The Muppets - S1E11 - Swine Song

Previously on The Muppets, ‘Single All the Way’

“I take old things and make them relevant again”

The Muppets are back with a new showrunner (Kristen Newman of Galavant). Instead of a complete reboot as was rumored when rumblings of Bob Kushell’s departure hit the web, the second half of their pilot season showcases a soft reboot. The opening theme has been revamped with a more upbeat lead-in to the show as opposed to its previous iteration with Kermit groaning forlornly as the credits fade to black. It’s a slight change, but it’s a shift in the what we hope is going to be a better direction for the show.

The first episode of the brand-spanking-new-but-sorta-not-really The Muppets is a little bit meta. After everyone returns from their time off during the holidays (Piggy brought home a penguin during her Argentinian adventure who she has charmingly dubbed “Gloria Estefan”), the Network-Powers-That-Be have taken it upon themselves to tweak Up Late with Miss Piggy. The lines between real life and fiction are blurred when the network announced that they’ve hired a Rebranding Guru named Pizza (pronounced “Pa-Chay”) and he’s every bit as ridiculous as one would expect from someone with a name like that. He’s got some delightful ideas stewing in his head about how to breathe new life into the show, ideas which Piggy has taken a liking to albeit rather overzealously. Snapchat! Periscope! Social Media! Twerking! Piggy goes a bit overboard much to the worry of Kermit.

“There are no ideas. Except for the ones we’ve been pitching for the past three hours.”

“The Brand New” Up Late with Miss Piggy ends up showcasing some interesting new segments such as “Pepe the Uber Driver” and having Bobo read lines from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. And when the show culminates with Kermit and Miss Piggy singing a duet on stage to make up for Key and Peele ditching them at the very last minute, it’s pretty clear that this will be the last we’ll see of Denise.

Side Notes

• Did Rizzo and Pepe hook-up on their Amsterdam trip?
• “Build your brand on an already established brand.”
• So did Uncle Deadly hook-up with the real Gloria Estefan once?
• ”Lo siento! That means ‘I’m sorry.’”
• So butterflies have a lot of carbs according to Kermit.
• Bye, Denise. It was fun knowing you. Oh, who am I kidding? #TeamPiggyForever
• I hope that “Pepe the Uber Driver” continues to be a thing.

Quote of the Week: “She thinks she can speak Spanish. It’s a nightmare. A nightmare”- Uncle Deadly