The Muppets Episode 1 - Pig Girls Don't Cry (Pilot)

[minor muppetz]

I didn't get to see the first episode until it came to ABC.Com and Hulu (watched it on both sites), and it was great.

There's a few things I don't know what to make of, though:

• The fact that the crew is a mix of Muppets and humans. This is the first time that a Muppet show had humans working backstage.
• A mostly-human audience. The Muppet Show and Muppets Tonight both had audiences full of Muppets. I was put off from this when it occurred in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, but didn't mind it when the same occurred in The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted (since those showed the Muppets as a troupe of characters, so it made since to have a Muppet-free audience). Here, I can't decide.
• The fact that the camera is supposed to always be on the characters (was this the case in the presentation pilot?). Things like the break-up flashback had to be shown as paparazzi footage.
• The fact that it seems like the guests seem to be current. So guests on past shows were "current" at the time (though I feel many of them had been legends by the time of their appearances... and was Edgar Bergen "current" when he was on TMS?), but if they are there to promote current projects, that could make the show badly dated (and normally I don't care if something is dated).

What I hope for in the future:

• Music numbers. The first one only had the musical guests performing a song (I've watched it three times and can't remember if it has lyrics), but in the future, I hope we get to see the Muppets sing, and I hope that we get to have occasional musical numbers taking place backstage.
• I hope to see some of the sketches Gonzo, Rizzo, and Pepe write (we probably will), as well as more Muppet involvement on-stage. With the first episode, Up Late with Miss Piggy only has Piggy, Fozzie, and The Electric Mayhem on-stage (with the celebrity guests seemingly being more important).
• I didn't think about this until today, but it would be great if this show were to have some holiday episodes. Past shows didn't (the closest The Muppet Show had to holiday episodes are the episodes with Vincent Price and Alice Cooper, which fans often refer to as Halloween episodes, even though the holiday is never even mentioned in those episodes). Maybe they can do a Halloween episode and have elements of that long-awaited Halloween special that had been on-and-off in development.

Best scenes/lines:

• "Can't say ****".
• Janice talking about knowing Imagien Dragons, and their offer to take Animal with them on the road.
• All the negativity towards Tom Bergeron.
• Big Mean Carl talking about why he hated being called a big ball of fur (and the camera moving away from him as he's talking).
  
  Some other things:
  • While the scene showing the break-up between Kermit and Miss Piggy (which I didn't think to wonder if it'd be shown or to hope for, especially since the 2011 film cut out the scene showing why they broke up) is done nicely, Elizabeth Banks being indirectly responsible is kind of weird. So Piggy associates her with their break-up because her poster was there.... Was she in the movie Kermit and Piggy were going to see (it seems she mentions a movie as why she disliked her, not the poster, when Kermit learns the reason)? Kermit wonders how he could have forgotten, especially with the tabloid footage on the internet... Except they are never shown talking about her, maybe if Kermit argued that he was a fan of her, or if the footage ended with Piggy looking at the poster and yelling at it.
  • Both meeting scenes have the exact same characters both times, which isn't bad, but in the future, I hope they can mix it up a bit, or occasionally show more characters.
    [*[Fozzie sounds angrier than he did in the pilot when he gives the "offensive stereotype" line.
  • It seems weird for Scooter to be so aggressive in his scene with Elizabeth Banks.
  • It seems like all the main characters get at least one line (the only characters I saw who don't get any dialogue are Uncle Deadly, Lips, Chip, Behemoth, and Angel Marie). It seems like this, a 30-minute show, gives Dr. Teeth and Janice more dialogue than in either of the last two movies (not to mention Zoot's line, considering he didn't talk in those movies).
  • I didn't realize until after I was done watching, but Becky's father is named Carl, and there's Big Mean Carl. Two Carls.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

If it makes you feel any better, people have criticized me for not liking gratuitous sexual content in today's modern entertainment, and in fact, I have been told that I'm a "repressed and uncultured *******" for it. I had no idea sexual content was so refined and cultured.

Yeah. I've taken a lot of heat about that from my family, from my dorm mates when I was in college, etc.

Overall, it's the same deal about watching early "Sesame Street" things online. Like I said, some people think it's immature. But it's just part of nostalgia.

It's the same thing about having issues about swearing or as you addressed sexual content on TV, it's not being immature. It's just part of being Christian.

Again, I'm sorry for getting off subject, but this is an interesting discussion. Plus since Kermit did say the 'h' word on the show, this topic is sort of relevant. Plus, as I mentioned anyone can private message me so we can talk in more detail on this. But for now I just thought I'd put in my two cents on this.

I wouldn't count on it. One of the many soaps that ABC axed eventually got renewed by Netflix, and I remember the cast and crew were all giddy about it, because, "Yayz! We on da internets now! We don't haf 2 censor ourselves no mor! We can say what we want and show all da sex we want and we won't get n trubel 4 it!" That's why people on the internet tend to go more hogwild with their content. because they don't have to worry about censoring themselves, even though the FCC doesn't even monitor content on TV anymore, they leave it up to the individual outlets.

