I could list all of the things wrong with the new Muppets tv show, and few that were right *.
I could list all of the things wrong with the new Muppets tv show, and few that were right *. Summary: Nope. Big old Nope.
Egregious thing that tore it pour moi - casual offhand reference to at least verbal child abuse, coupled with definite lead into cut off reference to associated violence. These Are The F@#! Muppets, What The H#%^ Are You Doing?!?!
* Basically, several of the human actors were waaaay better than the rest of the show. Tom Bergeron had one line and he was better than most of the show.
P.S. Child abuse is not funny. In fact, no genuinely abusive behavior is funny. Clearly, no one working on this show understands the difference between comic violence/abuse and the real thing. This makes them idiots.
Egregious thing that tore it pour moi - casual offhand reference to at least verbal child abuse, coupled with definite lead into cut off reference to associated violence. These Are The F@#! Muppets, What The H#%^ Are You Doing?!?!
* Basically, several of the human actors were waaaay better than the rest of the show. Tom Bergeron had one line and he was better than most of the show.
P.S. Child abuse is not funny. In fact, no genuinely abusive behavior is funny. Clearly, no one working on this show understands the difference between comic violence/abuse and the real thing. This makes them idiots.
I was so afraid this would be the review :-/
ReplyDeleteI am sure there are people for whom this will find an audience. The longer version I didn't write would have included that info. It's like a lot of shows that are or have been out there for the last 10+ years. But it could be any show with any puppets, for the most part. And the Muppets, to me, were all about the ultimately hopeful/positive spin on things, even while throwing in plenty of reality and cynicism. This show right now is all negatives.
ReplyDeleteThis new show is far more like 30 Rock or The Office than The Muppet Show, though there is some small homage paid to it here and there.
ReplyDeleteIt was quite clear about 10 seconds in that it was way more for adults than for kids. Not just a show where a few lines were put in here and there that only the grownups "should" get, but ACTUALLY for adults - just maybe some more insensitive, immature adults than most of the ones with whom I regularly associate.
Drew had actually mentioned that very morning how so much of the humor in cartoons, etc., were based on violence, anger, jealousy, even bigotry, "I have to chase you because your a cat and I'm a dog, we're not allowed to get along," etc. Watching one of the first scenes of the show, he looked over and said (as sarcastically as ever), "Yeah, you remember that thing I was talking about this morning? So GLAD we've come so far on what is considered funny. . ."
Some of the lines were funny. A couple of the bits were cute. Overall, I think they made some favorite childhood characters completely unlikable in an effort to make the more like "modern people", they turned what Jim Henson called a happy place into a miserable one, and I do not think he would have approved with the premise of the show at all, let alone some of the socially and morally deaf moments in its pilot.