You may have heard that the Muppets are returning to prime time. ABC has high hopes for the reboot of Jim Henson’s show about felt puppets entertaining audiences with a style of theater that was already fifty years out of date when the original Muppet Show aired. The network is already promoting the new series: this week it arranged for the “discovery” of a frog that looks just like Kermit.* It’s been many years since the Muppets put on makeup and lit the lights, and the world has become more complicated. That can be the only reason why the new show will be ‘more adult’. The official logline of the new series states “The Muppets return to prime time with a contemporary, documentary-style show that—for the first time ever—will explore the Muppets’ personal lives and relationships, both at home and at work, as well as romances, break-ups, achievements, disappointments, wants and desires; a more adult Muppet show, for kids of all ages.”
I must be missing something. Wasn’t the core storyline of the original show the ups and downs of the love life of Kermit and Miss Piggy? Wasn’t that adult enough? But as Entertainment Weekly reports, “apparently producers are planning a series that will go deeper into the soap-territory that is the trademark of ABC’s biggest hits like Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. Grey’s Anatomy? Scandal? Okay, if that’s the case, I’m calling it right now: Kermit’s new nickname should be McGreeny. And Miss Piggy better pull an Olivia Pope and glug beaucoup de vin rouge. The new series will continue the mockumentary trend of The Office and Modern Family. Expect to see the Swedish Chef and Beaker mumbling incoherently to camera, while in the background Rolf holds his head in his paws in despair.
* A spokesperson for ABC claims the discovery of the Kermit-lookalike glass frog is “a coincidence.” Yeah, right.
