Forcing The A.V. Club to confront a new, terrifying reality where we actually kind of agree with One Million Moms on something, The Daily Dot brings word that the mom-jeans-and-sensible-shoes-clad offshoot of the American Family Association has launched a petition expressing its displeasure with ABC’s new “adult” Muppets series. It melds the backstage set-up of The Larry Sanders Show or 30 Rock (fans of which will recall that Kenneth the Page already thought everyone on that show was a Muppet) with the mockumentary tricks of The Office: the talking head interviews, the glances at the camera. I experienced a wave of nostalgic affection when I sighted the familiar features of Beaker, Animal and Sam the Eagle, and there are some solid jokes and gags scattered throughout the first two episodes. In The Muppets, though, anxiety and overwork creep in.
Advertisement
Fozzie Bear sure is “sexsational”, isn’t he? The woman’s parents don’t approve of this interspecies match and Fozzie desperately tries to change their minds. And everyone is working overtime for a nightmare boss, an egomaniac with unpredictable whims: Miss Piggy.
But how Miss Piggy conducts herself as a leader, an entertainer or a powerful, driven pig doesn’t appear to be of much interest to “The Muppets“, which gives us the only female host in late-night but doesn’t let her have good ideas or drive the stories.
On top of all that, Kermit has been saddled with a new porcine girlfriend (“I’m attracted to pigs”, he tells the camera) who adds little or nothing to the proceedings. But it’s hard to get past this iteration of Miss Piggy’s unpleasantness because that’s all there is: She’s not a fully developed moi, just a set of high-maintenance tics. Piggy, for her part, has moved on after her breakup with Kermit, and her new beau, Josh Groban, will be guest starring on this episode as well.
Advertisement
We’ll leave it to those better versed in the canon to judge whether all the Muppets get their fair due or whether the shift in the Piggy/Kermit relationship damages our connections to the characters. Have they no self-respect? The Muppet who comes off worst is Kermit, who spends his days sneakily managing Piggy’s moods, working up the nerve to disobey her, a mild-mannered middle manager.
