This is awesome I had no idea it was happening. ANIMAL ANIMAL ANIMAL

Why do they keep trying these different formats... a reboot of the original format could be great, i.e. guest stars and performance sketches.

THANK YOU! I've felt like for the longest time this was the most obvious way to go. It's actually crazy they haven't explored doing that for so long now.

[deleted]

The 2015 Muppets series on ABC was a gem

This is my thing, the best parts of the mockumentary show were when they just gave up and made Miss Piggy’s show the Muppet Show by including all the same dumb skits. But to be fair, when they tried a straight up reboot/sequel type thing in the nineties it was also a failure. Maybe they’re still shy about it because of that.

This sounds like a really interesting way to try doing a Muppet Show without it being either in the shadow of, or scrambling to be absolutely the opposite of, The Muppet Show.

The problem with trying to actually just do The Muppet Show in modern times is that it's a variety show, and variety shows are dead, and have been dead for decades now. Trying to modulate the atmosphere of the Muppet Show to be about a late night talk show was an okay idea, but trying to make it The Office (or Larry Sanders, even) just didn't work.

Picking characters people like, but don't know a lot about, and making it about a side of the entertainment industry that isn't just "Let's put on a show, gang!" is a really smart way to sidestep a lot of what tripped up everything post "The Muppets" movie with Segel/Adams.

Yeah I thought it was such a clever reinvention of the show. You read the wiki page and it’s pretty decent reviews across the board then I got to the part that reminded me it got Karen’d out of existence:(

“The group One Million Moms, an offshoot of the American Family Association, began protesting The Muppets, citing it as "unsuitable for family viewing", and calling for boycotts against it immediately after ABC picked it up, long before the series debuted.[63][64][65] The Muppets later parodied One Million Moms' critique in their twelfth episode, "A Tail of Two Piggies", as the One Million Angry Parents Association represented by three protesters.[66][third-party source needed]

The Parents Television Council also criticized the series for not meeting "family viewing" guidelines and suggested a boycott, based on the mockumentary format of the series including mentions of plastic surgery, "inside" business language being used in a crude manner, and the Muppets in a bar consuming alcoholic beverages.[67]

Is that really why it failed? I remember liking it was was bummed it was dropped so soon. The first few episodes where rough, but I fel like it picked up.

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem rule so I'm looking forward to this

I distinctly remember liking Kermit at the yoga retreat.

I'm glad they're trying but nothing has really stuck in terms of Muppets content on Disney+. Muppets Haunted Mansion was fun and cute but I don't know anyone who watched it.

EDIT: Goddammit, Lily Singh is in this.

I'm indifferent towards her, but there's a pretty vocal hatedom for her that'll probably be in the comments.

For context: Lily Singh was a YouTuber who was among the first to go "mainstream" in that she got a latenight show on NBC. It was pretty forward thinking - as a show airing so late at night, they pretty much made content for the Internet by a YouTuber. But it forced her into this dying late-night show box with writers who just weren't a good fit. It's hard to deny some of her monologue's white people jokes (which in itself is a tired topic in standup, even with conservative white males saying hateful rhetoric) didn't hit hard enough. The show wasn't as confident in itself as the similar-in-concept-but-far-better Amber Ruffin show. With that and bad interviewing skills, the show was a bomb. But they're not the worst jokes I've heard about cis straight white males (of which I am one, though on the left). I'm glad she's moved on from the show, but potentially would have a better career if she stuck to YouTube over Hollywood.

Haha yes the episode when they get drunk is funny.

I liked the show and it may have a cult following. However, it didn't connect with the public and setting up shots for continuous puppet action can't be easy.

For the love of Kermit, why isn't this called MUPPET MAYHEM?? Disney does not understand that the word Muppet is an adjective as well as a noun.

The protests from the parent groups were just dumb. It was three kids in a trench coat trying to look important. People had forgotten that there were racy jokes on the Muppet Show and even some stuff on Sesame Street that they used to throw in for the parents.

Petition to bring back Crazy Harry

Heck, for that matter we need them to put Muppets Tonight onto streaming. It was the classic format and I still felt like that worked well.

Crazy Harry never left, he was most recently featured in Muppets Haunted Mansion.

He was? I thought they removed him because it was enforcing a stereotype or something

He was one of the stretching room portraits, and showed up a few times in the ballroom scene.

Why is Animal eye-f*cking that box of Kleenex?

No. The fact that the ratings were dogshit for a series of that pedigree and a production/promotional budget of that scale is why it was cancelled.

Muppets Tonight was amazing.

They kinda did that with Muppets Tonight (1996), so instead of a stage show, it was a TV Studio.

The original format relied on audiences being nostalgic for vaudeville. What they needed to do was make a reboot more like Mad or SNL - which ultimately the difference is really the style of the theater and Fozzie's jokes.

I think The Muppets (2015) would've worked way better if instead of "let's follow the private lives of the muppets who are writers for Miss Piggy's late night talk show", they did more of a 30 Rock thing - where some of the Muppets are writers for a new live Muppet variety show, and some of them are the stars of that variety show. So we'd get some backstage and production shenanigans and also get to see actual sketches, and there'd be plenty of organic room for celebrity guest stars.

Also while I'm here, it still bothers me that the only muppets in the audience for Miss Piggy's show were Statler and Waldorf. They couldn't have peppered the audience so it was half Muppet, half human?

I don't think so, those angry parent groups were complaining about it before it even aired and it went on for 15 episodes. It just wasn't pulling in viewers.

I mean if ABC pulled every show that had angry parent groups upset, there'd be nothing on the network.

Muppet productions are expensive - the Muppets themselves cost a lot to make and maintain, not to mention if they need different costumes - and if the show just isn't pulling in ratings it's not worth it to keep it on the air.

