One of the most anticipated new TV shows of the 2015-16 season, The Muppets premiered with great ratings. Unfortunately, the new adult take on the classic characters isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and the numbers have dropped more than 50%. ABC ordered three more episodes but, with this ratings trajectory, the series could easily be cancelled.
The network is replacing series co-creator, executive producer and showrunner Bob Kushell. Word is that he and co-showrunner Bill Prady had different ideas about the creative direction of the series. Galavant’s Kristin Newman is currently in negotiations to replace him as part of her overall deal with ABC Studios.
The plan is for the series to go on hiatus once episode 10 is completed. Those will air before the holidays. The remaining six installments will be used as an attempt to reboot and relaunch the series in mid-season.
We’ll have to wait and see if current viewers are willing to stick with The Muppets series and if those who’ve abandoned the show can be convinced to give it another try.
What do you think? Is a reboot/relaunch of The Muppets series a good idea? If you’ve given up on the sitcom, will you give it another try?
Absolutely. It is a terrific kid and family friendly show. We love the Muppets.
I think the new muppet show is great. A lot better then the movies.
It brings back the adult dark humor.
1. “THAN the movies.” 2. Which movies are you talking about? Because I’m sorry, but I’ll stick to the classics from the 1970s, ’80s, and mid-’90s than watch one minute of this glorified Office clone. 3. You want DARK humor? Stick with CBS and all their Chuck Lorre-produced “sitcoms” with all the bitter, cynical, snarky, crass, juvenile, and mean-spirited garbage that passes for humor there–including all the fat jokes, fart jokes, poop jokes, jokes about dysfunctional families, and masturbation and other sex jokes they’ve had over the years. I’m not saying tat we should sanitize EVERTHING for the kiddie, but… Read more »
*”THAT we should.” Sorry about that.
When you say “**** jokes,” I’m assuming you mean jokes involving flatulence, right? If so, I agree…as well as with the rest of what you’ve said here.. That stuff’s disgusting and has not place on TV, period. Even Nickelodeon viewers don’t find that crass, infantile trash funny, so why should those of us who prefer ADULT humor?
Right, Chuck Lorre?
LOL! I love how this site censors that certain four-letter word for flatulence, yet the word “masturbation” is left untouched and out in the open. Shows us all how backwards our morality is, I guess…which is why Chuck Lorre has been in business with CBS since 2003 and has produced shows that have lasted as long as TWELVE YEARS on TV and why shows like “the muppets” exist in the first place, regardless of the backlash it’s gotten.
My daughter started a petition last week on http://www.change.org; so far we have 5 signatures. We need a lot more! Together we can/need to revamp The Muppets, so it is inline with a more family friendly show. We cannot let The Muppets Show to be cancelled, due to not so kid friendly language.
So go onto https://www.change.org/p/abc-bill-prady-bob-kushell-renew-and-revamp-the-new-muppets-show-as-a-family-friendly-show
We thank you for your support.
Signed!
WHAT?! First off, have you ever even SEEN the show? There’s nothing wrong with this show. Secondly, I am so tired of people “trying to force” change down everyone else’s throat! If you don’t like the show because you want to shelter your kids, or for whatever your reason, DON’T WATCH IT! Don’t try to force the entire world to sit through things YOU and OTHERS LIKE YOU prefer to watch, which you call “family friendly (a.k.a watered down, baby talk) BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO DO YOUR JOB AS A PARENT AND ACTUALLY PARENT YOU KIDS! Watch something else… Read more »
Woah there! Everyone please relax. No need to acuse anyone of not parenting their kids. We’re just talking about the Muppets.
No. We’re talking about these decide-for-everyone-else people who don’t understand freedom. They want to control every aspect of everything that might affect their kids, even if others have to suffer in the process. As I said, those who don’t want their kids to see something can either change the channel or turn the T.V. off. But they should not think for a second that they the right to choose for all of us, regardless whether it’s about a show, a movie, a game, music, or anything. How about this: If this show or any other one not on the Disney-worthy… Read more »
Wow. Please don’t insult me or anyone else here. This was about ratings. And the ratings have spoken. The show can try a course correction and hope folks who stopped watching turn it in again or the show is most likely history. Some folks who turned it off have the FREEDOM to start a petition inviting others who feel the same to sign it sending a small message to ABC about how they feel. The show will remain on the air or it won’t. Either way the sun will still rise. Please enjoy it.
