DisneyPlus - Muppets Now: our review of the first episode

By Mulder, 31 july 2020

"So we've been told
And some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see...
Some day we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me" - Rainbow Connection, Kermit the Frog

Muppets Now is an American comedy television series produced by The Muppets Studio. Directed by Kirk Thatcher, the series is an improvised situation comedy based on Jim Henson's The Muppets franchise. Muppets Now is The Muppets Studio's first original series for Disney+. Over the course of the six-episode season, Scooter rushes to meet its deadline and download the all-new Muppet series for streaming. As it turns out, the episodes must be delivered now and he will have to overcome all the obstacles, distractions and complications that the rest of the Muppet crew will impose on him.

We all remember the excellent 1979 series The Muppet show which was not only great in terms of its excellent sketches but also in terms of its many, many guests. Other series followed like Muppets tonight (1996-1998), The Muppets (2011), The Muppets (2015) but also many movies were proposed like The Muppet movie (1979), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), Muppets treasure island (1996), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and more recently Muppets most wanted (2014). Over time, the Muppets characters seemed to have reached their golden age and experienced their decline as they lost a large part of their audience. However, fans of these characters continued to hope for their return either in a new TV series or a movie.

When we heard that a new series dedicated to these characters would be launched on Disney +, we were a little worried about how they would be treated. The target of this new series could have been only a young audience and thus the series could have deprived itself of long-time fans. This series would again like the latest series to date lack that grain of madness that made all the charm of the original series. The first episode fulfills the wish of many viewers and confirms that this reboot goes back to the very sources of these characters and adapts them to our current society in which new technologies have taken an important part in our lives. In the same way, in this period of pandemic in which new tools are taking up even more space, we will think in particular of Zoom, which makes it possible to discuss by videoconference, as here Kermit the Frog and Scooter, which serve as a link between the four segments proposed.

This return to the very source of the formula that made the success of the original series is concretized in this first episode by four sketches: Lifesty with Miss Peggy, Muppet Masters (with Kermit and Walter), Okey Dokey Kookin (with Swedish chef) and finally Mup close & personal. Impossible to get bored even if only one minute in this first 22 minutes long episode allows us to see Taye Diggs, Linda cardellini, Carlina will, Rupaul as guest stars.

Lifesty with Miss Peggy makes a mockery of the world of fashionable Youtube girls who only want to show off even if they don't recognize their glaring flaws (the face slapping massage is just hilarious). This sketch shows that the Muppets haven't lost any of their corosif humour and the presence of Taye Diggs and Linda cardellini reinforces our total adhesion. Muppet Masters is a way to pay tribute to one of the Muppets' characters and is presented by Walter. In this first episode, we discover a new facet of Kermit the Frog. Our favorite sketch is Okey Dokey Kookin with Swedish chef who gives us a memorable cooking class. Finally, Mup close & personal is a tribute to the American talk show.

This first episode is directed by Rufus Scot Church, Vito Massaro, Christopher Alender and allows us to have a great time with many laughs on the program and an unstoppable nostalgic touch. We can only agree with this new cult series available since this day in the United States and which we hope will soon be available in France.

Synopsis:
Overflowing with spontaneous madness, surprising guests and more frogs, pigs, bears (and more) than is legally allowed, the Muppets unleashed themselves in Muppets Now with the kind of amazing foolishness and heartfelt pleasure that first made them famous.

Muppets Now
Producer: Todd Kauffman
With Bill Barretta, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz, David Rudman, Matt Vogel
Executive Producer : Andrew Williams, Bill Barretta Sabrina Wind
Production: Muppets Studio, Soapbox Films
Distribution: Disney Media Distribution
Original Network  Disney+
Release date: from 31 July 2020 (United States)

Written by Boris Colletier