Except SNL is a variety show and isn't dead, and AGT is also a variety show and isn't dead.

The Muppet Show was a loving homage to Vaudeville which had died 40 years earlier. The issue isn't it being a variety show, the issue is it being a variety show that's harking back to a style of comedy that's 100 years old at this point.

I'm not excited for her either, but someone pointed out elsewhere that it's been long enough that her style of comedy may have changed... and also she's not the writer or main attraction of this show. So there's probably not going to be a lot "white guys, am I right?" jokes.

Saturday Night Live is a sketch comedy show. Yes, there are still music performances, this seems almost done not because people actually care about the music performances (people mostly hope the musician shows up in a sketch) but out of tradition.

America's Got Talent isn't a variety show it's a reality competition show.

The issue is that it's a variety show, and people don't like variety shows anymore, because media is so splintered and the means by which people consume media is so democratized that the very idea that made variety shows possible basically doesn't exist anymore.

The Muppets trying to put on a show is a fine framework for interpersonal dramas that lead to really funny situations. The show being a variety show is a terrible choice in the 21st century. This show seems to have figured out a way around that.

The original format was a parody of variety shows like the Smothers Brothers and Laugh-In. I imagine they've been reluctant to go back to that format because they think modern audiences won't be familiar with that genre.

The 2015 Muppets show changed it to a late-night talk show, which I think made a lot of sense because that is a similar genre that also has celebrity guests, but one that modern viewers actually know.

Why is Gonzo so clearly Tracy Morgan to me?

The same people would also freak out to learn The Muppet Show pilot was titled “Sex and Violence”. The Muppet Show was never intended to be a children’s show, from the jump.

The writing was actually great. I read the scripts before watching and laughed.
Watched the show, and the timing and delivery fell flat. Format did not work. Low energy and bad pace for Muppet characters and jokes.

If I recall, they did eventually shift from Miss Piggy's show being a talkshow to a variety one, but most of the focus of the show was still on the behind-the-scenes stuff. Had they used that format and included sketches, it might've worked well. I think it was just too far away from what people expected of a Muppets television show.

I mean miss piggy was pretty much Jenna and Kermit was Liz. Rizzo the rat and Pepe the prawn were the writing guys. I basically describe the 2015 show as the 30 Rock muppets. Which is why I loved it

When that show debuted, it was definitely a little frustrating to hear people talk about how awful it was that they were gearing the Muppets more towards adults... as if that wasn't how they were initially. One of the earliest Muppet specials was titled Sex and Violence, because they wanted to make it clear that it was geared more towards adults.

Though, I suppose, it just goes to show you how Disney has bungled their ownership and how much they frequently misunderstand them.

Rights issues, I believe. It took them a while to get all the stuff on the original Muppet Show cleared, I can only imagine what it costs to get the rights for something like Prince. Probably too much for a show that didn't do all that well to begin with.

They got SMART GUY for this?

Article says this is the first show since 2015 but there was literally one like two years ago if that

They should do Muppet versions of other series. Each season is a different show. Or maybe two shows a season. I mean, who wouldn't want a Muppet Game of Thrones. Or a Stranger Things with Miss Piggy as Eleven.

And it's like the only Muppets thing not on Disney plus! I really want to go back and rewatch it.

I actually found the full series on YouTube awhile ago!! Super not amazing quality,but def worth it & still watchable! I just double checked and the videos are still up,just search "Muppets Tonight 1x01" and enjoy :D

I’m looking at all of the Muppets projects that have come out since Disney bought it. They have no idea what to do with this IP.

The full series is up on YouTube! Rough quality,looks like someone's old vhs recordings off the TV,but 100% worth it and still watchable lol. Just search,"Muppets Tonight 1x01" to find the uploader.

Jim Henson and Roald Dahl are known for their kids stuff but both have an amazing collection of things geared toward adults. Weird as shit, but awesome.

Hey that’s ‘Ders

I liked the version that was like The Office. I'm just glad The Muppets are still getting work.

Funny how Disney will do every type of Muppet show other than the one people want to see.

I think you already know why…

> Low energy and bad pace for Muppet characters and jokes.

They needed to channel 30 Rock to make that show work, and it feels like they didn't even try.

Do they still have the awful voice for Kermit?

Muppets 2015 was really finding its footing by the end, it's a shame it didn't get one more season.

> get the rights for something like Prince.

One of the gags from his episode is the only thing I remember from that show.

>Rizzo: All right, all right. So you made a song from the breakfast menu, but I'll bet you five bucks you can't do it again.

>Prince: I'll take that bet.

>Rizzo: Hah!

>Prince: Yo, Seymour!

>Seymour: Yeah?

>Prince: What's for desert?

>Seymour: Raspberry sorbet.

Woah, Tahj Mowry! I haven’t seen him in ages.

Nostalgia, so hot right now.

The greatest band of all time

I watched the 90s reboot as a kid on British tv, had no idea it flopped. Explains why I don't remember it going on very long.

I will not stand for this Muppet Babies erasure

I thought it was a Disney Channel show when I was a kid, but it had already been cancelled on ABC before I even knew it existed.

They need to do more classic literature adaptations.

Lisa: Dad, what's a Muppet?

Homer: Well, it's not quite a mop, it's not quite a puppet, but man...

[laughs hysterically]

Homer: So to answer your question, I don't know.

So weird because growing up I always thought muppets = for adults and sesame street = for kids. Maybe that's just because sesame street was something I actively watched and the only reason I knew what muppets was was because my mom had some old muppets merch. It's strange but not surprising that soem group would get all up in arms about it though, especially since it was still just a ABC sitcom, so it's not like it was that vulgar.

All the reboots are great though. Not really their fault no one watches.