Eras in Muppet History: The Returning Era (2008-Present)

Eras in Muppet History: The Returning Era (2008-Present)

Beaker in the Webby Award winning "Ode to Joy" video

Here we are! I finally get to talk about what the Muppets are doing today. In recent years, the Muppets have busted their way back into the public eye. Aside from the occasional TV specials of the previous Era, the Muppets hadn’t done anything significant in a while, but that was about to change. The first thing the Muppets did was to meet the public where they were. In 2008, the best way to do that was to head to YouTube. It was the perfect pass time for people who want to procrastinate from whatever they should be doing, so the Muppets invaded our computers with their own viral videos over the next couple years. Most of these were short and simple, like Gonzo singing the Danub Waltz with some chickens or the Swedish Chef cooking popcorn while using everything in the kitchen as a musical instrument. There was also a full version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” performed by the Muppets. The videos quickly became very popular. The Muppets even won a Webby Award in 2009 for a video in which six Beakers attempt to play “Ode to Joy”.

Gonzo in Extreme Makeover: Muppet Edition

With the Muppets back in the public eye, they started to pop up in everything from CNN, to Late Night starring Jimmy Fallon, to Disney Channel sitcoms, to Good Morning America, or even Dancing with the Stars. The Muppets were used to promote the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day campaign, which encouraged people to volunteer in exchange for admission to a Disney Park. Then in 2010, there was Extreme Makeover: The Muppet Edition, which showcased the unique construction capabilities of the Muppets. They were everywhere, no matter what you tuned in to watch, there was a good chance that the Muppets would somehow make an appearance. It turns out that Jim Henson was on to something 50 years earlier when he started using the Muppets for commercials, who knew?!

The Muppets (2011)

If ever there was a time for the Muppets to start creating their own material, it was now. The casting issues of the past two decades were finally resolved and Muppets were in the front of peoples’ minds again. This opportunity was seized by Nick Stoller and Jason Segel who wrote a movie that became The Muppets (2011). There hadn’t been a theatrical Muppet Movie in 12 years, the longest gap since The Muppet Movie was released in 1979. The film stars Segel alongside Amy Adams and the newest Muppet, Walter, performed by Peter Linz. Segel, Adams, and Walter convince Kermit to reunite the Muppets to save the old studio from being destroyed by putting on a show. The premise of recruiting Muppets is one of the many callbacks to the original film, and it is filled to the brim with classic characters. All of the expected favorites returned with Kermit; Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Rowlf, Scooter, the Electric Mayhem, the Swedish Chef, Statler and Waldorf, among many others.

Uncle Deadly in The Muppets

For true Muppet fans like myself, we also noticed the return of lesser known characters who we never thought would resurface. Singing duet Wayne and Wanda, Lips the Trumpet Player, and Thog all returned, making us cheer in our seats. The most important return was Uncle Deadly, the ghostly monster from the early days of The Muppet Show (1976), who was featured prominently as one of the villain’s henchmen. It felt like an extended episode of The Muppet Show, complete with a performance of “The Muppet Show Theme Song”. It was clear to me as I watched this that Stoller and Segel were huge Muppet fans, they had to be! There were so many subtle nods and homages to earlier Muppet productions. I remember telling people that I thought this film was a big step in the right direction. We need to see these characters again, interacting with each other. Any time the Muppets hit the big screen, you can bet that I’ll be finding my way to a movie theater.

Ricky Gervais and Constantine in
Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

The Muppets was a great success, which meant that the obvious next move was another movie. In 2014, Muppets Most Wanted was released. Like the previous movie, this film introduces another new Muppet, Constantine, the world’s most dangerous frog. Constantine, with the exception of a mole is a near perfect doppelganger for Kermit. He manages to switch places by getting Kermit sent off to a Russian prison while Constantine takes his place with the Muppets. He convinces the Muppets to go on a world tour, using their shows as distractions for criminal heists with his partner, played by Ricky Gervais. Meanwhile, Kermit copes with prison life, dealing with a guard, played by Tina Fey. I may sound like a broken record at this point, but I think this movie is absolutely great. Constantine, performed by Matt Vogel, is a perfect Muppet villain, displaying the perfect balance of evil and goofy.


