Miss Piggy, Kermit the frog and the muppet gang reunite for a new TV series, The Muppets. Photo / Supplied TVNZ
Miss Piggy, Kermit the frog and the muppet gang reunite for a new TV series, The Muppets. Photo / Supplied TVNZ
The Muppets are back and better than ever in a new docu-comedy format, writes Dominic Corry.
It's The Muppets, but not as you know them. Fresh from the success of the 2011 movie reboot (and its 2014 sequel), Hollywood's leading felt-based entertainers are heading back to primetime TV for the first time since 1996's ill-fated Muppets Tonight.
Premiering on November 1 on TV2, The Muppets will, as with the old Muppet Show, chronicle the making of a live TV broadcast, but with one critical difference: it will all be presented documentary style, a la The Office and Modern Family.
TimeOut has been granted an audience with co-creators of the new series, Bill Prady (The Big Bang Theory) and Bob Kushell, as well as Kermit the Frog himself, who takes it upon himself to explain the genesis of the format:
"The Muppets are doing a late-night chat show with Miss Piggy called Up Late With Miss Piggy," he tells TimeOut.
"Bill and Bob came along with this wonderful idea to shoot behind the scenes. It's interesting and scary at the same time, y'know? You get to see things that we wouldn't normally necessarily want you to see."
"We are very appreciative of Kermit that we've got unprecedented access to whats been going on in the personal lives of the Muppets and the situation with Miss Piggy." says Prady. "We have unfettered acccess."
The "situation" referred to by Prady is the bombshell that made headlines all around the world: Kermit and Miss Piggy are no longer an item.
"It's a day-by-day, moment by moment process," says Kermit solemnly. "It can be tough to work with your ex. It can be tough to be the executive producer on your ex's late night TV show. Especially when your ex is a pig.
People change. So do frogs and pigs. We were together for a long time. I don't really wanna go into it too much."
Kermit does admit to having a new girlfriend, though: "Denise. She's not a showbiz person. She's a pig. I have an attraction to pigs." With the docu-comedy format and Miss Piggy's late night chat show, The Muppets taps into multiple modern comedic styles.
The Muppets are doing a late-night chat show with Miss Piggy called Up Late With Miss Piggy. Photo / Supplied TVNZ
"When [the original] Muppet Show was on," explains Prady. "It mocked variety shows because that was the dominant form of television at the time. We looked at the way television is now, and said 'what is the Muppet version of that?'. The goal here is to be exactly the same but completely different. To very much honour The Muppet Show but at the same time do something that is contemporary and works on television now."
Doing so includes replicating the loose, improvised camera work of documentaries with a cast not especially prone to improvised movement. "To a certain extent, the production side of this is a magic trick," says Prady.
"Getting it to look haphazard and casual and getting the documentary shots that are dirty and messy and catch things that you're not supposed to catch and have cameramen in hallways catching private moments. Because it's frogs and bears and blue things with noses."
"It's a funny thing," says Kermit. "The members of the Muppet 'troupe' have always played 'ourselves' in our films. I'm Kermit the Frog and I 'play' Kermit the Frog.
And a lot of what we've done in our past shows and projects - it's not me, it's me playing a version of me. But this time you're gonna see..."
The proceedings are suddenly interupted at this point by Miss Piggy, who enters unannounced. Sitting down next to her amphibious ex, she wastes no time in dismissing concerns about having their lack of a relationship play out in public.
"Any kind of attention is good publicity. I have no problem working with my ex. It's fine. Dating moi is like flying close to the sun."
"It's entirely professional," affirms Kermit. "I am taking a behind-the-scenes role on Piggy's show. We're both professional adults." Meeting Miss Piggy in 'person', TimeOut is struck by how easily she fits the prevailing mode of modern celebrity stardom.
"Moi has been a role model for a generation of little starlets. All those little starlets that are running around now, they all modelled themselves after moi," Miss Piggy explains.
"It's true," Piggy admits. "Moi has been a role model for a generation of little starlets. All those little starlets that are running around now, they all modelled themselves after moi."
Prady chimes in: "Piggy is a remarkable personality, but one of the things we're hoping to show for the first time in this series is a little bit behind the public persona, behind the mask.
We might even get a camera into Piggy's house in the morning and see if we can catch her before she gets her make-up on.
"In this age of computer-generated everything, green screens and special effects - these [characters] are actually here. I think the idea that there are physical things existing in the world that still feel magical and wonderful that we have is really special."
Lowdown
What: The Muppets When: Sunday November 1, 7pm Where: TV2