Yeah. I see what you mean. They sort of did the opposite with the "Boy Meets World" reboot by putting it on Disney which is a much cleaner, kids-type network. So I guess they will be going the other direction by putting "Fuller House" on Netflix. Kind of a disappointment.

Pooh-pooh to the TV-14-rated shows that rely on crude, clichéd phrases and actions. Whatever they have going to maintain the balance between kids and adults is something I definitely look for in a TV-PG rated show. I wasn't put off by anything in particular, although occasional references to God are used. Apart from AFV, It's pretty much the only evening show on ABC I would watch this time around.

Maybe that's my problem. I just watch the shows and don't always watch for the ratings. Especially since they use the S, D, L, V now it should be easy to tell when there's a lot of bad language or sexual content on a show. But that's not always the case. I have seen shows that were rated TV-PG, L with no cursing it at all. Then they sing about the word 'he**' in a G-rated Thanksgiving parade. So overall, it's hard to trust the TV ratings. system.

• While the scene showing the break-up between Kermit and Miss Piggy (which I didn't think to wonder if it'd be shown or to hope for, especially since the 2011 film cut out the scene showing why they broke up) is done nicely, Elizabeth Banks being indirectly responsible is kind of weird. So Piggy associates her with their break-up because her poster was there.... Was she in the movie Kermit and Piggy were going to see (it seems she mentions a movie as why she disliked her, not the poster, when Kermit learns the reason)? Kermit wonders how he could have forgotten, especially with the tabloid footage on the internet... Except they are never shown talking about her, maybe if Kermit argued that he was a fan of her, or if the footage ended with Piggy looking at the poster and yelling at it.

Yeah. I didn't quite get the whole story either which is why I've wanted to watch that scene again which I haven't had a chance to do. But it's interesting to know that I'm not the only one who was confused there. Lol.

 

[D'Snowth]

Yeah. I've taken a lot of heat about that from my family, from my dorm mates when I was in college, etc.

Well, the thing about that is in this day and age -where a sense of values takes a backseat to everything- you're considered "square" by the masses for thinking otherwise. Then again, there's always been problems like that with each decade: it's kinda-sorta what the hippies were all about in the 60s, being free, bucking establishment, things like that. So yeah, you're always going to face some kind of flack for perspectives like that.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Yeah, that's why I prefer to hang out with friends who are Christian and have the same moral values that I do.

 

[ploobis]

The 1st episode is now on Hulu.com!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/846726

 

[Ladywarrior]

Well, the thing about that is in this day and age -where a sense of values takes a backseat to everything- you're considered "square" by the masses for thinking otherwise. Then again, there's always been problems like that with each decade: it's kinda-sorta what the hippies were all about in the 60s, being free, bucking establishment, things like that. So yeah, you're always going to face some kind of flack for perspectives like that.

But as older sitcoms and stuff have proven you can be funny without being vulgar. Usually when I watch a TV show "comedy" with a lot of that stuff in it I end up annoyed and not amused.

 

[D'Snowth]

Yes, but back then, they actually had something called Practices & Standards, which were a set of rules and guidelines of the things you couldn't say or do on television . . . which is pretty much everything you do see on television today.

But yes, as I've said numerous times before: give me reruns or DVDs of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, BEWITCHED, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, M*A*S*H, HOGAN'S HEROES, GREEN ACRES, THE ODD COUPLE, and SANFORD AND SON over THE BIG DANG THEORY, MODERN FAMILY, or really anything on TV today any day. I'd say SEINFELD and EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND were the last "good" sitcoms TV ever saw - and yes, I'm aware the former had a lot of sexual humor as well, but it's minimal and tame compared to sexual humor in sitcoms today.

 

[Ladywarrior]

I'm not some weirdo or an old fart of anything I just prefer clean entertainment over the raunchy stuff. clean humor is IMO a whole lot funnier than all the stuff around today, this is why I am hoping and I'm sure it won't happen anyway that the Muppets won't get anymore "edgy" than it is now. and yes I am aware The Muppet Show was geared toward adults but id THAT show rely on overly sexual humor in it? I watched it on youtube and it felt pretty clean to me. Yes there was some inuendos in there and some of the skits were a little "questionable" but they weren't XXX stuff. XD

Unless you consider the Pilot's version of "Love You To Death" as Dr. Teeth implying not so nice things. O.O

 

[D'Snowth]

That's what I said a few posts back that much of entertainment today has very little or no middle ground as far as target audiences are concerned. Shows like TMS, and even Rocky and Bullwinkle, had sneaky adult humor that would go over the kids' heads and get laughs out of adults, but it wasn't so raunchy or vulgar that it wasn't inappropriate for kids, even though they wouldn't get it. Cartoons like ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE and COW AND CHICKEN had that kind of humor; that kind of humor, while kids might not get it, can get a laugh out of how absurb the characters seem to be. That kind of humor is why Lou Berger wanted to write for SST.

But again, entertainment today is usually divided into kids only and adults only.

 

[GuySmileyfan]

Love it! Although, I'm disappointed that Rowlf isn't in that episode. But, I know he's in the show. He'll show up eventually.