ABC
When ABC’s updated take on The Muppets premiered in September to 9 million viewers, the network felt it had a surefire hit on its hands. Since the debut, the show has slipped to 4.4 million viewers, certainly not gigantic numbers for a major network but it still ranks as the number one new show on Tuesday night.
The Muppets took an unusual route to getting on air with just a hastily cobbled together last minute presentation in April which was quickly put into production for its September premiere before a solid concept, style and tone had been set. The new series was put into the hands of Bill Prady and Bob Kushell, but because of Prady’s commitment to The Big Bang Theory on CBS, Kushell was the showrunner with Prady visiting two days a week.
With the hectic production which requires a different style of shooting in order to blend the puppets and humans seamlessly, and clashes between Kushell and Prady over the show’s tone, not to mention Prady’s part-time involvement, ABC has ousted Kushell as showrunner with Galavant‘s Kristin Newman in talks to replace him.
With the show’s middling success, ABC extended what was to be a limited 13-episode first season to 16 episodes, with a mid-season break coming after episode 10. When the show returns in 2016 with its final six episodes of the season, expect some major changes as the network overhauls the show, looking at the second part of the season as a complete reboot.
What this means for the show is anyone’s guess at this point, but all of this behind-the-scenes drama makes one wonder if the changes are truly due to clashing styles (it is said that Kushell was well-liked by cast and crew) or if ABC is caving in to pressure mounted on the network by groups like Focus on the Family and One Million Moms which have been vocally protesting the comedy’s “grown-up” content, forgetting that The Muppets have always had a subversive adult bent to them while still being able to entertain children.
Will the reboot ditch the concept of Miss Piggy’s late night talk show and go back to a more Muppet Show version of the characters (which ABC toyed with a few years ago with Muppets Tonight), bringing back the variety aspect of the old show, or will they stick with The Office docu-series style of storytelling? If ABC is actually working under the pressure from these self-appointed watchdog groups, then the new The Muppets could be a very different show when it returns.
How do you feel about The Muppets? Do you like the current version of the show or would you prefer to see it revert back to something like the classic The Muppet Show, gearing it more towards children? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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I’ve been enjoying it from the beginning as I knew I would from the style of the early promos that set the watchdog groups on fire…
The thing the watchdog groups don’t seem to understand is that this grouping of muppets is what Generation X grew up with, and we, who grew up with them WANT an adult humored version of “our” muppets…!!! Today’s children don’t look at Fozzie the way they look at the ones THEY are growing up with on Seseme Street (Elmo, Zoie, etc), they’re two different groups for two different generations, and ABC has done a great job of making it a show my friends and I watch/TIVO on the regular. Sure, many folks at the beginning just tuned in to see what all the controversy was, but after that curiosity was met, you still were left with 4.4 million viewers of a hardcore loyal fanbase that are enjoying it…myself…the ComicCon crowd…the folks that keep Superhero movies popular…even my girlfriend (not a Muppet fan) has softened to enjoy it with me each week. There’s a reason it’s still the #1 show on prime time Tuesdays and that lots of comedy actors (including myself) would love to work on it…it’s fun, it charming, it’s current and it’s cool…the LA references it uses are SO relatable to us that live here in Hollywood and it has moments of true charming (4.4 million hearts melted seeing Kermit beautifully singing Rainbow Connection again in his backyard pool now converted into a swamp). Hopefully ABC will stay the course for us fans and not drop the ball by catering to the demands of the ever-over-politically-correct watchdog mom groups whose kids are busy watching porn on their iPads while their moms are so busy not paying attention to them as they fight to whitewash a show that their kids don’t even care exists…
Thank you for your comments. I agree wholeheartedly that the people whining about the “grown up” content of the show have obviously never watched the original The Muppet Show and just correlate these Muppets with the Sesame Street Muppets. The Muppets have always catered to adults while being family friendly (like most good “children’s” shows and movies, Pixar being a great example of who does it right). Kids won’t get the adult references. It’s just the adults who are uptight thinking their kids are going to be damaged. The problem is that we, collectively, have allowed these special interest groups the power they have to bully networks, producers and advertisers into doing what they want because no one stands up and says they do not represent the rest of us. They are a small but vocal minority but they make the most noise and that’s how they get their way. It’s time for the rest of us to speak up and take that power away. I hope ABC is not caving, but only time will tell.
I’ve been enjoying it but there’s room for improvement, I hope they don’t ruin it completely
I’m just worried that this is more about caving to the special interest groups than the reasons given.