Just a few weeks back, there were not one, but two new series featuring the Muppets in the works at Disney+—a development that was somewhat confusing. In addition to a scripted series produced and written by Frozen’s Josh Gad (he’s the snowman guy), which we first heard about back in 2018, the streaming platform had ordered an unscripted, short-form series called Muppets Now. That series, described as a variety show in the vein of the classic The Muppet Show, is still moving forward and is expected to premiere on Disney+ in 2020. But what of this other Muppets series, produced by Frozen snowman guy? Deadline has officially revealed its fate: It’s dead, y’all. More specifically, the cause of death is listed as a “discrepancy between the writing team’s creative vision and that of the top brass at Disney-owned Muppet Studio.” Just some good old fashioned creative differences, is all.
Gad’s Muppets series, which he was co-producing with Once Upon A Time creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis, is no longer moving forward at Disney+. The series, titled Muppets Live Another Day (stepping on James Bond’s toes, those scamps), would have picked up where Muppets Take Manhattan left off, with Kermit reuniting his Muppet pals to search for Rowlf (the dog one), who has gone missing. Honestly, it’s probably for the best as two shows featuring the Muppets might have confused viewers, particularly since Disney+ is geared primarily toward families. And as recent history has taught us, it’s not exactly easy to successfully revive the Muppets, despite their relatively simple puppet biology, which is made primarily of felt and hopes and dreams.
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How do you do an unscripted puppet show?
Exactly the same way you do an unscripted anything else, but with puppets.
The Muppets have a long history of doing improv, btw. It was never just riding bicycles and lip-synching songs.
This is honestly better than anything Muppet related in the last 10 + years. I know it sounds weird, but IMO lately they’ve been basically doing caricatures of them.
The Real Housemuppets of Atlanta
Kermit actually originated in the Real Housecoats of College Park.
They probably meant unscripted in format, like a parody of an unscripted reality show.
By making sure the guy controlling the puppet is always out of frame.
Without a script.You know there are people controlling the puppets, right? And that they physically exist?
This is puppets, not animation.
DON’T RUIN THE MAGIC.
Ask Paul F Tompkins.
While I love the Muppets it’s probably best not to do too much at once. They work in short bursts and sketches more than longterm plots
“Shit, this streaming thing is hard! Netflix made it look so easy, greenlighting everything and doing cocaine. Wait, maybe that was an SNL skit? Whatever, pass me more of that cocaine.” – Disney+ head of content
Disney executives do not use cocaine.They mainline 100% pure pixie dust.
I don’t care about either of these series. I want the ABC version of “The Office Muppets” back!
Office/30 Rock/Muppets.It had issues, but I loved it.
I thought it was actually really strong after the retool, but by then the ship had kinda sailed.But it did give us the Swedish Chef performing “Rapper’s Delight” at karaoke, and I will always appreciate it for that.
That show made me genuinely dislike the Muppets. And I love the Muppets.
It really doesn’t seem like it should be this hard to do a successful Muppets series.
Give us a 2020 version of the Muppet Show and done. There aren’t other variety shows to speak of now, and we’ve got plenty of musicians who’d be game for a skit and two songs.
I would subscribe to Disney+ for that.
I disagree and think it’s actually very difficult to get the exact tone needed for a proper Muppets movie or show. Henson had this unique blend of joyful anarchy and emotional resonance that’s hard to get right.
You can’t throw a rock in Los Angeles now without hitting an improv troupe with a podcast. There’s a deep, deep bench in 2019 of folks capable of pulling this off.
Although I think Frank Oz may be a little precious with how difficult it is to get the Muppets right, I believe him that Disney has suffocated the franchise with script notes and oversight by committee.
LA-based improvers with a podcast are the last people I’d want handling the Muppets.
Right now, there are puppeteers in Omaha fist-pumping after reading your post.
When puppeteers fist-bump, do they then panotmime head-butt’d pain from their fists? “owwww m’ aching knuckles” et al?
