‘The Muppets’ 102 recap: ‘Hostile Makeover’

And bumping her name down a line leaves Piggy with one clear choice: nix Groban from the show and her life. “The puppet characters loved by kids in the 1970s and 1980s and beyond are now weighing in on interspecies relationships and promiscuity”. Piggy says Groban wants her show to be more sophisticated. Indeed, it’s exactly what I’d expect – and in fact, it’s absolutely what I want from the Muppets. The Muppets zigs when The Muppet Show, or any of the varying Muppet movies, might have zagged. Grantland’s review, to choose just one of the more overly critical pieces, says that the series “gets everything wrong about the Muppets”.

And then there was Kermit’s “free pass” list, a collection of celebrities he and Piggy were allowed to dot-dot-dot even while they were dating.

In its first week, it was the highest-rated new fall show of the season. That and the fact, of course, that looking at an original once more may conjure up memories of its clones. This TV studio is simply contemporary, or at least pseudo-contemporary, while the theatre was already steeped in nostalgia by the time The Muppet Show hit the air. It wasn’t bad necessarily, but it felt a little different than the pilot.

During Miss Piggy’s initial meltdown about being given fine-tipped Sharpies instead of a standard-sized one, Kermit remarked, “I have a feeling this isn’t about pen thickness”.

Take Piggy, for example, who is as demanding, self-centred and prone to explosive rage as she ever was. The Muppets freak out because Piggy has been so pleasant.

Tonight’s episode began with a few of the Muppets signing a birthday card. Code Green is when she’s calm, so there hasn’t been one of those to date.

“I don’t think that’s totally right”, her guest replied. No. Definitely not, and this becomes a decisive point by the end of the episode. But then his influence starts to have repercussions for Up Late. That’s her way. It’s always been her way.

To be fair, it’s not The Muppets’ creators’ fault that, two episodes into a mockumentary-style network sitcom, they’ve been unable to capture the magic of “The Rainbow Connection”. His ploy succeeds too well: Soon, Groban and Piggy are head over heels for each other, which means Groban has her ear, which means Up Late with Miss Piggy is in trouble. This is not at all accurate and the engine that drove The Muppet Show ran on Kermit’s nervous energy. A few of it was amusing, but most of it just made me a little uncomfortable. Kermit’s soft spot for the real Miss Piggy gives way, and he decides to confront Groban about the ways he’s changing her. It doesn’t go so well, and upon reflection he realizes that perhaps he’s just trying to control Miss Piggy’s choices in the same way as her new beau. The writing is still smart, and the “modern twist” to the Muppet format seems to be working out well.

Crucially, Kermit is still moral and when he stops to think about what he’s doing, he’ll always make the right call. The show could really stand to balance all of this with their more admirable traits-so far, we’ve only gotten glimpses of Piggy’s vulnerability and Kermit’s compulsion to take care of those around him-but the enhanced pettiness of the two leads doesn’t feel out of place in this new environment. Kermit tries to jump over him, but misses. All of the droll human bullshit that entitles flesh-and-blood characters to their melodramatic ennui winds up dissolving before the indomitability of the Muppets’ collective spirit.