LouisTheOtter
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2012
- Messages
- 326
- Reaction score
- 512
My apologies for being late to this discussion. I had a lot of personal and professional commitments that kept me off the forum, and I think I also needed a couple of days to digest the cancellation news, as well as the concept that The Muppets could resurface on a streaming service.
There are a lot of things I could say about this right now (and will probably say in future comments to this thread) but the short version is that I'm disappointed but not surprised. It was a troubled season for ABC all around, and with the ax falling on so many series (including two favourites of Mrs. Otter and myself, Nashville and Agent Carter), it may have been unrealistic to see ABC hanging on to a series that lost six million viewers between its pilot and its season finale.
Beyond that, I'm simultaneously sad to see it go and grateful that it made it on the air in the first place, because from where I sit The Muppets was a funny, entertaining show that has already given me some of my favourite moments of the franchise's 61-year history. And it fit that description ALL SEASON LONG, not just "post-retool."
Most of us on this forum (and elsewhere on social media) are heartbroken and annoyed now but I predict that this series, for better or for worse, will be seen as a major turning point for the Muppets. Unlike Muppets Tonight, which was a necessary (and also entertaining) series but IMHO too often went the "zany" and "wacky" route and/or relied too heavily on the guest stars, this show actually trusted the characters to carry comedic storylines over the course of a 22-minute episode, a daunting challenge for writers, producers and performers alike. With only a few exceptions, it came off as genuine, organic, and progressive and makes me excited about the future of our fuzzy friends.
When you stop and think about it, this is arguably the toughest test a lot of the Muppet performers have faced, and they passed with flying colours. Think of how fleshed-out David Rudman's Scooter and Janice, Bill Baretta's Rowlf, and especially Matt Vogel's Uncle Deadly (who now has his OWN TWITTER ACCOUNT!!!) have become. These characters, and many others, took significant leaps forward this year and were given screen time not normally seen in the post-Jim years.
And while I still have my issues with how the writers handled the Kermit-Piggy-Denise dynamic (Denise's role as an ABC marketing executive should have been fertile ground for tons of fourth-wall-breaking jokes and was sadly wasted), I truly enjoyed how Steve Whitmire and Eric Jacobsen handled the tricky balance between half-hour-network-comedy humour and genuine forward movement for the frog and the pig as they enter the next 40 years of their are-they-or-aren't-they phase. This was one of several key Muppet relationships that I consider to have progressed over the run of this series, including Kermit-and-Fozzie ("Bear Left Then Bear Write" is still my third-favourite episode) and even Fozzie, Statler and Waldorf. I think the franchise and its fans will be better off as a result.
Realistically, this show was rushed to production and subsequently got caught up in the quagmire of showbiz politics at the network level, but I will look back on it fondly and I think it truly shows that the Muppets can thrive creatively in this day and age. As I've told many others, I don't simply enjoy this series because I loved the Muppets as a kid; I enjoy it because the Muppets are still capable of making me laugh, cheer and even shed a tear as I enter my mid-'40s in 2016. And, optimist that I am, I am sure we'll have that kind of Muppet experience for years (decades) to come.
There are a lot of things I could say about this right now (and will probably say in future comments to this thread) but the short version is that I'm disappointed but not surprised. It was a troubled season for ABC all around, and with the ax falling on so many series (including two favourites of Mrs. Otter and myself, Nashville and Agent Carter), it may have been unrealistic to see ABC hanging on to a series that lost six million viewers between its pilot and its season finale.
Beyond that, I'm simultaneously sad to see it go and grateful that it made it on the air in the first place, because from where I sit The Muppets was a funny, entertaining show that has already given me some of my favourite moments of the franchise's 61-year history. And it fit that description ALL SEASON LONG, not just "post-retool."
Most of us on this forum (and elsewhere on social media) are heartbroken and annoyed now but I predict that this series, for better or for worse, will be seen as a major turning point for the Muppets. Unlike Muppets Tonight, which was a necessary (and also entertaining) series but IMHO too often went the "zany" and "wacky" route and/or relied too heavily on the guest stars, this show actually trusted the characters to carry comedic storylines over the course of a 22-minute episode, a daunting challenge for writers, producers and performers alike. With only a few exceptions, it came off as genuine, organic, and progressive and makes me excited about the future of our fuzzy friends.
When you stop and think about it, this is arguably the toughest test a lot of the Muppet performers have faced, and they passed with flying colours. Think of how fleshed-out David Rudman's Scooter and Janice, Bill Baretta's Rowlf, and especially Matt Vogel's Uncle Deadly (who now has his OWN TWITTER ACCOUNT!!!) have become. These characters, and many others, took significant leaps forward this year and were given screen time not normally seen in the post-Jim years.
And while I still have my issues with how the writers handled the Kermit-Piggy-Denise dynamic (Denise's role as an ABC marketing executive should have been fertile ground for tons of fourth-wall-breaking jokes and was sadly wasted), I truly enjoyed how Steve Whitmire and Eric Jacobsen handled the tricky balance between half-hour-network-comedy humour and genuine forward movement for the frog and the pig as they enter the next 40 years of their are-they-or-aren't-they phase. This was one of several key Muppet relationships that I consider to have progressed over the run of this series, including Kermit-and-Fozzie ("Bear Left Then Bear Write" is still my third-favourite episode) and even Fozzie, Statler and Waldorf. I think the franchise and its fans will be better off as a result.
Realistically, this show was rushed to production and subsequently got caught up in the quagmire of showbiz politics at the network level, but I will look back on it fondly and I think it truly shows that the Muppets can thrive creatively in this day and age. As I've told many others, I don't simply enjoy this series because I loved the Muppets as a kid; I enjoy it because the Muppets are still capable of making me laugh, cheer and even shed a tear as I enter my mid-'40s in 2016. And, optimist that I am, I am sure we'll have that kind of Muppet experience for years (decades) to come.