The Muppets 1.11: “Swine Song”
“Swine Song”
Since I’ve unfortunately fallen a bit behind on reviewing The Muppets, I’m going to be playing catch-up in my next bunch of posts, reviewing the rest of the season one episode at a time. And here we go!
As anyone closely following The Muppets knows, there has been a bit of backstage drama surrounding the overall creative direction of this still-young series which ultimately led to one of the showrunners, Bob Kushell, leaving and being replaced by Kristin Newman, who has co-executived such beloved cult series as Galavant and Chuck, and who promised to help the show course-correct, keeping the new innovations that work while restoring some of the heart and zaniness that many long-time fans felt were missing from the early episodes.
Read MoreThe Muppets 1.10: “Single All the Way”
Kermit, donning now his gay apparel.
After the previous triumphantly, brilliantly Gonzo-centric episode, “Going, Going, Gonzo,” I was extremely happy with The Muppets, the show having done such a beautiful, seemingly effortless character rehabilitation for everyone’s favorite Whatever following shortly on the heels of its skillful rehab of Kermit in the 7th episode, “Pig’s in a Blackout,” and Miss Piggy in the 6th, “The Ex-Factor”. In addition to that, whereas some of the earlier installments had found some difficulty maintaining the right tonal balance, retaining the bite of the classic Muppets without losing their heart, these demonstrated a show finally getting a handle on both its characters and material. At the same time, the 8th episode, “Too Hot to Handler,” was a bit of a step backwards in quality, albeit far from damagingly so, but just enough to give me momentary pause over whether the show had indeed
Read MoreThe Muppets 1.09: Going, Going, Gonzo
Gonzo and Uncle Deadly listen to Kermit.
As much as I loved The Muppets‘ first episode, the show still started off with a few growing pains that revealed themselves more in ensuing episodes, mostly in regards to finding the right Muppety tonal balance. Initially, the show seemed so concerned with establishing itself as something closer in anarchic spirit to the earlier Muppets versus the kid-friendlier versions of the years since Jim Henson’s death that it neglected some of the warmth and heart that was also always intrinsic to the Muppets. And at the same time, that anarchy still felt as if it was being kept a bit in check, with nary a chicken or dancing penguin in sight and a sometimes-too-conventional framework.
While even more zaniness could still help things further, in the past few
Read MoreThe Muppets 1.08: “Too Hot To Handler”
Scooter goes on a date with Chelsea Handler.
So far, The Muppets has had a mix of episodes that were mostly fantastic and ones that were more uneven, with genuinely brilliant elements side-by-side with ones that just didn’t work very well, for various reasons–plotting, characterization, what have you. Tonight’s, “Too Hot to Handler,” however, is the first that doesn’t inspire a rave nor a significant complaint from me.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say “it’s just there,” because there’s a lot about it I did enjoy, mostly revolving around Scooter’s surprising romance with Chelsea Handler of all people, but overall, it falls significantly short of exceptional while also not containing anything particularly objectionable. After two truly terrific episodes, this one is…perfectly all right, and if that
Read MoreThe Muppets 1.07: “Pig’s in a Blackout”
Jason Bateman harangues Kermit.
It’s difficult to say without having seen the rest of the season–particuarly whatever will come after the upcoming hiatus, during which The Muppets is apparently going to be retooled, although to what extent isn’t yet apparent–but I’m very tempted to pronounce that, after a few uneven outings, the show is on an upswing.
Last week’s episode wasn’t the show’s funniest overall but it finally gave Piggy the sort of nuance and depth that she’d been largely missing since the pilot and in so doing infused the proceedings with a great deal of warmth, which many have accused this new Muppet show of lacking. This week’s, however, is even better, as not only is it riotously Muppety–the first time arguably since the pilot or the second episode that the show has
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