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It's easy enough to suppose the Muppets of "The Muppet Show" are instantly recognisable to "surely everyone," but it might also be all too easy to get to thinking that from the moment that show went into reruns, its characters and all the puppety creations affiliated with them were left trying to live up to a greatest hour. In making a joke of this just a few years ago, their first new movie in years seemed to attract a lot of positive attention; I went to see The Muppets myself at the movies and liked it. However, I didn't get around to seeing its followup, and when I heard of a new television show declared to be trying a new take on things I could get to wondering about it having to try and climb that decades-high hill once more.
Part of the leadup to the new show was making a big deal of Kermit and Miss Piggy having split up; I might have just wondered about not having dwelt too much on them being together in the first place, but that's no doubt an artifact of my peculiar lightly developed interest in "shipping." I decided to try out the new show all the same. Setting it behind the scenes of a "talk show" left me reflecting on how "The Muppet Show" might have been the last big example of "variety shows," but it seemed a good way to update the concept while still bringing in guest stars. More than that, though, I could definitely tell some of the jokes were ones "grown-ups" would get. There are times I wonder about the follow-up to something that appealed to kids only seeming intended to appeal to those who used to be those very kids, but there might be a bit of an escape hatch in this one case in comments overheard about the very first days of Jim Henson's puppets (who, among other things, were making commercials for coffee). If it's "interesting because it does feel just a little odd," though, with some of the oddness seeming to be an emphasis on the current inherent unhappiness of the main characters, that's another thing again. I would be interested in seeing more episodes of this new show and where they go, but I'm also aware it might wind up another brief experiment.
Part of the leadup to the new show was making a big deal of Kermit and Miss Piggy having split up; I might have just wondered about not having dwelt too much on them being together in the first place, but that's no doubt an artifact of my peculiar lightly developed interest in "shipping." I decided to try out the new show all the same. Setting it behind the scenes of a "talk show" left me reflecting on how "The Muppet Show" might have been the last big example of "variety shows," but it seemed a good way to update the concept while still bringing in guest stars. More than that, though, I could definitely tell some of the jokes were ones "grown-ups" would get. There are times I wonder about the follow-up to something that appealed to kids only seeming intended to appeal to those who used to be those very kids, but there might be a bit of an escape hatch in this one case in comments overheard about the very first days of Jim Henson's puppets (who, among other things, were making commercials for coffee). If it's "interesting because it does feel just a little odd," though, with some of the oddness seeming to be an emphasis on the current inherent unhappiness of the main characters, that's another thing again. I would be interested in seeing more episodes of this new show and where they go, but I'm also aware it might wind up another brief experiment.