Video: "The Muppets" Official ABC Trailer

[Erine81981]

Can't wait and I'll have to go back and watch it several more times to get more out of it. *Kermit hand arm wailing* YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

 

[jvcarroll]

Bear Man's "uh-oh" is a concern worth airing (and I must admit I was surprised by how quickly the whole thing went from concept to pilot to series).

For me, though, it's counterbalanced by the fact that Brady's had the series concept percolating for a decade, and that he sees the current series' parodying of Office-style mockumentaries as a natural progression of TMS' skewering of the '70s variety-show format.

Honestly, there are days that I don't think enough emphasis is put on this intrinsic truth about The Muppet Show - sure, it was often heartwarming and even heart-tugging, but the driving force behind the series was that it was a PARODY. (After all, are guest stars blown up, eaten, dressed up in asparagus suits or turned into talking sandwiches on any other variety shows?)

The trepidation is understandable, but this didn't really just happen overnight. It evidently took the better part of a decade to come to fruition. Entertainment moves so fast now. It seems that things are either in active production or they're dead. This loose format frees up the characters to string together a bunch of short subjects so I don't really see the short pilot as a cause for concern. The one valid criticism I heard about last year's film was that it was too bogged down in plot and didn't move fast enough. This show seems to have remedied that. I'm hopeful.

You're also right on the mark in terms of parody. There's this false idea that the Muppets and their vaudevillian roots are somehow precious. I think overcoming that false perception has been their greatest obstacle. The Muppets should be free form and fun, not retracing old steps and tired dynamics. It's about time the pig had some competition.

 

[cjd874]

I'm truly excited by this new trailer! It's great to see the classic characters (Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo) mingling with the TMS-era Muppets (Pops, Wayne & Wanda) and newer ones (Big Mean Carl, Pépe the King Prawn, Walter). Plus, Bill Prady used to be a Muppet writer before getting involved with The Big Bang Theory, Dharma & Greg, and various other famous shows. So he must know a thing or two about the Muppets' unique brand of humor. I'd like to see how he and his writing staff mix that with the more modern-sitcom humor that we've seen in his other shows (Fozzie's human girlfriend is a brilliant move, in my opinion).

Next fall I have class on Tuesday nights…but I'm still looking forward to watching each episode online if I can!

The Muppets' new series is now on Facebook! 92,000 likes and counting! Search "The Muppets ABC."

 

[gbrobeck]

Just watched the full 10 minute pilot (as I work for an ABC station) and it was pretty funny. The online trailer pretty much gets the gist of it, but it works better in its full form. Probably some of it will end up getting reworked into the first episode of the actual series. Can't wait til fall!

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

Seems great to me!

 

[Drtooth]

You're also right on the mark in terms of parody. There's this false idea that the Muppets and their vaudevillian roots are somehow precious. I think overcoming that false perception has been their greatest obstacle. The Muppets should be free form and fun, not retracing old steps and tired dynamics. It's about time the pig had some competition.

I tend to think of the Muppet Show as both an homage to old school entertainment and a little backhanded compliment to the other variety shows of the day. But that show is only one part of what the Muppets offered. The strange thing is, it seems most casuals will either see the Muppets as only the show or only the movies with a smaller group that confuses the movies and the TV show. You know, the kind that wonders why something from the show isn't in the new movies when it was never in the movies to begin with.

MT tried to get back that dynamic of the last show in the context of a show it wasn't. And it didn't work that well, especially with cheap substitute skits that weren't nearly as funny or clever. The show was still trying to be a reality show with talk show clumsily added in. This series is taking a different spin on that and focusing on the background dynamics of the characters. Essentially taking a note from the good, final episodes of MT. And an overall blending of new and old style that both prevents retread territory and keeps a nod to their roots seems to be what this franchise needs. I don't see a direct TMS clone succeeding as a show or concept outside of comic book form, and even that was altered to its advantage. Yet, I don't see a show working without some clever nod to that, either. This sounds like a great balance.

 

[minor muppetz]

Bill Prady has said that The Muppet Show was a parody of variety shows. I never thought of it as a parody - just thought of it as an actual variety show (with puppets and more convenience regarding filming). He said that if this was a variety show, it would be reviving the format as opposed to satirizing it. It would be great if variety shows were revived.

I thought of some possible fridge brilliance regarding Chip's cameo (at least if it was supposed to be Chip and they didn't just refer to the character as a random obsucre character and use any random puppet there was: Kermit doesn't remember him, but Chip is one of those characters who operated separately from the main characters. He was part of Gorilla Television, who took over the Muppets broadcasts. While Kermit did acknowledge the signals being taken over, he never seemed to acknowledge who was doing it (as if he was unaware of Gorilla Television). In fact with the way Chip said he thought he was from a holiday special, that could be him awkwardly avoiding admitting that he was part of a group who tried to prevent the Muppets from being on TV (maybe even posing as a spy now).

Of course, there's also the fact that he was among the KMUP-TV crew, lived at the Muppet boarding house, and was at the Christmas party in IVMMCM, but the Muppets don't focus on continuity.

 

[gbrobeck]

Chip had another cameo in the full version of the pilot... continuing the running gag that he can't remember which Muppet production he was in.

"Was I in Muppet Treasure Island?"

 

[Duke Remington]

Chip had another cameo in the full version of the pilot... continuing the running gag that he can't remember which Muppet production he was in.

"Was I in Muppet Treasure Island?"

Were there any other obscure characters too?

 

[minor muppetz]

Chip had another cameo in the full version of the pilot... continuing the running gag that he can't remember which Muppet production he was in.

Do you recall whether he actually referred to himself by name?

I wonder if it's better that it's an actual obscure character, or if it would have been funnier if it was a previously-unseen character, so that none of us would know who he was (if they didn't want to spend money building a new character just for a gag they could have just used a Whatnot).

When the series begins, I wonder if elements of the pilot will be included (maybe extended to a full 30 minutes), or if the basic plot will be expanded and the pilot scenes reshot. Hopefully we'll at least get to see the 10-minute pilot within a year, whether it's a bonus feature on the DVD or it's uploaded on YouTube (if all scenes from the pilot are worked into a full episode, and there's nothing significant left out of the long episode, then this would be preferable to a bonus feature) or included with the show on Netflix or whatever.