The Muppets show must go on
How do you get a bunch of cranky television critics to perk up following a long week of presentations and interviews? By giving them the Muppets. Last week, during the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, ABC strutted out Kermit and Miss Piggy to answer questions about their upcoming prime-time series.
Most of the questions revolved around weird celebrity encounters (Kermit admitted someone once tried to eat Pepe the King Prawn by the craft services table) or how Miss Piggy avoids looking “porky.” However, more pressing questions were addressed too, thanks to executive producers Bill Prady and Bob Kushell. Will it translate for new audiences? Avid TV fans may recognize Prady as the co-creator of The Big Bang Theory. Long before that, the writer and producer got his start working with the Muppets and never strayed too far from those roots. Prady revealed there was an attempt to resurrect the Muppets on TV eight years ago, but the idea was quickly shot down.
Today, ABC was so eager to greenlight a new show that executives tried to fast-track a pilot back in February. Instead, Prady and Kushell insisted on cultivating something that was “exactly the same and complete- ly different” in a10-minute presentation. In that clip, it’s clear they want to embrace current TV culture rather than forcing nostalgia at every turn. It’s impossible to tell whether they’ll be able to keep that tone in a 22-minute offering each week. Equally impossible to tell is whether a younger generation, which in large part scoffed at recent Muppets movies, is willing to invest that time. What about in Canada? Canadian broadcaster City is airing The Muppets Mondays at 8 p.m. (beginning Sept. 21) instead of Tuesdays along with ABC. That pits the show directly against ratings hit Gotham on CTV and Prady’s Big Bang on CBS. If record-breaking Canadian audiences find this show, it will be on ABC or via PVR, not on Monday. How intimate can the Muppets be with audiences? The Muppets Studio has spent a long time cultivating these beloved personas, treating them like real people. We will never see someone with their hand up Kermit the Frog’s backside in a photo or video. That brand has worked in film and on the traditional Muppets show, but will it work in a series where their personal lives make up the premise? How much semblance of a regular life can the writers give these characters before it becomes disingenuous? How long can the “will they or won’t they” play out? During the TCA panel, it became clear the main story arc is that Miss Piggy and Kermit have broken up. However, Kermit is still producing Miss Piggy’s series, Up Late With Miss Piggy, and the duo have allowed a camera crew to capture the goingson behind the scenes. Like any series that relies on romantic tension to push the drama (or comedy), this will eventually need to be resolved. How will celebrity factor in? Song, dance and celebs are the three cornerstones of any Muppets presentation. And Hollywood’s A-listers are clamouring to join the show. Imagine Dragons and Reese Witherspoon are already on board, with many more of “the best people in show business” expected. But people aren’t necessarily tuning in for bigname celebs the way they used to. Now it’s much easier to get a celebrity fix via the latest tabloid rag or TMZ. Unless, perhaps, those celebrities are the Muppets themselves. We shall see.