The Muppets Episode 8 - Too Hot to Handler

[muppetlover123]

Loved this episode!!

 

[JimAndFrank]

Too busy this week to give my usual over-analytical spiel, but I will say this:

• It was an decent episode, but didn't quite live up to the quality of the last two.
• Once again, I find it encouraging that the writers are going out of their way to give different characters a spot in the limelight. It was great to see Scooter given the A-plot. Now I'm anticipating Rizzo's!
• Uncle Deadly and Zoot, for the 5th time running, win the award for best quotes from secondary characters.
• It was nice to have a Fozzie and Kermit storyline. Just nice though.
• Huge props to David Rudman! I bet Richard Hunt is smiling from somewhere in the cosmos.

That's all I have time to say on my work break. I'll be off the site for a few days.

 

[Muppet Master]

I liked this one a lot, pretty mixed reception on here, mainly because I'm a fan of those Kermit and Fozzie friendship plots. I liked the plot with Kermit and Fozzie, it was pretty funny, and full of great jokes. The Scooter and Handler plot was good too, pretty amusing with Pepe and Rizzo giving dating advice. Also, always a fan of more Rowlf, liked his scene at the bar, overal another great episodes, also there's no muppets next week, but a rerun of pig out airs thanksgiving night at 8pm if anyone wants to watch.

 

[oknazevad]

Robot Kermit has no soul!

It was an okay episode that thankfully had a lot of funny lines to make up for the overdone plot. Though I will give the show credit for tricking me. I didn't see the Becky buying Fozzie a gift on eBay part coming.

Scooter story was okay, but did we really need two relationship plots in an episode?

Best part was when everyone thought Kermit was giving an interview. For the first time it felt like they were finally mocking the format.

Yes!!!!! Between that and the some actual acknowledgement in last week's episode that Kermit himself is a star (when Jason Bateman called him by name, there was a definite recognition that wasn't for a producer), I feel like there's some hints that maybe the creative tension we've heard about was between whether or not to recognize that these are not new characters. Simply put, if one looks at the series as a whole thus far, it almost seems like there's an assumption in the early scripts that only Miss Piggy is actually a star outside Hollywood industry circles, that Fozzy and the band are somewhat known sidekicks, and everyone else is the sort of nameless staffer that works on these shows. This despite Kermit being the biggest star of all (Don't tell Piggy I said that. I don't need to be karate chopped by her; even 24 years of martial arts cannot compete with an enraged Piggy.) Maybe that's why I liked last week's episode as much as I did. Not just the Muppety humor being in full force (which there was a good bit of this week too), but the plots (both) recognized that the Muppets have history, and are beloved, even if they still operate on negative continuity.

This week's episode was a little lighter on that in order to focus on more recent developments (namely Becky and Denise), but still had it present. (Not every episode can end in "Rainbow Connection" as much as we might want it to!) But it feels even more like our beloved icons are here.

 

[TheMuppetFan]

This was one of the best ones, so far. While the storylines were a little weak, there were a lot of fantastic gags to make up for it.

 

[Drtooth]

I feel that Scooter's nerdiness and awkwardness was a genuine angle to work with in his love interest, with Chelsea throwing herself at him only for the hunt to be more satisfying than the catch. I'm sure that's relatable to a lot of people.

I actually did like how it played out. It somehow felt like it could have been a plotline of an episode of the original show with Scooter having a crush and being too nervous about it. I sort of got vibes of the MT episode with Bobo and Cindy Crawford here (one of the best episodes of the first season). And I really feel that this episode had the heart that was missing at the beginning of the series. Now, other than that, I kinda feel the jokes about him living with his mother could tend to be the thing the character's about, and I don't want to see him go down the Principal Skinner route. Not because I find anything unsettling or insulting about it, but because it's repetitive. Hopefully that gets toned down next time.

Though if there's another critique I'll agree with, it's the show revolving around relationships and dating is kind of the weakness. And to me, it's not so much that there are relationship plots. Far from it. The show is built on Kermit and Piggy and Denise. And to the lesser extent, I like the relationship between Becky and Fozzie, mainly because I like the actress playing her. What I'll agree with is the outside relationships and dating focus. And what really could get this to work better is staggering plots about them so we don't have 2 relationship based stories in a single episode. Ideally, I think the show should do one outside plot and one "problem with the show" plot to give a nice balance of both the Muppet's wacky world and the more grounded "real life-ish" stories.

And again, I think the problem is last episode was a tough act to follow. This episode did show signs of improvement over the first four or so. 2 streamlined plots that are more fleshed out, being playful with the format, more slapstick, more heart and soul in the plot... it's definitely better than what we started off with, but when the last episode showed what the series is capable of, it feels like a relapse. But I'll be forgiving and say the script was written (or conceptualized) before the last one, and was in production before they could get any kind of feedback about how great last week was. Plus, not every episode will be on that level.

 

[drteethcool]

I really liked tonight show. I loved the part with the band. I like Denise a lot.
I wonder what the relaunch will be like.
I do like that we get to see more of the personalities of the muppets that we did not really get to see before like the band. I hope that they don't stop doing that part.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

I liked the episode. Miss Piggy stepped back from the spotlight to let Kermit and Fozzie and Scooter enjoy some time in it.

Yeah. This is the first ep all season that Piggy had a very small role. As great of a character as she is, it's nice to shift the focus to other characters every once in a while.

That Scooter's mom thing can go away, it weird and not in a good way.

I agree. His main relative that has been discussed over the years has always been his uncle J.P. Groose. It would be nice to know what happened to him. After all, a deleted scene in IVAMCM or whatever you call it implied that J.P. was dead. However, later sources say that he is still around. Is J.P. Scooter's mother's brother? I think this should be addressed.

 

[minor muppetz]

I saw the first half of the episode. What I saw was good.

I kept thinking it would have been great if there was a triple date between Kermit and Denise, Fozzie and Becky, and Scooter and Chelsea.

 

[scooterfan360]

I never been so heart broken in my life, I watched last nights episode. and I was so hurt.