The Muppets is getting ready for its return to ABC, but fans will see a different series during the next five episodes. Many fans were not thrilled with the more adult feel of the series, and ABC was also disappointed by the tone the series took.
A new showrunner was brought in to change things, and Paul Lee addressed the press about The Muppets at the Winter TCA’s over the weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he said:
“Expectations were very high, but we didn’t quite feel that it had the joy, the laughter and the heart that we were looking for.”
Kristin Newman is the new woman in charge of the series, and she spoke about the changes she is trying to make to the series in an interview with HitFix. She said:
“More heart, more zaniness. I wanted to see the Muppets getting to perform sketches and bits on “Up Late with Miss Piggy,” so we could use the fact that a late night show is really the modern version of a variety show, and getting to see the Muppets doing sketches and bits of things like they used to do. Not the old ones, but modern versions of them: Fallon-esque and Kimmel-esque sort of bits.”
She is also bringing in a human villain for the group to take on together, and fans will also see a happier Miss Piggy. She will realize some things about her life during a trip, and Kermit will take notice of her new attitude.
The Muppets will return to ABC on February 2nd. Are you a fan of the series? Are you excited for the changes ahead? Tell us what you think.
Why does it even have to be set in modern times? Why not jsut go full nostalgia & set it in the late 70s/early 80s?
I am a huge fan of the series! Certainly hope the changes add to the flowing zaniness and keeps us adults interested. Really refreshing to see the puppets acting their
Might want to check it out on Feb 2nd return at 8:00 however, I ‘m pretty sure it is to air at 8:30pm eastern time
I love the new muppets. Its amazing to me how they can get “puppets” to speak, dance talk and interact. Anyone ever think about how they do this? Some pretty talented people, is how. It’s tough enough to put on a series with real live people – but to do it with all that coordination and control?
amazing !! And if anyone doesn’t think its funny – so sad…..
I love the muppets and I love this show. A quick question I saw that it was being switched to 8:00 on this website when they posted ABC’s mid season premieres but my comcast DVR still has it for 8:30. Are they not switching or do you think that Comcast didn’t fix the schedule yet?
It’s being moved to 8:30pm so it sounds like Comcast hasn’t updated the listings. Last night’s rerun aired at 8:30pm also.
So glad they’re changing it. It was absolutely not ‘kid friendly’ before and for those of us that grew up with THe Muppets, not being able to share it with our kids was hugely disappointing.
What was not kid friendly about it? I watched it with my kids, I didn’t have to cover their eyes or anything.
I love the new Muppets, it was entertaining, and was good for a lot of laughs