{"id":20958,"date":"2020-07-29T17:11:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T00:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20958"},"modified":"2020-07-29T17:11:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T00:11:09","slug":"muppets-now-presents-a-new-update-on-the-classic-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20958","title":{"rendered":"MUPPETS NOW Presents a New Update on the Classic Series"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This Disney+ series will be available for streaming on\nJuly 31st<\/sup>, beginning with the first episode. A new episode will\nfollow weekly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the mid-1970s, The Muppet Show<\/em> burst onto the\nTV scene and became a phenomenon. It was a family-friendly variety show that juggled\nsketches, musical performances and celebrity interviews, creating iconic\nmoments for families nestled around the television. Over the years, many movies\nand new shows featuring the characters have been produced. The recent\ntheatrical features were excellent updates, allowing the Muppets to maintain\ntheir distinctive humor while taking part in epic, big screen adventures.\nHowever, a more adult-oriented 2015 TV-series based around the felt figures\nmissed the mark (at least, it did as far as this reviewer was concerned) and\nwas quickly canceled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This week, Kermit, Miss Piggy and the others are back once\nagain with a new Disney+ program called Muppets Now<\/em>, an attempt to modernize\nthe original formula. Based on the first four episodes, the results are mixed,\nbut there are some funny sketches. The show may need a little more work, but there\nis potential and one hopes that after a little fine tuning, later shows will end\nup providing great family entertainment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The series is described as being largely improvised, although that may be an exaggeration given the props and scenarios. It\u2019s a web series that features tech expert Scooter retrieving segment files and loading them up for viewing, all the while chatting online with Kermit and other Muppets. Many of the segments are repeated, with the most common being a series of competitive cooking challenges involving the Swedish Chef. There is also a themed scientific experiment clip with Professor Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, self-help lessons and advice featuring Miss Piggy, as well as a game show hosted by Pepe the King Prawn. Taye Diggs assists Piggy on a few of her scenes and Linda Cardellini also appears in several Zoom chats with the porcine host. RuPaul and others also drop in for interviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like any sketch show, it\u2019s all a bit hit and miss. The numerous\ncelebrity guests help, surprising viewers and reacting (or trying to keep\neveryone calm) in amusing ways as chaos and comedy builds. However, there is a\ntendency for the humor to skew a little young and when episodes are viewed back\nto back, the segments do feel repetitive. Obviously, it\u2019s a lot more work and\nexpense to build additional sets and involve more Muppets, but the concept\ncould use more variety, including unexpected skits and perhaps even a musical\nnumber now and again (there is a distinct lack of performances this iteration\nof the program). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still, there are few sharp moments, particularly in the\nsecond episode. Specifically, one of the cooking competitions that features the\nSwedish Chef facing off against actor Danny Trejo. The concept featured\ninvolves the cook finding it difficult to match up against his adversary,\neventually concocting haphazard dishes. The chef\u2019s take on a mole chicken taco does\ndeliver laughs and when his improvised \u201cdish\u201d begins commenting on itself, the\nresults are hilarious. It\u2019s strange as a critic to comment on the comic timing\nand expressions of a Muppet, but it\u2019s perfect in this bit. There\u2019s also an\namusing science experiment with Professor Honeydew and Beaker using heat to\ndetermine what substances will catch fire and which will melt. The jokes work here\ntoo, although parents should be warned that the sketch may turn children into\npyromaniacs. And Joe the Legal Weasel also earns yuks with some terrible and\naggressively delivered puns based around law-related terminology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parts of Muppets Now<\/em> scramble around in search of wackiness and don\u2019t end up amounting to a whole lot. However, every once in a while, there\u2019s a sketch or line that makes you remember why you liked these characters so much in the first place. The results are reasonable but do show room for improvement. As the series progresses, experimenting a little more, adding in some variety with segments as well as earnestness and heart every now and again (like the old series did<\/a>) will elevate the program and help it reach its full potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Disney+ series will be available for streaming on July 31st, beginning with the first episode. A new episode will follow weekly. Back in the mid-1970s, The Muppet Show burst onto the TV scene and became a phenomenon. It was a family-friendly variety show that juggled sketches, musical performances and celebrity interviews, creating iconic moments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,4660,5186,5922,7283,11604,14395,14396,14397,14398,19204,19441,23383],"class_list":["post-20958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-comedy","tag-danny-trejo","tag-disney","tag-family","tag-kermit","tag-muppets-now","tag-muppets-now-film-review","tag-muppets-now-review","tag-muppets-now-tv-review","tag-streaming","tag-swedish-chef","tag-tv-series"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}