I am an older woman and must say I love the Muppets BUT……this is not about me or anyone beyond 12 —- really! Can’t we have a wonderful, lighthearted show for children and their parents. I have children and no grandchildren and would love to be able to sit there and watch little ones having so much fun watching these delightful characters. The Muppets have been wonderful thru the years, on and off TV. Leave it on for the kid’s sake. Let’s think of someone other than ourselves!!
I love the Muppets and I’m 42 and so does my 11year old and my 74 year old dad!
I don’t understand the hate for the new show—I think it’s great and still feels like the Muppets but with a new twist.
Get rid of it. It’s not at all like the “OLD” Muppets show… No longer cute & endearing. Now it’s just garbage…. GET A CLUE DISNEY!
Seriously? It’s not supposed to be cute and endearing. It’s a re-imagining and a huge improvement over the vomitous Lawrence Welk-like old version of itself. Besides, if they wanted to take it back to the old rendition, it would fail almost immediately.
While I don’t think the new show is garbage, I’m with Rose on this. The new format is The Office with Muppets. It’s The Muppets!!!! Not supposed to be cute? Huh? At any rate, we’re all here talking about it because we all like the Muppets for one reason or another. And that’s good. I think there must be a happy medium between the old and the new.
wow, are you kidding me? Hell??? My guess is you don’t slip and swear in front of your kids, and neither does anyone else, right? I’m sure pre-schoolers hear a lot worse from their friends in pre-school. Ridiculous…
Your comment is ridiculous, “Sandi”. You may not believe it but yeah, some people don’t “Slip and swear’ (how do you “slip” and say a word?) in front of their kids. Some people are grown-ups and can control their language.
Unlike “Sandi,” apparently.
They did “re-imagine” it when they launched it with swear words. Families everywhere switched it off and that’s why it’s being canceled.
Had they launched it as a kid-friendly show we’d all still be watching & the actors and actresses, creators, etc. would still have jobs. Kid friendly sells, there’s not much of it anymore so families grab on with both hands. And if you think it doesn’t sell, check out “Frozen” sales.
It doesn’t have swear words, what are you talking about? It’s rated PG.
The very first episode had “Hell” in it, last night’s episode had “Damn”. You’re delusional.
Excuse me? “Huge improvement” over the mostly fun, harmless variety show that lasted a solid five seasons before its cancellation? Granted, the Muppets MAY have originally been made for adults, but at least back in the day, Jim Henson and company could tactfully and tastefully throw in some adult humor into the mix of the original Muppet Show without making it so overt that it would make parents sound the alarms–something that you, sadly, had forgotten before passing your poorly founded judgment on it. I’m sorry, but your calling the original Muppet Show “vomitous” just makes me question your tastes.… Read more »
While I do agree that the classic variety show would be a costly genre to reinvigorate these days, I’ll tell you flat-out now that I’d MUCH sooner welcome a new sketch comedy show, Muppets or not, than yet ANOTHER boring, witless, brain-draining, run-of-the-mill mockumentary like this program has proven to be this past fall. Also, for you to call this show a “great improvement” over the “vomitous” Muppet Show really shows me how out of touch you are with the latter, which is, quite frankly, insulting towards the late Jim Henson himself. At least Jim knew how to sneak in… Read more »
As sad as I am that Jim Henson has been dead for nearly twenty-six years now, I’m at least glad that he doesn’t have to read such blatantly heartless ignorance such as you calling his baby (The Muppet Show) as “vomitous” just because you apparently don’t think it’s aged as well as most other people would like to think and you feel that The Muppets—which he had absolutely NOTHING to do with, save for the fact that his creations are a part of it—is a “huge improvement” over TMS, despite being one of the most polarizing shows ever to hit… Read more »
i need to bleach my eyes an beat myself with a hammer to forget this garbage
I watched this show 1 time and all it was about was backstage talking. There was never any actual comedy like there was in the original. Nobody wants to see boring preshow meetings and mindless content.
Absolutely agree with KOA. The Muppets does need to be kid-friendly. It’s a bunch of puppets with a history of being kid-friendly. How would you millennials feel if we brought back Power Rangers but have them porn style? Watch one episode of that with your kids and see how you feel about your childhood being cracked over the head.
