I am the oldest fan on this board right now. I watched the original show, and I watch the reruns before many of you were born. It was never a children show. Never.
There's not been a thing that came out with the muppets that I haven't watched and didn't support. I have t-shirts older than most of you.
I have always been against "mean" Kermit. I don't mean snarky, sarcastic Kermit, who made an OCCASIONAL appearance on TMS. I mean the rude, obnoxious, fat-pig joking Kermit that showed up around the time that Muppets Tonight came out. But I watched that, too. (If you read my fanfiction you'll know that I include characters from every incarnation.)
I'm not prudish. Nope. Not me. (Again, look at my fanfiction.)
I am a fan, but just like I don't like everything my own children do, I don't have to like everything the characters do to be a fan.
I am sad that Jim is gone. But I have not said that the Muppets could not, or should not go on without him. Bless those stalwart muppeteers for doing their best for us, regardless of the script! I have been a staunch supporter and purchaser of all the things that they have done. (I also have mugs older than most of you.)
My main objection to the show can be summed up in the following: Just give me a show worth watching and people it with characters that act like themselves.
In a way, it's very insulting for the writers to assume that--just because these are puppets instead of people that we won't notice if they don't act like themselves. (When Disney took over, they initially tried to do character appearances with puppeteers that were NOT the actual characters' puppeteers. They didn't think anyone would care. We cared.)
I have not recommended that anybody else stop watching, and I allowed myself to be persuaded into watching again when I thought I was done watching mean Kermit be abusive and insulting and manipulative to Piggy. When I watched again, a sweeter side of Kermit emerged--for Fozzie. He's still being a jerk to Piggy, but the old Kermit might be in there somewhere. And no, I don't think Jim has to be there for the old Kerment to appear. When I say "old Kermit," I'll take the Kermit that we saw in The Muppets, who finally came roaring back, saved his theater, reunited his friends, and professed his love for Miss Piggy--all the while entertaining us with songs and skits.
The question is: Why on earth can't I have that?
It was on the strength of that that the muppets came back. When MMW came out, Disney had wrestled it out of the hands of fans (large and small) and THEIR big, original idea was to trot out a mixture of the same old tired stuff--a Kermit-Piggy will-they-or-won't-they wedding (good grief--they're already married!!)--and some new, stupid stuff, like Kermit getting replaced by an imposter and having NO ONE notice except the one guy who doesn't know him as well as all of the others.
It really shouldn't surprise us that--duh--Disney STILL doesn't know the characters.
Fix the characterizations (which could probably be solved by giving the muppeteers their heads--or rather their hands.) and have someone who knows the muppets write funny things for them. (You can bet darn sure that Bill Party wouldn't let just any script get slapped onto the Big Bang theory cast--those characters have particular characteristics that make them THEM. Don't our guys deserve the same respect?
I'm watching. I'm not happy, but I'm watching, and mis-characterizing fans like me doesn't make new fans appear. It takes a good show to do that. They should probably get right on that.