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daibhidcTrying to get back into reviewing things. (I considered getting back into reviewing things back in December, then I decided I didn't want to think about The War Between Land and Sea more than I absolutely had to.) So, The Muppet Show's back. Sort of.
I've watched this a couple of times now, and I thought it was mostly great. It was a fun, new Muppet thing. I ... didn't feel like it was The Muppet Show. It kind of just felt like any other post-Muppet Show sketch comedy starring the Muppets, only set in the Muppet Theatre rather than MuppetVision Central or KMUP Studios or Scooter's chat window. Maybe it's just that the language of television has changed so much that anything made in 2026 is naturally not going to feel like something made in 1976. I don't think it's because it didn't have Veterinarian's Hospital or Pigs in Space, because plenty of Muppet Show episodes didn't. I do think that it might be a factor that the oldest of the four songs is two years younger than the show. A song much, much older would have gone a long way to recreating that retro-even-in-the-seventies vaudeville/music hall feel.
But it was still mostly great. I'm not much of a Sabrina Carpenter fan, but I am a fan of "the guest star sings while beating up Muppet monsters" sketches. And then we get Hilda the seamstress from Season One gluing the feathers back on the chickens! Now there's someone I never expected to see again, even if she did make it into 70 Years, 70 Muppets. And followed by a properly absurd Gonzo act, which I wasn't expecting to become a recurring bit, but worked well as one.
Pigs in Wigs was fun, and Muppet Labs found a new form of comedy body horror that they hadn't done to Beaker yet, so that was nice (and I liked that the eyeballs kept popping up for the rest of the show). Rizzo doing "Blinding Lights" was good, although again, I had a nagging feeling that it felt more like a Muppets Tonight sketch. And it wasn't entirely clear (at least to me) what effect Beauregard's problems with the fusebox were having on stage that was leading them to panic -- there should maybe have been more dramatic effects with the neon.
The backstage stuff was ... fine. I think the "Kermit's booked too many acts" storyline didn't really go anywhere except the Seth Rogen cameo (and the finale, but see below). The rivalry between Carpenter and Piggy was kind of the default female-guest-star backstage story but Carpenter handled it pretty well (I only learned afterwards that she was a comedy actress before she was a singer), and led to the attempt at derailing the duet which was funny.
The finale ... didn't entirely work. Okay the finale worked, the set-up didn't. It should have been Kermit briefly faking out that nobody was getting to be the final act before announcing this was because everyone was the final act. "What we need is more frogs and bears and chickens and ... and everybody!" And maybe that's what they were going for, but it didn't come across. It really did feel more like Kermit decided that, rather than choose, the finale was just going to be him singing "Don't Stop Me Now" a capella, randomly and pathetically, until everyone else rushed in to save him. But once they did, it was a high note to end on, so can't complain too much.
Hopefully, this will lead to more, hopefully it'll feel more old-fashioned vaudevilley. (And even if it doesn't, it's still the Muppets.)
I've watched this a couple of times now, and I thought it was mostly great. It was a fun, new Muppet thing. I ... didn't feel like it was The Muppet Show. It kind of just felt like any other post-Muppet Show sketch comedy starring the Muppets, only set in the Muppet Theatre rather than MuppetVision Central or KMUP Studios or Scooter's chat window. Maybe it's just that the language of television has changed so much that anything made in 2026 is naturally not going to feel like something made in 1976. I don't think it's because it didn't have Veterinarian's Hospital or Pigs in Space, because plenty of Muppet Show episodes didn't. I do think that it might be a factor that the oldest of the four songs is two years younger than the show. A song much, much older would have gone a long way to recreating that retro-even-in-the-seventies vaudeville/music hall feel.
But it was still mostly great. I'm not much of a Sabrina Carpenter fan, but I am a fan of "the guest star sings while beating up Muppet monsters" sketches. And then we get Hilda the seamstress from Season One gluing the feathers back on the chickens! Now there's someone I never expected to see again, even if she did make it into 70 Years, 70 Muppets. And followed by a properly absurd Gonzo act, which I wasn't expecting to become a recurring bit, but worked well as one.
Pigs in Wigs was fun, and Muppet Labs found a new form of comedy body horror that they hadn't done to Beaker yet, so that was nice (and I liked that the eyeballs kept popping up for the rest of the show). Rizzo doing "Blinding Lights" was good, although again, I had a nagging feeling that it felt more like a Muppets Tonight sketch. And it wasn't entirely clear (at least to me) what effect Beauregard's problems with the fusebox were having on stage that was leading them to panic -- there should maybe have been more dramatic effects with the neon.
The backstage stuff was ... fine. I think the "Kermit's booked too many acts" storyline didn't really go anywhere except the Seth Rogen cameo (and the finale, but see below). The rivalry between Carpenter and Piggy was kind of the default female-guest-star backstage story but Carpenter handled it pretty well (I only learned afterwards that she was a comedy actress before she was a singer), and led to the attempt at derailing the duet which was funny.
The finale ... didn't entirely work. Okay the finale worked, the set-up didn't. It should have been Kermit briefly faking out that nobody was getting to be the final act before announcing this was because everyone was the final act. "What we need is more frogs and bears and chickens and ... and everybody!" And maybe that's what they were going for, but it didn't come across. It really did feel more like Kermit decided that, rather than choose, the finale was just going to be him singing "Don't Stop Me Now" a capella, randomly and pathetically, until everyone else rushed in to save him. But once they did, it was a high note to end on, so can't complain too much.
Hopefully, this will lead to more, hopefully it'll feel more old-fashioned vaudevilley. (And even if it doesn't, it's still the Muppets.)
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Date: 2026-02-21 06:30 pm (UTC)