ABC Orders Muppet Pilot To Series!

[charlietheowl]

I find it sad that the reveiws so far have been negative. Variety didn't really like it, and Forbes hated it, so it really is not looking very good, luckly it has 2 fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes so far, but I really hope it does not going this way in the critic reviews.

I've looked at a lot of reviews and I feel like the tone so far is 70 percent "looks promising", 30 percent "stinks". I also feel like they're a slant to the reviews, that the critics who don't like it have the idea that the Muppets are this warm and fuzzy bunch all the time (mostly influenced by the Jason Segel movie), whereas the positive reviews are coming from people who remember the zaniness and sarcasm of TMS. Some people have different ideas of what the Muppets can and can't do.

 

[MuppetsRule]

I find it sad that the reveiws so far have been negative. Variety didn't really like it, and Forbes hated it, so it really is not looking very good, luckly it has 2 fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes so far, but I really hope it does not going this way in the critic reviews.

Just finished reading the Forbes review. I don't give it any credibility at all. None whatsoever. The writer doesn't even understand the appeal of the Muppets (everybody's childhood stuffed toy come to life? Really?)

Variety review I thought was pretty neutral. Maybe a little on the negative side but wasn't all that bad.

 

[jvcarroll]

The reviews have been mostly positive and the few that aren't come from people with an incorrect notion of who the Muppets are. The Forbes one was particularly awful. I guess some reporters feel that the Muppets don't warrant any legitimate research. Some folk simply do not understand these characters and haven't substantially watched the Muppet classics in years (I also think there are a few fans from who grew to know the Muppets in the 90's who fall into that camp as well).

Here are some plain facts:

• The Muppet Show spoofed variety shows because that was the current climate of television shows in the 70's. The Muppets will send up mockumentaries because that's the current climate of TV right now.
• Kermit & Miss Piggy always had sexual tension on the Muppet Show. It was actually the Muppet movies and subsequent specials that portrayed them as a couple (they also seemed somewhat estranged during Muppets Tonight and the Henson Hour).
• The Muppets have always been more about their personal lives and backstage antics than the actual show their supposed to be putting on.
• The Muppets have always flirted with human stars (sometimes in hilariously inappropriate situations).
• The Muppets have uttered salty language during Jim's days. It was rare, but some of it even came from Jim himself. Remember Rowlf on Arsenio? He used the term "son of a b****" in a sly way. I doubt Disney would allow anything like that these days, so there's no need to worry about them falling into the gutter.
• Some people aren't going to be happy either way. You can't please everybody and the Muppets shouldn't try. They absolutely should not do another vaudeville variety show. They've been there, done that, tried unsuccessfully to return to that and have learned their lesson. Instead they should find the essential elements that made things work and plug those into something new that will still have some timeless appeal. That's precisely what they're doing.

Nonetheless, the show will speak for itself. I'm hoping it will return the Muppets to normal and propel them into future relevance. More people will understand the Muppets after this show airs. Some folk will just always be wrong. That's okay. I hear there's an entire news network for wrong people. They can go there instead.

 

[Muppet Master]

So far it has a 67% fresh rating on rotten tomatoes, which is okay, but there are only 6 reviews, 4 fresh, and 2 rotten, I hope it can maintain a fresh rating or do better.

 

[Duke Remington]

The reviews have been mostly positive and the few that aren't come from people with an incorrect notion of who the Muppets are. The Forbes one was particularly awful. I guess some reporters feel that the Muppets don't warrant any legitimate research. Some folk simply do not understand these characters and haven't substantially watched the Muppet classics in years (I also think there are a few fans from who grew to know the Muppets in the 90's who fall into that camp as well).

Here are some plain facts:

• The Muppet Show spoofed variety shows because that was the current climate of television shows in the 70's. The Muppets will send up mockumentaries because that's the current climate of TV right now.
• Kermit & Miss Piggy always had sexual tension on the Muppet Show. It was actually the Muppet movies and subsequent specials that portrayed them as a couple (they also seemed somewhat estranged during Muppets Tonight and the Henson Hour).
• The Muppets have always been more about their personal lives and backstage antics than the actual show their supposed to be putting on.
• The Muppets have always flirted with human stars (sometimes in hilariously inappropriate situations).
• The Muppets have uttered salty language during Jim's days. It was rare, but some of it even came from Jim himself. Remember Rowlf on Arsenio? He used the term "son of a b****" in a sly way. I doubt Disney would allow anything like that these days, so there's no need to worry about them falling into the gutter.
• Some people aren't going to be happy either way. You can't please everybody and the Muppets shouldn't try. They absolutely should not do another vaudeville variety show. They've been there, done that, tried unsuccessfully to return to that and have learned their lesson. Instead they should find the essential elements that made things work and plug those into something new that will still have some timeless appeal. That's precisely what they're doing.

