REVIEW: Edgier humor, documentary style works amazingly well for new ‘Muppets’
About a month and a half ago, when news of Kermit and Miss Piggy’s “breakup” surfaced, I saw two words on social media used heavily: “Childhood destroyed.”
Strangely enough, that’s exactly what “The Muppets” does.
The newest show to feature Jim Henson’s puppet creations is out to destroy childhood perceptions — or at least the idea that the Muppets are for kids. While the characters are the same, the situations and humor are more edgy and eyebrow-raising than any other iteration since the original “The Muppet Show” aired in the ’70s.
In this case, that’s a good thing. The result is one of the smartest, sharpest-written comedies I’ve seen in a long time.
Modeled loosely after the single-camera, documentary-filming concept of “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” “The Muppets” is a show about the crew of a late-night TV show as portrayed for some upcoming reailty-TV project. The show is filled with stories of the characters doing their job and living their Hollywood-based lives.
Kermit plays the executive producer of “Up Late with Miss Piggy,” the diva star of the show. Gonzo, Fozzie, Doctor Teeth and Electric Mayhem, Scooter, Pepe the King Prawn and the rats all work behind the scenes to keep the show going.
The first episode, “Pig Girls Don’t Cry” (which debuts at 7 p.m. Tuesday Joplin time), gets right into the action of the show that Kermit and Miss Piggy alluded to when publicly announcing their breakup. One of the arcs is how the two figure out how to work together after a long, romantic relationship ends.
As you might expect: Not well.
In the first episode, Piggy tells Kermit to dump guest Elizabeth Banks on short notice, for reasons known only to her. In the second episode, “Hostile Makeover” (set for broadcast on Sept. 29), Kermit’s plan to calm Piggy down by setting her up with Josh Groban backfires when the new couple bring their own ideas to the show. Kermit’s life managing Piggy’s extreme behavior while keeping the show on top is “a bacon-wrapped hell on Earth.”
Banks and Groban aren’t the only cameos. Over the first two episodes are appearances by Tom Bergeron, Jay Leno, Reza Aslan, Laurence Fishburne, Imagine Dragons, Lea Thompson and many others. Virtually every iteration of “The Muppets” has always featured outstanding cameos, and these don’t disappoint.
In fact, the Muppets are better than ever. Expertly voiced and played by their puppet handlers, the oddball creatures blend in seamlessly with real life. From typical scenes of the flailing that passes as dancing to Fozzie driving a car, it’s easy to forget that these are puppets.
That’s partly because of how “the breakup” was handled. In the official press materials from ABC, I couldn’t find a single reference to Eric Jacobson and Steve Whitmire, the voices of Piggy and Kermit, so showrunners are all in on this concept. Why not? It works brilliantly on the screen.
The newest twist is the darker, more adult-based sense of humor. The ham-fisted, pun-tastic, feel-good yuk-yuks of previous “Muppets” versions have been replaced with more bite and honesty.
The show was co-created by Bill Prady, of “Big Bang Theory,” and Bob Kushell, “Third Rock from the Sun.” Executive producer and director Randall Einhorn, who was the documentarian on “The Office,” has brought the same sensitivity and sharpness that he used in “Parks and Recreation,” “Modern Family,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Wilfred.”
The concept gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the real lives of the fictional Muppets — Fozzie struggles with meeting his girlfriend’s parents, band members deal with addiction and the rest of the crew suffers real-world consequences from Piggy’s whirlwinds of rage. We learn that the Muppets are even more like us than we thought, because they grew up.
In talking about Denise, his new girlfriend, Kermit says they met at a crosspromotional synergy meeting, and ended up “crosspromoting.” Fozzie talks about what happens when, on a dating site, he describes himself as “a passionate bear looking for love.” The band members eat lots of snacks, because marijuana joke.
The only misfire is Denise, Kermit’s new girlfriend. Already the character has received a backlash from fans since her introduction, and there’s not much in the first episode that will sway opinions. The girl from marketing has a horribly overdone Southern drawl and tells bad jokes in writing meetings. In a world where a king prawn lives quite happily out of water and a blue, curvy-nosed bird named Gonzo exists, Denise is less believable.
I can see where some people would watch “The Muppets” and get the same feeling that they did when they found out that Miley Cyrus from “Hanna Montana” started twerking in public. I know I did a double take when Kermit shared his thoughts about Lea Thompson, but a scene where he rebukes Gonzo for a terrible idea is similarly startling. This is definitely a different kind of “Muppets.”
But it’s a really hilarious version, filled with moments of outrageous humor and genuine warmth. It will shock viewers, but it will also make them laugh harder than they have in a long time, because it’s still “The Muppets.” The extra characters and cameos perform seamlessly. The cinematography is beautifully subtle — the integration of sets that accommodate puppets and humans is simply genius. And all the setups and jokes lead to satisfying, surprising payoffs.
In fact, the biggest testimony to how successful the show is involves the sticks that control Kermit’s arms. Producers never bother to edit them out, even though the technology to do that is available. Any viewer can see the sticks, plain as day, and remind themselves that Kermit is just a styrofoam-shelled, stuffing-filled puppet that will go into a case at the end of the day, not home with Denise.
But they don’t. They see Kermit. They see the beautiful magic of incredible artists bringing the Muppets to life.
Hadsall is the features editor for The Joplin, (Mo.) Globe.