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Ty Burell and Sam the Eagle in Muppets Most Wanted

n addition to Constantine, there are several other moments in Muppets Most Wanted that are the perfect example of great Muppet humor. We get great gags like Gonzo performing an indoor running with the bulls alongside Salma Hayek and Scooter singing “Moves Like Jagger” with the Muppet penguins. My personal favorite is Sam the Eagle as a CIA agent, investigating the burglaries with an Interpol agent, played by Ty Burrell. Sam and Burrell have amazing comedic chemistry, and definitely steal the show in this great Muppet caper-film.

Kermit and Piggy break up in The Muppets (2015)

So far, it looks like history is repeating itself. In the 1990s, the Muppets came out with two successful films, The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and Muppet Treasure Island (1996), then quickly returned to TV with Muppets Tonight (1996). This pattern did indeed continue as fans began to hear about the new show The Muppets, which premiered in September 2015. As I’ve talked about before, the Muppets have always succeeded by doing their own spin on what was popular. In the 1970s, variety shows were the thing, which lead to The Muppet Show. Today, the trend is mockumentaries, which is exactly what The Muppets is. Miss Piggy is the host of a fictional talk show called “Up Late with Miss Piggy”. The Muppets shows us behind the scenes of how the show is made through the lives of the crew, consisting of Executive Producer Kermit the Frog, Co-host Fozzie Bear, Head Writer Gonzo the Great, Talent Coordinator Scooter, House band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and several other Muppets who work together to put Miss Piggy on the air every night. We also dive into the personal lives of the Muppets as Kermit and Miss Piggy have recently broken up and Kermit has found a new girlfriend Denise, who happens to be another pig.

The Muppets singing karaoke at a bar with Ed Helms

One thing that I have to mention about The Muppets is the supposed controversy about it. From the start, it was being labeled as a more “adult” Muppet show. That label had a lot of people up in arms, saying they can’t believe how inappropriate it is and how Muppets should be a children’s franchise. I was saying from the start that people were overreacting. I knew that it wasn’t going to be an X-rated show full of gratuitous profanity, but it seemed like people were expecting that, based on how they were freaking out. The show turned out to be exactly what I expected, a sitcom starring the Muppets. That’s all. I would even say that The Muppets is still milder that most sitcoms on TV today. What people don’t realize is that even though Jim Henson made incredible children’s television with Sesame Street (1969) and Fraggle Rock (1983), the core Muppet characters were never strictly a children’s franchise. If you look back at The Muppet Show (1976), there are many things that support this, such as Raquel Welch dancing provocatively in a skimpy outfit with a giant spider or Alice Cooper trying to convince the Muppets to sell their souls to the devil. The Muppets have never shied away from adult oriented humor. After ten episodes, the show has been put on a hiatus for retooling, so I guess we’ll have to see what that means. In the end, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think The Muppets is a very entertaining and funny show. It definitely rings true to who the Muppets are and I am excited to see what comes next.

Kermit, Rowlf, and Fozzie in The Muppets

The Muppets is a franchise that never seems to go away. The Muppets have lived through six decades and counting, outliving most of the people who created them. There have been transitional times in Muppet history, but they always seem to bounce back from any set back. It has gotten to the point where multiple generations have grown up watching the work of Jim Henson’s Muppets. Even now, I’ll go back and watch old episodes of The Muppet Show and even if I don’t recognize a guest star or topical reference from 40 years ago, the characters themselves are timeless and continually entertaining. So far I’ve written about seven eras in Muppet history, but I would be surprised if it all ends here. What will happen next? Will the Muppets make another movie to bring us to three film trilogies? Will The Muppets continue on for years to come? I for one will definitely be tuning in to find out.