Plot: It’s “The Muppet Show”! Kermit, Miss Piggy and the beloved Muppets ensemble are back with a brand-new special event. Music, comedy, and a whole lot of chaos are bound to ensue when The Muppets once again take the stage of the original Muppet Theatre with their very special guest, Sabrina Carpenter!
Review: Since the Oscar-winning film The Muppets reinvigorated the Jim Henson-created franchise for a new generation, Disney has tried multiple small-screen iterations that have failed to reach the same level of success. From the short-lived ABC mockumentary sitcom in 2016 to the social media-styled The Muppets Now in 2020 and The Muppets Mayhem in 2022, none of these projects has come close to the impact that The Muppet Show had back in 1976. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the original variety show, producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have brought back The Muppet Show‘s classic format for a new generation of audiences. While billed as a one-off, this new take on The Muppet Show more than deserves to become an ongoing series.
Clocking in at just half an hour, there is a lot packed into this one-off The Muppet Show special. Rather than treat it as a tribute to the original series or a retrospective of any kind, The Muppet Show plays just like a new episode of the variety series. Kermit the Frog is frantically trying to get the show in order while chaos backstage runs rampant around him and Scooter. All of the classic Muppets show up, including Miss Piggy, Gonzo the Great, Fozzie Bear, and Rowlf the Dog. Sam the Eagle, the various pig Muppets, and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem appear in varying capacities, but the show’s original format remains intact. There are quite a few callbacks to recurring bits from The Muppet Show, but refreshed for a new generation. What stays the same is the madcap pacing, the frenetic performances, and the subtle blend of adult humor within the show’s all-ages formula.
The marketing of this special is heavily focused on the appearances of executive producer Seth Rogen, Maya Rudolph, and guest host Sabrina Carpenter. Of the three, Carpenter is a deliberate attempt to cater to a specific demographic that may have aged out of watching The Muppets or who will check it out based on the singer’s fanbase. Much like Saturday Night Live capitalizing on whoever the popular actor or singer is, this episode of The Muppet Show should entice a lot of viewers who will find that Sabrina Carpenter is very game to participate in the zany antics in both sketches in the show within the show, as well as the backstage storyline that wraps around the episode.The Muppet Show incorporates a good deal of music, and having Carpenter and others sing a mix of contemporary and classic tunes adds to the show’s delightfulness.
The Muppet Show benefits from not being stuck with narrative storytelling in the same way long-form series have been. It also does not need to pack in a complicated story and can stick to being a variety show. The sketches are brief and less developed than classic sketches from the original series, but they still work. It may be a challenge, given this is a half-hour episode, but if The Muppet Show in the 1970s could do it, this iteration should be able to as well. The appearances by Seth Rogen and Maya Rudolph are glorified cameos, but that is also likely due to the episode’s constricted running time. These are nitpicks in the overall scheme of things, as I had fun with the episode as a whole. It will be interesting to see if it is padded to an hour when it airs on ABC, as the screener I was provided clocked in at a full 30 minutes, leaving no room for commercial breaks like a typical network 22-minute sitcom.
Directed by Alex Timbers,The Muppet Show benefits from the director’s experience helming comedy and stage specials like Alex Edelman: Just for Us and John Mulaney: Baby J. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have no writing credits on the special, which falls to Albertina Rizzo and Kelly Younger. The episode looks far more polished than the variety show did fifty years ago. The theater setting looks the same as the classic version, as well as the stage shown in the 2011 movie. As a credit to the cast and crew, this special does feel a lot like the Jason Segel film, which blended nostalgia while introducing the characters to a new generation. At its core, The Muppet Show is a fun, light piece of entertainment that serves as a feel-good balm in these difficult times.
My biggest issue with The Muppet Show returning is that this is a very short episode that doesn’t get nearly enough time to do these characters justice. If this were the first episode in a full season, I would be excited to return week after week to see how many old-school sketches could be updated and which celebrity fans of Jim Henson’s creations would be willing to join Kermit and Miss Piggy on stage. As a tribute to the half-century legacy of The Muppets, this special falls a bit short of living up to their iconic status, but it’s also a satisfying return to a type of show we don’t see on the air much anymore. While Statler and Waldorf rip The Muppet Show in this new special, there is little to dislike in this trip down memory lane.
The Muppet Show premieres on February 4th on Disney+ and ABC.
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Source:
JoBlo.com
