Official: "The Muppets Mayhem" Disney+ series premieres Wednesday, May 10, 2023

[Phillip]

It's finally official. Get ready for the first-ever Electric Mayhem series. Hopefully, we get the first-ever Electric Mayhem album release as well.

‘Muppets Mayhem’ Series a Go at Disney+
‘The Goldbergs’ creator Adam F. Goldberg is behind the comedy starring Lilly Singh.

Disney+ is taking another swing at a Muppets TV series.

The streamer, following a lengthy development process, has handed out a series order to comedy The Muppets Mayhem, with Lilly Singh set to star.

The series — which will feature Dr. Teeth, Animal, Floyd Pepper, Janice, Zoot and Lips — is described as a music-filled journey in which the 45-year-old band comes face to face with the current-day music scene as they attempt to go platinum. The Goldbergs creator Adam F. Goldberg, Bill Barretta and Jeff Yorkes developed the series based on characters created by Jim Henson. Barretta is best known for doing the puppetry and voices of Rowlf the Dog, the Swedish Chef, Dr. Teeth, Bobo the Bear and Pepe the King Prawn, among others, after inheriting a many of the roles following Henson’s passing. Goldberg, Barretta and Yorkes will serve as writers and produce alongside Michael Bostick and Chris Eber. The Muppets Studios’ David Lightbody and Leigh Slaughter will also exec produce.

The comedy will follow the Electric Mayhem Band as it records its first-ever album. Lilly Singh will star as the human lead, Nora, the junior A&R executive who is tasked with managing and wrangling the band that originally debuted in the pilot for The Muppet Show in 1975. (Watch the band’s debut, below.) Sources say the 10-episode comedy will begin filming in April.

“We are so excited to bring the story of The Electric Mayhem Band to the front and center of this new series. They’ve been entertaining audiences since The Muppet Show, which debuted 45 years ago, so it’s wonderful that these characters are finally getting to play lead rather than supporting roles,” said Lightbody, senior vp at Disney Live Entertainment and The Muppets Studios.

The Muppets Mayhemmarks the latest series in the Henson-created franchise at Disney+. The streamer previously teamed with Barretta for Halloween special Muppets Haunted Mansion. The Electric Mayhem series is the second attempt by Disney+ to revive The Muppets as an ongoing series. The first attempt, Muppets Live Another Day, was scrapped after creators Adam Horowitz, Eddy Kitsis and Josh Gad walked away from the project after a months-long development process that resulted in creative differences following an executive change that installed Lightbody at the helm of Muppets Studios. Disney+ also is the home of shortform series Muppets Now.

The Muppets Mayhem hails from ABC Signature and marks the first series for Goldberg after he moved his overall deal from his longtime home at Sony Pictures Television to Disney’s ABC in 2019. “Adam F. Goldberg is our resident Muppet enthusiast at Signature and getting to play in the sandbox with Bill, a longtime Muppet performer, as well as these beloved characters was a dream come true for him, Bill and Jeff,” said ABC Signature president Jonnie Davis. “Their take is fresh, fun, musical and of course, hilarious. We couldn’t be happier to be the studio that is helping them get the band back together.”

The series, from Muppets Studios, is being overseen by Ayo Davis’ Disney Branded Television unit. “The Muppets are renowned for quality, creativity and unrivaled, fun storytelling for the whole family,” said Davis, Disney Branded Television president. “We are thrilled to have Adam, Bill and Jeff at the helm to bring all of these iconic and great new characters to life in fresh and dynamic ways.”

For her part, Singh previously hosted an NBC late-night series, A Little Late With Lilly Singh. Muppets Mayhem marks her latest venture with ABC Signature after she had a recurring role in season two of the studio’s Hulu comedy, Dollface. She is readying a Netflix show from Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and continues to have a first-look deal with NBCU’s alternative TV division.

‘Muppets Mayhem’ Series a Go at Disney+

‘The Goldbergs’ creator Adam F. Goldberg is behind the comedy starring Lilly Singh.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[LittleJerry92]

Okay, this has me genuinely curious now

 

[datman24]

Seems promising. I just hope it’s not another Office-type series where they have the characters talking to the camera with how they feel about whatever they’re going through.

