JD Hansel: Let's talk about something we all loved, the Pigs in Space videos on YouTube!
Steve Swanson: (Disappointed sigh).
JD: Yeah no, I didn't love those.
Jarrod Fairclough: Why not?
JD: I was so disappointed by the first PIS video that I haven't watched the second one. And it's been a month.
Steve: The second one was better.
Jarrod: Yeah, it was better, and I think you can spend 5 minutes watching the second one.
Steve: OK, but Jarrod, these weren't good.
Jarrod: I will completely disagree, I really enjoyed each of them. If only because it was new Muppet content that I had something to report on.
Steve: That's what I wanna talk about: right there. People will say "Oh, but it's something new from the Muppets." That doesn't matter, it wasn't good.
JD: Preach.
Jarrod: OK, why didn't you like it? I genuinely really enjoyed it.
Steve: OK, that's fine. I went into it as super jazzed as everyone else was. I wanted to see the new PIS. They made it a big thing. Next Friday, get ready for new PIS.
JD: They contacted me directly. Like, it was a big deal.
Steve: So a lot of fanfare and buildup and I just felt like the jokes were so weak. The writing was so bad. And I know the people who created this thing. Come on, you guys can do better than this, I've seen you do better than this. I felt like all the jokes were weak. I feel like PIS benefits from the Muppet Show laugh-track. And I'm not sure why it wasn't a possibility to put that element into it. But the puppetry was great. Pepe jumping in and outta the hole in Link Hogthrob's chest as if it was a trampoline or something. I mean it was a little grotesque, but it was interesting. But it just wasn't funny, Jarrod. And the second one was a solid B- if that.
Jarrod: OK, I would have flipped the order. I would've had the second one first. I think the second one was stronger than the first one, if only because it had Kermit in it. And I enjoyed the joke at the end where it was revealed that Kermit was actually a puppet being operated by Link. It felt very PIS-y I guess to me. I can understand why you didn't love it, I don't think it was their best work, but I don't think it deserves as much hatred as you're throwing at it.
Steve: Well, I don't need it to be the PIS of yore, but I do want something that I can sink my teeth into. I want something that has character. This was just a collection of bad jokes that any character could have said. I felt like the material and characters were completely interchangeable. And then it became more annoying for me, because everyone except me was saying "It's something new from Muppets. Even if it's not great, it's awesome just because it's something else from Muppets". No, you're encouraging bad behavior. If you say this is good, then it's not gonna get better, guys. You're just gonna get more of this.
JD: I think that's exactly right, Steve. I think that's true. But I'm glad one of the 3 of us was able to enjoy it, so it was not for nothing.