Okay. How about some hookers with hearts of gold?
Harsh. Buuuut I have felt similarly about the two Netflix seasons of MST3K. It should be Midwest weirdos writing and performing that show. Not fucking UCB alumni and hipster standup comics. And while I love Felicia and Patton they are just not good as the Mads.
Henson wasn’t afraid to just emotionally be a kid while using adult intelligence.It seems like all the versions nowadays are centered on making The Muppets “relevant” and “grown up” because the creators of these new works find it transgressive to have The Muppets of their childhood acting like BoJack Horseman or whatever.It’s not transgressive, it’s not the point. That’s the problem. Let The Muppets be their cheesy emotional selves.
I think you’re right and the evidence backs you up. The fact that some version of a rebooted
Muppets show has been tried multiple times and none of them ever really
catch on is the proof you need. For whatever reason, it just never
really clicks. I did like that “The Office” style Muppets show ABC did a
couple years back though.
Mainly worth watching for Uncle Deadly.
Although it does seem like there’s this recurring hurdle with Disney of there being a change in leadership right before the deal is finalized. They were going to do a full Muppet takeover of the parks and basically give them their own section of MGM before Henson died and a big rights fight started.I think they could probably do a good job replicating the feel of the original show by stealing or reconnecting staff from other parody series like Documentary Now!, The Jews are Coming, and Futurama.
Yeah, you’d think it should be as simple as that yet when Muppets Tonight was around, nobody watched it for some damn reason.
In a perfect world, this would’ve been one of the highest rated episodes of television ever.
But 23 years later, we don’t need huge ratings for a show to survive. In the streaming era, a show that drives (or sustains) subscriptions is plenty. (And, ironically, a 1996 television flop would be one of the highest rated shows today.)
There were some classic moments in that series, including Piggy faking a sneeze opposite Billy Crystal, and Bobo trying to chat up Cindy Crawford while Rizzo feeds him his lines through an ear piece.
I feel like The Muppets aren’t profitable enough for Disney so they’re not even going to put any effort into it. They’re probably disappointed it doesn’t have the merchandising potential of Sesame Street. They’re testing the waters right now with the Muppet Babies reboot but I’m not even sure how well that’s doing.
Given how many much more marginal properties have been rebooted or brought back for those sweet, sweet nostalgia dollars, I doubt that the Muppets — whose sunk costs were paid long ago — aren’t worth the effort.
Something’s definitely up. Ever since Disney bought The Muppets they really haven’t done a whole lot. So either it’s because they’re focused on high merchandise franchises like Star Wars/Marvel/Disney Princesses or because they genuinely don’t know what to do. Which also seems a little ridiculous. Sure Jim Henson was one of a kind but there has to be SOMEBODY out there who has ideas. Jason Segel managed to make his movie work.
I’m not sure confusing viewers with multiple similar shows is a real thing. America’s couch potatoes have given their tacit approval to multiple Law & Orders for a decade or more. Children are pretty good at keeping track of similar, related properties, even arguing about canon and continuity.
Well, the multiple Law and Orders (Laws and Orders?) had different cast members.
Not to mention, there will already be several Muppet shows from the past on the service. Is it somehow only confusing when they’re new?Little kids aren’t going to care what Muppets are doing; if they like them, they’ll watch any of the shows. Everyone else should be used to the concept of multiple iterations of a franchise.
I’m not really a fan of Josh Gad and I’m kinda glad he’s not in charge of the follow up to Muppets Take Manhattan. Apparently they weren’t either.
Gad’s Muppets series, which he was co-producing with Once Upon A Time creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis
I know Ad-Rock has had a bit of down time in recent years, but geez.
Suckers they be saying they can take out Adam Horowitz.
I had this thought too, but the rapper spells it “Horovitz.”
I’d be interested in a new Muppet Show, but I’m not sure Josh Gad was the guy to do it. Admittedly, my entire relationship with his work is “oh god, that annoying snowman from that godawful Let It Go movie – wasn’t he also the flailing annoying younger brother on that weird one season White House comedy?”
