tread on Me” symbol known as the Gadsden flag.