Nonetheless, the show will speak for itself. I'm hoping it will return the Muppets to normal and propel them into future relevance. More people will understand the Muppets after this show airs. Some folk will just always be wrong. That's okay. I hear there's an entire news network for wrong people. They can go there instead.

I really hope that Disney and The Muppets Studio will ignore those uninformed stupid negative reviews and stay the course and keep the show going in the direction it's going in right now, because they ARE doing the right thing here and those uncredible critics are completely wrong and know NOTHING about the Muppets.

 

[jvcarroll]

I must also apologize for the horrible grammar in my previous post. Ack! I was typing passionately and didn't proof read.

 

[Drtooth]

I honestly don't get why some critics are even in the critical field. If you don't get the appeal of the characters, why the heck are you reviewing them? That's even dumber than saying "this isn't exactly what I grew up with, so it's horrible." By all means, the Muppets deserve another shot at television. People wanted that and now that they got it, if they start whining about how not great it is, then they're welcome to their repetitive group of computer hackers fighting terrorism with vaugely geeky terms tossed in and singing competitions that yield no one we give a rat's fez about.

No, seriously. How come I hear Big Bang Theory is this big hateful nasty thing about geeks but we looooooove our Scorpion? It's the kind of show the elderly parents of a miserable unemployed or underemployed 20+ year old who has to live with them watch and say "Hey Morty! She knows the computers like YOU!"

By all means, a first episode of anything isn't always the defining moment of a show. Characters evolve, tone shifts, things happen. Look at TV Trope's page on the subject. By all means, this show has a lot of potential.

• Some people aren't going to be happy either way. You can't please everybody and the Muppets shouldn't try. They absolutely should not do another vaudeville variety show. They've been there, done that, tried unsuccessfully to return to that and have learned their lesson. Instead they should find the essential elements that made things work and plug those into something new that will still have some timeless appeal. That's precisely what they're doing.

That's why I hate Nostalgists. They whine about their shows not being around anymore, they want them back, and even if they're complete carbon copies of the original down to the last detail they whine about how it's not the same thing and want it to fail for not holding up to their expectations. I swear now with the internet all it takes is for one smug "I have a degree in something that's not going to use" type to say "I disliked it so much that I'm going to call everyone who liked it an idiot and point out all the flaws possible, even passive aggressive tidbits to justify why I'm right to hate it, like it's something to prove" to take something most were okay with and turn it into something more awful than it actually was.

But anyway. I agree. I don't want "The New Muppet Show" either. MT didn't become any real good until they abandoned the format and went outside the theater. You know, once the series was almost cancelled. Had they done that multiple celebrity, personal lives of Muppet format in the first place, they would have had something. Glad to see they're working that format now, and it seems to be far stronger than a straight up clone of the original series. The comic book did manage to bring back the Vaudeville format, to be fair, but Roger changed it up enough so it could be fresh. And without celebrities to fawn over, we had some great personal stories of the characters. Things changed since the original. We expect character development and personal arcs now. Not that it wasn't there in the old series, but not to a satisfying level. That's why I'm, excited about this series.

 

[minor muppetz]

Had they done that multiple celebrity, personal lives of Muppet format in the first place, they would have had something.

The show did have multiple celebrities. Usually only one was announced as a guest star (the only exception was the Coolio and Don Rickles one, and I've often questioned that), but very few episodes only had one celebrity (I was shocked when I first saw another human in an episode). Some episodes even had a second celebrity (George Takei, Gilbert Godfried) as part of a sub-plot (and I feel that's more than Don Rickles got when he was a guest with Coolio).

 

[scooterfan360]

well I say this I thought that I was not going to like the new format, but I got a peak of it and I like it . I thought that it was going to be a copy of tbbt and the office, but it's not.

 

[Drtooth]

The show did have multiple celebrities. Usually only one was announced as a guest star (the only exception was the Coolio and Don Rickles one, and I've often questioned that), but very few episodes only had one celebrity (I was shocked when I first saw another human in an episode). Some episodes even had a second celebrity (George Takei, Gilbert Godfried) as part of a sub-plot (and I feel that's more than Don Rickles got when he was a guest with Coolio).

I said "in the first place." Seems they changed the format once the second season came around. And, frankly, that season was far better than the first where they were trying too hard to be The Muppet Show mixed with The Tonight Show because that was considered the cool, edgy updatey thing.

For the record, even the first season of The Muppet Show wasn't...well... I'm not going to say it wasn't good, but it was in flux. The show doesn't pick up until the second season where they had more solid ideas and more serial sketches like Pigs in Space. Also when Bunsen met Beaker, need I say more. By all means, if MT went on to a third season, we would have seen episodes closer to Johnny Runs Away From Home and the Star Trek Cruise episode. The show would have come into its own, but it never got that chance. Certainly by season 3, TMS writers knew what they were doing and had a great series since the second season.

By all means, if season one of this new show's kinda offish, it will find its way in future ones, provided it gets them.