He was also in failed Steve Jobs movie. Not the one with Aaron Sorkin the…other one…
He also had a failed sitcom with Billy Crystal because… yeah. I don’t know, either.Should’ve been a sign when Gad first rose to fame creating the incredibly earnest, yet annoying character Elder Cunningham in “Book of Mormon” before creating the incredibly earnest, yet annoying character Olaf in “Frozen.”Also, no one should be able to wash the stink of “Pixels” off their career. Especially if it’s implied they fucked Q-Bert in that movie.
I guess casting directors see him as being a more pleasant, more forgettable and less talented Jonah Hill type actor.
I can handle it in Book of Mormon because it is appropriately balanced out with lots of horrible people which makes it a little more tolerable.
I think that was the idea. Like he had a range outside of that. Out of context, not sure he has a range that is tolerable on its own.
I think he was on the Daily Show for, like, five minutes.
Yeah. I remember that. It was right after BOM, but before Frozen. I thought Daily Show was more his speed, frankly. And it’s not like a big Disney VO role = big-time guaranteed future success.
Well, Steve Albini’s done okay despite having fucked Pac-Man.
The article kinda does a disservice. Dude was a lead in Book of Mormon.
My favourite part of being 1008 years old is thaat i choose not to look up “Josh Gad” to see if i recognise his face. I’ll just let him settle on the bottom next to Pauly Shore in a couple of years.
They had the perfect people making new Muppets stuff and then decided to make a bunch of dumb decisions because Most Wanted didn’t perform well. Get Stoller, Bobin and McKenzie back!
I liked that Muppet revival one a few years ago where they were running Miss Piggy’s late night show.
What’s a Muppet?
Well, it’s not quite a mop and it’s not quite a puppet…** Fun fact: That episode is older than a significant percentage of the people here (AVClub commentariat consisting primarily of kids not smart enough to get around the firewall on the school computers, and library hobos with a really specific fetish), making them as likely to not know that reference as Lisa was the Muppets.
Dear [insert shorter but correct gender-related title here] modusoperandi,
I truly wish I could give that comment at least 3 Recommends/Stars. It shall for a long time hold a dark little place in my heart and/or hard drive.
And as for [another title] Young Rutiger, just in case you were serious, come over here…
Their feet always seemed pretty weightless, I doubt Bond would notice.
Variety show? GOOD! The OG show was the best version of those characters. None of this single-camera workplace sitcom nonsense. Sketches, running gags, musical numbers, etc with some loose backstage narrative. A human guest host for a FEW segments, not most of the damn show. (Seriously, the human:Muppet ratio in the post-Jim film and TV work has leaned WAAAAY too far toward human)Also? No more Pepe and ease off on Rizzo. If anyone is taking suggestions.
Holy Jesus, a sequel to a specific Muppet movie? Yeah, no, that’s a terrible idea. I don’t get how the Disney brass hasn’t figured out that the best version of the Muppets isn’t “some other movie or show, but using the Muppet characters” but is “The Muppets, AS “The Muppets”, transparently putting on a show. Often poorly, but with enthusiasm and unexpected heart.” When you get right down to it, The Muppets are silly. It’s all vaudville-style gags that were already ancient when the Muppets were brand new. Is jokes that were already old when George Burns squirted out of his mama with a cigar in his mouth. It’s barely controlled chaos, an enthusiastic but unskilled production that (seeing as they ARE puppets) was meticulously choreographed to appear as total chaos. To me, it’s the epitome of, call it, forced imagination. The artificiality is obvious. Kermit is nothing but some felt and foam rubber and a pair of plastic eyes stuck on with hot glue. We know this. Five year olds know this. But me saying that right now REALLY stung some people. Because we all know Kermit is more than that. We know that even as we know his voice changes just a little from Jim to Steve to Matt, he’s still Kermit. Or when they screw things up in a poorly-conceived show. He’s still fucking Kermit.