stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2015-09-26 07:55 am
stevenpiziks) wrote2015-09-26 07:55 am
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Muppets: FTW!
I watched the premiere of MUPPETS TONIGHT. And oh! I was happy with it!
I love the mockumentary format. It effortlessly flips from the Tonight Show style show the Muppets are running to the drama backstage to talk-to-the-camera snippets and back again. The format leaves a lot to explore. They can have mutliple guests, if they want (and they did on the pilot), or they can have just one. They can have short sketches or long, and they did. And it was inspired to have the musical guest play during the end credits. When I watched THE MUPPET SHOW back in the 70s, a musical guest always meant the show came to a screeching halt while the guests played, and I hated that, but this let the musicians play, interact with the Muppets (in this case Animal and Sweetums), and wrap up the show all at once. Brilliant!
Miss Piggy is the host of the show, with Fozzy as her announcer. Again, brilliant. Miss Piggy's snark and temper make her a hilarious interviewer, and I don't know why they haven't done this before.
Kermit, meanwhile, is running his flippers off as the show's producer. He's no longer the host, and it works. He has more than enough to do backstage, and we see him trying to juggle a show that involves so many disparate personalities, to great comic effect.
The heart of the show remains Kermit and Piggy and their long backstory. They've broken up, and the flashback scene where we see it happen is strangely tender and tearful. It contrasts hilariously -- I keep using this word -- with Kermit's confession to the camera, "I guess I've always been attracted to pigs."
It is fresh, it is funny, and we will continue watching.
I love the mockumentary format. It effortlessly flips from the Tonight Show style show the Muppets are running to the drama backstage to talk-to-the-camera snippets and back again. The format leaves a lot to explore. They can have mutliple guests, if they want (and they did on the pilot), or they can have just one. They can have short sketches or long, and they did. And it was inspired to have the musical guest play during the end credits. When I watched THE MUPPET SHOW back in the 70s, a musical guest always meant the show came to a screeching halt while the guests played, and I hated that, but this let the musicians play, interact with the Muppets (in this case Animal and Sweetums), and wrap up the show all at once. Brilliant!
Miss Piggy is the host of the show, with Fozzy as her announcer. Again, brilliant. Miss Piggy's snark and temper make her a hilarious interviewer, and I don't know why they haven't done this before.
Kermit, meanwhile, is running his flippers off as the show's producer. He's no longer the host, and it works. He has more than enough to do backstage, and we see him trying to juggle a show that involves so many disparate personalities, to great comic effect.
The heart of the show remains Kermit and Piggy and their long backstory. They've broken up, and the flashback scene where we see it happen is strangely tender and tearful. It contrasts hilariously -- I keep using this word -- with Kermit's confession to the camera, "I guess I've always been attracted to pigs."
It is fresh, it is funny, and we will continue watching.