No, kill it and be done with it for another 10 years. We all need to let this mess drown in history before we see Kermit and his friends again.
>> How would you millennials feel if we brought back Power Rangers but have them porn style?
Uh…I’m not sure you actually understand millennials, as there are whole websites dedicated to porn style Power Rangers and they would love something like that on TV, but realize the networks won’t allow it because of the religious people.
Both episodes I’ve watched is not close to porn style anyway. It’s rated PG and besides little innuendo like the movies, it’s kid friendly.
Don’t EVER pass a sweeping judgment against ANY particular group of people. The millennials of whom you speak don’t represent the entire generation. There are PLENTY millennials who don’t even care about the Power Rangers, and even those who do would MUCH rather prefer their childhood heroes in situations that more resemble the shows they grew up with or–if they DO prefer a little bit of “edge”–in situations that involved just a little bit of profanity here and there and perhaps a dash of violence more reminiscent of the typical PG-13 action movie. Increased sexual content, on the other hand?… Read more »
Yeah, because ALL millennials like porn, right? And ONLY millennials? Are you sure these pornographic Power Rangers sites you’re talking about were even created by millennials for millennials in the first place and not by members of the so-called “Generation X?” You know, the generation whose members keep whining about how the baby boomers ruined the world for them and everyone after them and that the millennials are nothing but know-it-all brainwashees of those nefarious baby boomer scumbags rather than potential allies in what should be a war in favor of common sense and upright morality? Yeah, I know that… Read more »
I can’t speak for all millennials, but I personally would avoid Power Rangers porn like the plague. Porn is trash, no matter who’s in it or what it precisely involves.
No, they should cancel it and bring back Forever
Agree, not sure what ABC is thinking – trying to save a stupid show like the Muppets, but yet they cancelled Forever and Motive – two of the best shows on their network or any other network.
Yes, bring back FOREVER & MOTIVE… and probably a lot of the other really good shows. Instead they give us more & more crap…. Jim Henson must be rolling over.
I watch almost nothing on ABC since they started to zap the shows that were good & tried to “make” us like the junk they want us to watch… They’d do better just to run all the old Disney shows, cartoons & movies… that would keep us all watching.
Sorry but while I too enjoyed Forever, shows are cancelled due to low ratings and Forever’s were too low, period. Cancelling The Muppets won’t bring back anything.
I AGREE!!!!!!!!!!
No, not everything needs to be kid friendly. But this is THE MUPPETS! The old Muppet Show spoke to young and adults no problem. A guest star for the adults and silliness for everyone. I don’t think most people want a “The Office” version of The Muppets.
So, Coffeemarc, what IS kid friendly these days?
Good question. First we have to define what “kid friendly” means. It’s something parents have to deal with constantly. Actually the new show IS kid friendly in that there is no ghastly violence, profanity, sexual situations, drug use, etc. But that doesn’t mean the majority of youngsters will find it interesting. In the end, it’s an opinion of whether or not the show is “good” or not. It’s produced well, but those of us who watched The Muppet Show with our family more likely miss the fun of that. Dinner time, the music started, and we all turned our heads… Read more »
I like it. Not everything needs to be kid-friendly. I hope it stays.
Then It Will Die Because It Is Not Working The Ratings Are In The Toilet
The show is toast. It seems that Disney has crossed over to the DARK SIDE. ABC family tanked because it stopped being family. Re-branding the station in January will not help. And trying to kick start the Muppets in 2016 is not going to help either. The damage has been done.They need to bury the characters for about ten years, wait for people to forget and the healing finish and then maybe try again. And while I’m at it, why is it that these television folks find it necessary to infuse sex into these types of shows? They come off… Read more »
There is no sex in the show.
I agree. I HATE forced humor of any kind, but gratuitous raunch is the WORST. I don’t care how popular certain shows that have this kind of “comedy” (i.e., the typical CBS schlock produced by that perverted frat boy Chuck Lorre) are; such humor, more times than not, has no timing to it and certainly no effort put into it. It’s cheap, childish, lazy, crass, and obnoxious. Then again, we’re living in an era in which the media has long been marketed towards the lowest common denominator and the masses will settle for ANYTHING that doesn’t require them to actually… Read more »
I love the muppets