Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.
Ever since The Walt Disney Co. bought The Muppets in 2004, Disney’s efforts to keep the characters alive for new generations have met with limited success.
From a TV movie (2005’s “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz”) to a sitcom (ABC’s 2015-16 “The Muppets”) to streaming series (Disney+’s 2020 “Muppets Now,” 2023’s “The Muppets Mayhem”), Disney’s attempts to extend the property have bombed more than they’ve succeeded.
A 2011 feature film starring Jason Segel did well at the box office, but then its sequel, 2014’s “Muppets Most Wanted,” did not.
And it wasn’t just that some endeavors disappointed financially. Creatively, many stalled, failing to capture the feel of the best Muppet properties, 1976-81’s “The Muppet Show,” 1979’s “The Muppet Movie” and 1992’s “A Muppet Christmas Carol.”
One positive exception was Disney+’s 2021 “Muppets Haunted Mansion,” a welcome use of original music and celebrity guests that also served the Muppet characters well, likely due to the participation of longtime Muppets director Kirk Thatcher, who wrote and directed the special.
Now Disney is giving the Muppets another try with a faithful reboot of “The Muppet Show,” streaming and airing as a one-time special on Disney+ (3 a.m. Feb. 4) and on ABC (9 p.m. Feb. 4, WTAE).
Set in the original Muppet Theater — where the 1970s syndicated TV series took place — “The Muppet Show” is a co-production among multiple entities, including Seth Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures. Rogen cameos as himself, briefly, when he learns his act will be cut from the show for time. (“I’m an executive producer!” Rogen protests. Fozzie Bear replies, “Then you can let yourself know we’re going in another direction.”)
This “Muppet Show” is the sincerest effort yet to re-create the manic lunacy and charm of the original and feels of a piece with the series that started it all.
“Isn’t it wonderful to be back in the theater again,” Miss Piggy says, “giving the people what they really want — moi!”
Curmudgeons Statler and Waldorf comment on the proceedings, as they always have.
“I can’t believe they’re doing the old show again,” Statler says.
“Well, if it ain’t broke …” Waldorf responds.
“They are broke, that’s why they’re doing it!” Statler retorts.
Sabrina Carpenter is the human guest star, singing her song “Manchild” in a scene that ends with a wind machine being turned to “hurricane” force, resulting in mayhem that rearranges performers’ wardrobes. Carpenter also duets with Kermit, singing “Islands in the Stream” as Piggy tries to join the performance. (Maya Rudolph also makes an appearance as an audience member.)
The plot of the special is the idea of restarting the “Muppet Show,” which Kermit acknowledges may or may not continue beyond this one-off special.
There’s no “Pigs in Space” segment, although those characters are seen in costume in the theater, but there is an experiment with Dr. Honeydew and Beaker, that, of course, goes sideways in the most rollicking, silly way possible.
As shown in the special’s trailer, the “Muppet Show” theme song gets deployed and this special ends with the entire cast of Muppet characters performing a rousing rendition of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” perhaps a not-so-subtle plea to Disney execs to order a full series. As a longtime fan, I would not object. “The Muppet Show” brings the Muppets back in the most natural, unforced way possible that’s true to the characters and the spirit of the franchise.
The end credits reveal that this “Muppet Show” has ties to Pittsburgh-based Fred Rogers Productions and its puppet series, “Donkey Hodie.”
Puppeteers Frankie Cordero, Stephanie D’Abruzzo (a Peters Township High School grad), former Point Park University student Haley Jenkins and David Rudman, who all perform characters on “Donkey Hodie,” also performed characters for “The Muppet Show.”
Jenkins recently directed a new music video iteration of Fred Rogers’ classic song “It’s You I Like” featuring the “Donkey Hodie” puppet characters.
