The Muppets Episode 11 - Swine Song

[MuppetGuy75]

Another outstanding episode! Uncle Deadly and Bobo the Bear can easily steal the show. They always have the best dialog! With that being said, Miss Piggy dressing up like Miley Cyrus was hilarious!!! She cracks me up!

 

[antsamthompson9]

Bill Barretta told me Peter Linz plays Gloria Estefan. Yay! Peter finally has a character on the show.

 

[jobi71]

I think a good way to look at this episode is like it is episode 1A of the first season. Not everything was in place, but there are a lot of good spots they can expand on. Here are my thoughts for what it is worth:

I think the whole rebranding/rebooting/back from break worked well in this episode. I mean the Muppets have never shied from being meta. That said I hope that Pizza/Pache (how should his name be spelled here?) has some different ideas/plots when he appears again. I also hope he is a "from time to time" character rather than appear in most episodes.

The slight tweak to the opening credit sequence let me know that they were on the right track. I love that Piggy has a cup of Starbucks (?) or whatever the Muppet version is since Kermit is too timid to take from his friends.

I am pleased that many supporting Muppets had decent screen time. Bobo, Pepe and Rizzo seemed to have more time than most episodes. Also Yolanda, Janice, Sam, Rowlf (!), Carl and Lew (God bless him) had their moments. And Deadly. He is clearly the Muppet most destined to have a spin off show.

In short I await the next episode not with cautious optimism but with full on excitement.

 

[ploobis]

Once again, Uncle Deadly steals the show!

 

[Big Bird Fan]

I looooooove Gloria Estefan. It's so adorably awesome and paired with Deadly it's comedic gold.

Kermit/Piggy duet was very adorable. I bet they'll get back together in the season finale.

Loved hearing them sing the Muppet Show theme. Hopefully we'll keep getting more music in future episodes.

This "reboot" didn't feel like much of a reboot at all, which is a huge relief. Based on some interviews it sounds like the new show runner gets the show and is going to keep things like the last few episodes.

Add me to the list of people grateful there was no Scooter's mom jokes. If they were something we only heard once in awhile I think they'd be more effective and less annoying.

 

[Drtooth]

I enjoyed this episode around as much as the last solid batch before the break. But what made the episode really stand out was the subtly.

The show pretty much addressed the main complaints of the series. "It's too talky," clearly a reference to how the show goes for verbal humor instead of physical slapstick comedy. The "making old stuff relevant" bit about the show struggling to find that audience they were going for. All and all, not only did they work the changes into the plot, but it actually added some much needed tension for the series. Another subtle bit I really loved was that instead of just doing rehashes of old Muppet skits (in this episode anyway) they went for the kind of skits they normally would have on a Late Night Talk show like this. Pepe the Uber Driver screamed Jimmy Kimmel/David Letterman, and Bobo's beat poetry reading of Real Housewives rants is clearly Jimmy Fallon/Conan O'Brien-esque. It either comes off as a tongue in cheek homage or a backhanded compliment.

My only two, I shudder to say disappointments, but my only two issues with the episode were that Key and Peele really should have had more screen time with the characters, and indeed they should work with them again in the future. Their all too brief performance was memorable and funny as a Key and Peele appearance should be. But I'm forgiving as they were sacrificed for the sake of plot. The other thing, well... I really wish they would have waited a couple episodes for Denise and Kermit to all but break up. I liked the idea of the spark between Kermit and Piggy that they both knew was there and they avoided was brought out. Now, I will say if Galavant has taught me anything it's that in the case of cancellation (biting my own tongue) it's nice to not leave huge things cliffhanging. So I would imagine they'd try to get the Pig and Frog back together by episode 16. Still, I really wish that the tension between Kermit and Denise would stew a little longer. Seems that, while I respect and admire the fact they've addressed the show's problems, they really went after the bit about those who hated Kermit being with another Pig a little too swiftly.

But overall, great changes and things can only look up the next 4 weeks.

 

[mr3urious]

So far, this re-tool has been really great. We got to see the Muppets being their Muppet-y selves a little more than usual, and we got a solid (single) plot of the gang being pressured by the higher-ups to "stay relevant" and coming up with something great in the context of Up Late (something that mirrors the Muppets' struggle to do the same), giving us a little taste of the new sketches they have there without them being too heavily focused on. Also loved Key & Peele playing off of them with their usual manic delivery, as they do on their own show. And Gloria Estefan the Penguin (so-named because it was the only Spanish name Piggy knows, not because of a Michael Bolton case like I thought it would be) was too cute interacting with Uncle Deadly and boozing it up with him, and I hope we get to see more of their budding friendship as the show goes on.

Kermit's old feelings for Piggy and his dilemma with Denise might be a recurring theme as the season finale nears, which sounds like some nice story potential, at least in terms of the way it's executed (it didn't get resolved in the end, and it could be the start of a story arc). And Pache (or Pizza, as he insists on spelling it) the branding guru is coming off as a fun antagonist.

Also, I'm grateful that Piggy's dressing up and acting like Miley Cyrus came off as a lot less cringeworthy in the context of the show. It wouldn't be out of character for her to think she was "too outdated" in the figurative and literal sense and desperately act otherwise.

 

[Muppetboy09]

Gloria Estefan was the highlight of this episode. I am not sure if anyone noticed this, but there was a ridiculous amount of product placement on tonights episode. Usually, they are subtle, like Kermit using a Macbook, but tonight, they were legitimately mentioning Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Chuck E Cheese, Little Caesars, Uber, Etsy, Apple (Siri), Shark Tank, Toblerone. I might be looking too closely at it, maybe some of these were NOT sponsors, but I just felt at some points the name dropping was a bit excessive. Overall, good episode. I feel like the "sketches" weren't overly strong, but I am sure they will get into the swing of things, or should I say "Swine" of things.

 

[oknazevad]

This episode did exactly what it needed to do. It actually wasn't all that different from the last couple before the break, indicating it was more a tweak than a reboot (which is what I predicted), but for those who didn't watch it every week before the break, it was just enough to show the differences without seeming too jarring of a change. Subtle thing, like the opening, where Iermit actually seemed enthusiastic about getting things started instead of resigned to the issue. (Which is what some of the early criticism called out specifically, that Kermit seemed to be unenthusiastic.)

The sketches were great. As DrTooth said, they were just like the sort of sketches one would see on Fallon or Kimmel, so they are very appropriate for the-show-within-the-show while still being outright hilarious and sweet in their own right.

And the Muppet Show theme was perfectly used to illustrate the return of the heart and joy of the Muppets. Though it really hasn't been missing these last few episodes; after a bit of a glimpse in "Bear Left, then Bear Write", it really came back in "Pigs in a Blackout" (which, of course, ended with "The Rainbow Connection", letting everyone who saw it know). But like I said, this episode was there to show just that to those who hadn't seen the last few episodes. I feel fortunate to have not missed them myself.

 

[dwayne1115]

Fozzie was funny with his one line