A Charmless Muppet is a Bad Muppet – Muppets Now Season Review

The Muppets franchise throughout the ages has never been afraid to change with the times. From films to cartoons to late night talk shows, The Muppets has been able to evolve while maintaining it’s particular brand of charm. Muppets Now is their brand new show that looks to marry improvisational comedy with the framing device of streaming. And while it’s a decent attempt, the charm just isn’t there.

Muppets How?

Muppets Now features Scooter (David Rudman) uploading various segments for their new streaming show including a game show, a cooking show, and interviews among others. The idea of having Muppets improvise with different guest starts is a sound one and looks good on paper. The execution, however, leaves much to be desired. That isn’t to say it’s terrible, more than anything it’s just bland. The chemistry just isn’t there. Many times the celeb guest star feels stiff interacting with Miss Piggy or Kermit and many jokes just fall flat. It’s a little sad to see considering we’ve seen plenty of examples of celeb guest stars working really well with the Muppets. Muppets Tonight, which was a variety style talk show from the late 90s, is a great example of how this can work. This just isn’t it. I will give Muppets Now credit for being far ahead of the curve in terms of the pandemic we are currently dealing with. The show is very minimal, with usually only one or two live guest and one or two Muppets on screen at any given moment. I’ve seen plen…