Clearly, others mileage varies, but I've always felt a little bit of sadness
throughout the Muppets' Studios work. Example number one being "The Rainbow
Connection." It's always tempered any joy for me.
David
From: Jon Delfin <[email protected]>
To: tvornottv <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2015 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] The Muppets
For me, the one thing that was missing from the episode was joy. I'll give them
another couple of chances.
On Thu, Sep 24, 2015 at 2:20 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
The one thing missing from the new show seems to be (and maybe they find a way
to include it in future episodes) the offbeat, psychadelic segments from the
original series. "Mahna Mahna," for instance, wouldn't fit in the new show, nor
would the mating of the creatures from the planet Kuzbain.
On Thu, Sep 24, 2015 at 10:10 AM, M-D November <[email protected]> wrote:
On Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 11:40:06 AM UTC-4, Joe Hass wrote:
I literally spent the entire summer thinking to myself, "Okay, do not be
disappointed in the first show, because your expectations are at
Kilimanjaro-levels right now". I thoroughly enjoyed it (as a Garfunkel & Oates
fan, having Riki Lindhome replacing whomever was Fozzie's girlfriend most
definitely did not hurt), though as one reviewer noted, Denise is awfully
plain, which doesn't really help.
My wife reacted unfavorably to Denise as well, but I suspect we're not meant to
like her - after all, the audience has a 40 year investment in Kermit & Piggy,
and to make all of the summer "break up" hype pay off, they'll have to build to
something with that storyline. Denise is obviously meant to be a placeholder
in the Kermit/Piggy relationship, much as (to reference The Office [US]) Karen
was a placeholder in the Jim/Pam relationship - she's probably OK, but she's
not the one you want to see the character with long-term.
The wardrobe person walking by with a lint roller was an excellent gag.
That was Uncle Deadly. I had thought he was a recent creation, but it turns
out (according to Muppet Wiki) he dates back to the Vincent Price episode of
the old Muppet Show. More recently he was featured as one of Tex Richman's
henchmuppets in 2011's "The Muppets" (along with Bobo the Bear, who is the
stage manager on "Up Late with Miss Piggy".)
Personally, I liked the pilot. It's clear that it was meant as a foundation,
and they'll be building up and out from there, but as pilots go, it was really
strong - no doubt helped by the fact that we really didn't need introductions
to these characters beyond what their roles would be in context to "Up Late".
Most of the jokes landed, although maybe there weren't as many laugh-out-loud
jokes as you'd get in an average episode of the variety show, and - to Kevin's
point - I really like how they've seamlessly integrated the Muppet characters
into the human-sized world around them. (I especially enjoyed Scooter's tour
of the Disney lot, since I've been there myself and actually recognize some of
those alleys.)
Frankly, I don't understand all the blowback regarding the new show. Yes,
Kermit isn't as hyper-optimistic as he usually is, but it's hardly the first
time we've seen Kermit push back against the craziness around him (or operate
in a pragmatic, rather than polyanna-esque optimistic, manner toward the show
he's running) - that was actually a major plot point in "Muppets Most Wanted".
I'd argue that Kermit's character is consistent with other depictions of TV
Executive Producers we've seen in the past couple of decades (I'm thinking Pete
from 30Rock, Artie from Larry Sanders, Isaac and/or Dana from SportsNight).
I do hope we get to see more of some of the traditional '2nd tier' characters
(more PEPE, please!), and I'm disappointed in the lack of Rowlf in episode 1,
but I know he'll show up eventually as the owner of the bar across from the
studio. And I hope the guest stars remain as game as Elizabeth Banks and Tom
Bergeron. Only time will tell.
And for the people who claim that Disney/Henson should have just brought back
the old variety show format...well, honestly, how relevant are 70's style
variety shows in 2015? The networks keep trying to bring the format back -
Maya Rudolph, anode course, NPH's ironically named "Best Time Ever" - but
audiences aren't biting. (I'm not including America's Got Talent, since a)
that's a competition series first, and b) it's a summer show.) Henson and the
Muppets were always at their strongest comedically when the material they're
working with is relevant - a variety show format worked in the 70's because the
format littered the TV landscape. And it worked for the 2011 movie because the
movie was specifically playing off the nostalgia factor. But for a weekly
episodic series in 2015? I just don't see it working.
Late night TV, however, has almost replaced the variety show in that regard -
viral clips of Super Sloppy Jimmy, Kimmel, Colbert, SNL and Ellen (who, let's
be honest, is doing a late night show that happens to air dayside) are to this
decade what variety show sketches were to the 70s. To me, it makes perfect
sense to place the Muppets in that environment for the sake of relevance - and,
as we've learned from 30 Rock and the like, there's a lot of comedy to be mined
in TV workplace comedies.--
--
--
TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People!
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "TV or Not TV" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
