As you may recall, Kristin Newman replaced Bob Kushell as the showrunner of The Muppets right at the tail end of the first batch of fall episodes. There’s been a lot of talk (a LOT of talk) about whether the show has had the right tone and whether the Muppets have been acting in character so far, and whether a new creative person could “fix” things. HitFix’s Alan Sepinwall and Hollywood Reporter’s Lesley Goldberg each interviewed Newman recently, and she gave a lot of info about what we can expect when the show returns in February.
The interviews are here and here, and you should absolutely read them yourself, but here are some of the highlights:
-The show will have “More heart, more zaniness.”
-There will be more sketches, done in a modern late-night show style. Newman specifically mentions “an updated Veterinarian’s Hospital” and “an updated Swedish Chef where Bunsen is helping him do molecular gastronomy.”
-There will be a human bad guy who will serve as an outside force for the Muppets to band against. He’s a “branding guru” who wants to make ill-advised changes to Up Late with Miss Piggy.
-Camilla will return.
-So will Robin.
-Lew Zealand, who we’ve seen milling around in the background, will be throwing fish.
-So far, there’s no Walter.
It sounds pretty promising, almost like Newman has been reading the fans’ criticisms and addressing each of them (except the Walter thing). Now we all have to tell all our friends and relatives who stopped watching after episode 3 about all the changes!
Thanks to Tough Pigs’ own Rob and Scott for the alerts! Click here to do molecular gastronomy on the Tough Pigs forum!
by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com
