The poor Muppets have never quite been the same since the death of creator Jim Henson in 1990 and the sale of the franchise to the Walt Disney Company in 2004. While the 2011 Jason Segel-scripted movie reboot, “The Muppets,” seemed like it might be able to salvage the franchise, 2014’s big-screen effort, “Muppets Most Wanted,” failed to deliver at the box office, and 2015-16 ABC series “The Muppets” was a ratings flop that failed to satisfy fans.
New Disney+ series “Muppets Now,” streaming Friday, seems like an effort to return to the format of the 1976-81 debut series, “The Muppet Show.”
Instead of being set in a run-down theater performing variety acts, “Muppets Now” features a collection of video clips Scooter valiantly attempts to assemble into an episode. That act of switching from one video clip to another makes this show closest in structure to the original variety show since 1996 re-do “Muppets Tonight.”
“Muppets Now” features Kermit and company in a stable of recurring sketches that Scooter uploads to the internet (via a “Rainbow Connector”). There’s no real narrative for each episode, just a collection of sketches with Scooter’s attempts at distribution as the connective tissue.
The original “Muppet Show” had recurring sketches, too (remember, “Pigs in Space”?), but it also had more meat on the bones of each episode with a celebrity guest star, musical numbers and non-recurring sketches.
“Muppets Now” forgoes all of that for a cheaper approach: Get Taye Diggs to film multiple “Lifestyle With Miss Piggy” segments and drop one into every episode.
Disney+ claims the six-episode first season marks the first “unscripted” series from Muppets Studios, but it rarely feels improvised except maybe in Q&A interviews with celebs and in “Pepe’s Unbelievable Game Show.”
After four episodes, it’s safe to say “Muppets Now” is only occasionally funny, and the recurring segments grow repetitive.
“Muppets Now” also makes one wonder: What iteration of The Muppets do fans want?
Although the 1970s variety series started it all, when the Muppets moved to the big screen, the franchise became much more about the characters and their relationships. ABC’s effort five years ago was even more laser-focused on the behind-the-scenes soap opera of Muppets relationship issues (Kermit and Piggy broke up; he started dating a pig named Denise). And while there’s only so far those relationships can go before all the drama has been wrung out of them, do Muppets fans really want this slimmed-down version of “The Muppet Show”?
We also have to talk about Kermit’s suddenly deeper voice.
All due respect to new Kermit voice Matt Vogel, who has an unenviable task, but Kermit’s voice is just not right.
“Muppets Now” marks the first major Muppets project to feature Vogel voicing Kermit. He took over the role after Muppets Studios fired Henson’s successor, Steve Whitmire, in 2017 after Whitmire voiced and performed Kermit for 27 years. Muppets Studios says Whitmire was fired because of how he conducted himself in the workplace; Whitmire says it was retribution for speaking out against changes made to the character that would not be in keeping with Henson’s wishes.
Whatever the behind-the-scenes kerfuffle, Whitmire’s Kermit was much closer to Henson’s. Vogel’s attempt distracts because Kermit just doesn’t sound like Kermit.
Some TV production resumes
While production on most scripted prime-time series remains stuck in neutral due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some reality series are finding ways to resume production.
CBS’s “Big Brother” returns for its 22nd season with an “all-star” cast of past players with a two-hour premiere Aug. 5 (9 p.m., KDKA-TV). Following the premiere, three weekly episodes will air at 8 p.m. Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.
CBS’s “Love Island” has also begun production on its second season as it moves inland to a shuttered Las Vegas hotel where contestants will be quarantined. No air date has been announced.
ABC’s “Shark Tank” is also preparing to resume production in a quarantine bubble in Las Vegas, per Deadline.com.
ABC’s ‘”General Hospital” resumed production last week with new episodes expected to begin airing Monday.
Premiere dates
The 10th season finale of “The Walking Dead,” which was supposed to air in April but got delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, will now air at 9 p.m. Oct. 4. Six additional newly ordered episodes that follow the finale (so how it is still a finale?) will air in 2021 along with season 11.
“Fear the Walking Dead” returns at 9 p.m. Oct. 11 for season six. New spinoff “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” premieres at 10 p.m. Oct. 4.
FXX’s “Archer” will see its delayed 11th season premiere at 10 p.m. Sept. 16.
“Star Trek: Discovery” returns for its third season Oct. 15 on CBS All Access.
PBS news
The Television Critics Association summer press tour, which I usually attend in Los Angeles, was canceled due to COVID-19, but a virtual TCA has sprung up in its place with online news conferences devoted to PBS programming this week and cable and streaming outlets next week.
PBS, celebrating its 50th anniversary on Oct. 4, announced “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” produced by Pittsburgh’s Fred Rogers Productions, will be part of “PBS Kids Talk About Race and Racism” (Oct. 9), a half-hour program that will also feature content from “Arthur” and “Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum.”
PBS president Paula Kerger announced Henry Louis Gates Jr. will host “The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song” (9 p.m. Feb. 16 and 23).
Gates has resumed filming his PBS series “Finding Your Roots,” shooting three new interviews this summer with celebrities who learn about their ancestry, using COVID-19 protocols including the addition of a 6-foot diameter table for physical distancing between Gates and his celebrity guest.
Read about more PBS announcements online in Tuned In Journal blog at http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/tuned-in.
Kept/canceled/spun off
Netflix renewed “Sweet Magnolias” and “Outer Banks” for second seasons.
Starz renewed “P-Valley” for season two.
Amazon renewed “The Boys,” returning for season two on Sept. 4, for a third season.
Fox is developing an “Empire” spinoff starring Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson).
Nickelodeon’s animated spinoff, “Star Trek: Prodigy,” will follow a group of teens who discover a derelict Starfleet ship and go joyriding when it debuts in 2021.
Netflix ordered a six-episode limited prequel series, “The Witcher: Blood Origin.”
Channel surfing
This weekend History premieres “Hiroshima: 75 Years Later” (9 p.m. Sunday) marking the detonation of the first nuclear weapon in wartime. … Freeform’s remotely produced limited series “Love in the Time of Corona,” starring Carnegie Mellon University grad Leslie Odom Jr., will air over two nights at 8 p.m. Aug. 22 and 23. … Discovery’s “Undercover Billionaire,” which followed Glenn Stearns starting a business in Erie, is back with a special, “Undercover Billionaire: Return to Erie” (9 p.m. Aug. 18), where he checks in on his business, Underdog BBQ.
Tuned In online
Today’s TV Q&A column on the blog responds to questions about “Billions,” daytime soaps and local TV anchors/reporters. This week’s Tuned In Journal includes posts on “Fridge Wars” and “Tell Me a Story.” Read online-only TV content at http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/tuned-in.
TV writer Rob Owen: rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582. Follow RobOwenTV on Twitter or Facebook for breaking TV news.
First Published: July 30, 2020, 11:54 a.m.