 

[mbmfrog]

Seems promising. I just hope it’s not another Office-type series where they have the characters talking to the camera with how they feel about whatever they’re going through.

I feel like this could be a combination of the previous attempts at making the Muppets relevant with their previous shows, but this time it is more focused on the Electric Mayhem band and it could work this time around given the band’s individual personalities and character traits.

 

[MWoO]

As soon as I saw Lilly Singh was involved, I lost all hope this might be good.

I feel like this could be a combination of the previous attempts at making the Muppets relevant with their previous shows, but this time it is more focused on the Electric Mayhem band and it could work this time around given the band’s individual personalities and character traits.

I thought we had learned from "The Muppet" in 2015 that The Muppets need to be an ensemble cast. Doing a show that centers around the Electric Mayhem sounds like an interesting special or movie idea, but an entire show? If they include all of the characters as supporting roles than perhaps it can work, but if they try to make the 5 or 6 members of the band the only characters I don't think it's going to work. Time will tell, though.

 

[minor muppetz]

I am glad this is finally confirmed. Of course, it could always be canceled (I hope not).

I've seen people on the Tough Pigs forum talking about how they hope the band isn't developed too much, as they disliked their development on the 2015 series and feel they are better as supporting characters (I've always felt like they could hold a production and just haven't... well, Dr. Teeth, Floyd, and Janice could carry a narrative better than Animal, Zoot, or Lips could), and some fans have pointed out Disney musical series that are more an excuse for musical numbers with minimal linking scenes. I could go for either concept, though I would much prefer a show that focuses more on the musical numbers and aspects of the band, with a little plot and some humorous linking scenes.

I could go for other Muppet characters showing up, maybe similar to how other Looney Tunes characters showed up on The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, or the use of other Sesame Street characters in Elmo's World.

The plot has the band wanting to record their first album, so I guess that's the case in universe (though the Muppets never follow canon). I really hope this leads to an official Electric Mayhem album. I could go for three albums - an "Electric Mayhem Classics" album, a soundtrack for this series, and an album of all-original tracks.

As much as the fan base has grown tired of "Rainbow Connection", I feel like I would like to see The Electric Mayhem do a rockin' rendition of the song. Just without Kermit being with them.

I wonder if there'll regularly be musical guest stars. It would be cool to see each episode contain a performance of a song with a guest pop star singing one of their hits with The Electric Mayhem.

Wow, I planned an April Fools post this year about 2022 being planned as "the year of The Electric Mayhem" (inspired by the rumors of this series as well as the announcement of action figures), guess I'll reject that plan now.

I thought we had learned from "The Muppet" in 2015 that The Muppets need to be an ensemble cast. Doing a show that centers around the Electric Mayhem sounds like an interesting special or movie idea, but an entire show? If they include all of the characters as supporting roles than perhaps it can work, but if they try to make the 5 or 6 members of the band the only characters I don't think it's going to work. Time will tell, though.

Considering Muppets Now is just six episodes (don't know if they considered another season or if it was always planned as just a six episode series), I wouldn't be surprised if The Muppets Mayhem was a similarly short series or season. With that in mind, it won't be so bad if it primarily is just The Electric Mayhem.

 

[Phillip]

From the Hollywood Reporter article:

Sources say the 10-episode comedy will begin filming in April.

This series might be 10 half-hour episodes or even 10 11-15 minute short-form episodes. We'll have to see. Regardless, it seems there's a clear beginning, middle, and end planned for this storyline.

 

[MWoO]

I believe Muppets Now was never meant to be a 30 minute show to begin with. It was originally meant to just be the segments individually, posted as if it were a YouTube Channel. They got cobbled together into 30 minute episodes with little to nothing connecting them. Hopefully this new show doesn't get screwed with and they can maintain whatever creative direction they begin with.

 

[datman24]

As soon as I saw Lilly Singh was involved, I lost all hope this might be good.

Is there something bad about her we should know about?

 

[DARTH MUPPET]

I loved the Muppets 2011 movie and I loved Muppets Most Wanted I thought it was big time Muppets nostalgia! I loved the Muppets 2015 show I'm probably in the major minority on that one but I loved the 2015 show. Muppets now was forgettable but I was pleasantly surprised by Muppets Haunted Mansion! I think Muppets Mayhem sounds Epic I cant wait!