Do you want Search?
Random Post
Random Post
Search
  • Home
  • Tag Archives:  Bob Kushell
Search
single all the way muppets
InTelevision Reviews

The Muppets S01E10 – “Single All the Way”

February 1, 2016By

single all the way muppets
The Muppets – “Single All the Way”
Story by Gregg Mettler and Nell Scovell
Teleplay by Bob Kushell and Dave Caplan
Directed by Matt Sohn
single all the way muppets
The Muppets and Christmas are like peanut butter and chocolate, hence the wide variety of Muppet Christmas specials and films over the years. So it is only natural that we get an entry in the television series, fittingly involving the Muppets producing a Christmas special. Of course, things begin to go wrong as the Muppets are always situated on the rim of disaster. The episode manages to both have some of the best relationship writing in a season with very uneven relationship handling, as well as some of the regular worst relationship writing. We get in informative and heartfelt discussion of Kermit and Miss Piggy’s past relationship, but we also get Fozzie having drama with his girlfriend despite Riki Lindhome not appearing in this episode.

The Christmas Show has two disasters happening at once, first Mindy Kaling is their special guest and is supposed to perform a song, except her singing makes those singing dogs cds sound talented. The more important disaster is Fozzie’s girlfriend Becky broke up with him that morning, which is a big problem as he is being Santa Bear, and no one wants a Santa who is crying and wailing in front of children. Before you can begin complaining about sadsack Muppets, Sam the Eagle is seen putting up mistletoe in a strategic spot to try to sneak a kiss from Janice. We know that won’t work out the way it is intended, so let’s focus on the main stories.
single all the way muppets

the ex-factor the muppets
InTelevision Reviews

The Muppets S01E06 – “The Ex-Factor”

January 6, 2016By

the ex-factor the muppets
The Muppets – “The Ex-Factor”
Story by Bob Kushell & Steve Rudnick
Teleplay by Nell Scovell & Emily Wilson
Directed by Randall Einhorn
the ex-factor the muppets
Kermit’s new girlfriend Denise finally reappears on the show, and she is a big Kristin Chenoweth fan, which is convenient because Chenoweth is a guest on the show today (Uncle Deadly is a bigger fan, though!) Denise charges over and introduces herself despite Miss Piggy being right next to Chenoweth (Denise introducing herself several times because she’s so nervous) Miss Piggy is annoyed as you might expect, and Kristin realizes who Denise is after she leaves.

Denise’s birthday is tomorrow and Kermit has no idea what to get her (he wasn’t going to get her anything, because she said not to get her anything, and is advised by everybody present about that being wrong!) Panic ensues because he’s bad at gift-giving. Everyone’s suggestions for gifts are expectedly terrible, not only are most of the Muppet characters hopelessly single, but now many of them have their own personal romantic failings on the show, so they are extra hopeless.

Scooter takes Kermit to one of those paint your own ceramics stores so he can make a gift himself. Scooter is very very very familiar with the store, going there a lot, especially when his mom is seeing her boyfriend. Scooter even has his own custom smock with his name on it. Kermit paints his first date with Denise, but after some criticism of his art talent from Scooter, it’s tossed in the whoopsie bin.
the ex-factor the muppets

Pig Out The Muppets
InTelevision Reviews

The Muppets S01E04 – “Pig Out”

January 2, 2016By

Pig Out The Muppets
The Muppets – “Pig Out”
Story by Bob Kushell and Dave Caplan
Teleplay by Gregg Mettler and Nell Scovell
Directed by Randall Einhorn
Pig Out The Muppets
One of my criticisms of The Muppets in the previous episodes was they made Miss Piggy incredibly unlikable. To the point where it became a mystery why anyone has anything to do with her. “Pig Out” solves this problem by providing us with a Piggy who people want to be around and enjoys the company of her fellow Muppets – largely because they enjoy her access to famous people and famous people parties. While that might not seem like something good, it actually turns out great with Piggy genuinely enjoying her success with her crew, and the crew enjoying being around her. A welcome change from Piggy getting into random feuds with celebrities over tiny things or fighting with Kermit while obviously being wrong.

The episode is filled with a lot of little touches that add to the fun, with a special focus on the Swedish Chef, who acts as the caterer for Miss Piggy’s Show. During one of the interview scenes, we see him in the background licking the various pastries and then putting them back on the pile to eat. He later presents Swedish sushi to Piggy, and it looks as gross as it sounds (she passes). During the karaoke montage while the gang is partying, Swedish Chef breaks out “Rapper’s Delight”, which was awesome.
Pig Out The Muppets

Hostile Makeover The Muppets
InTelevision Reviews

The Muppets S01E02 – “Hostile Makeover”

September 30, 2015By

Hostile Makeover The Muppets
The Muppets – “Hostile Makeover”
Story by Bill Prady & Bob Kushell
Teleplay by Dave Caplan & Gregg Mettler
Directed by Randall Einhorn

The Muppets returns with a strong followup to their pilot episode, and without the burden of the setting up the premise and the uncomfortable dating reality, they can get right to the wacky jokes and hijinks ensuing.
Hostile Makeover The Muppets
Miss Piggy is on the rampage lately, because she doesn’t have a date for an upcoming award show. Kermit has the solution: set her up with Josh Groban and have some peace at the office. This works a little too well, as now Josh Groban is in a position to offer suggestions for the show. Suggestions Miss Piggy is more than happy to force Kermit to implement, even if they mean the show’s quality nose dives into the crapper. Laurence Fishburne has a hilarious cameo complete with some sick burns (sick Fishburnes???) on the state of Miss Piggy’s show. That is enough for Kermit to step into action and try to de-Groban the area.
Hostile Makeover The Muppets

Pig Girls Don't Cry The Muppets
InTelevision Reviews

The Muppets S01E01 – “Pig Girls Don’t Cry”

September 25, 2015By

Pig Girls Don't Cry The Muppets
The Muppets – “Pig Girls Don’t Cry”
written by Bill Prady & Bob Kushell
Directed by Randall Einhorn

I am a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge Muppets fan, so of course this will be the series I’ll be reviewing as it airs from now on, as Sleepy Hollow decided to go on a sophomore slump that cratered deep into the ground, along with my interest in the show. After a successful movie and a less than successful movie, the Muppets return to tv with their new series, The Muppets. It’s done in a pseudo-documentary format in the same vein of The Office, except instead of Jim and Pam (or Tim and Dawn), we got Frog and Pig!
Pig Girls Don't Cry The Muppets
Miss Piggy is hosting a late night talk show (which means as of this show airing, only female late night talk show host is a pig Muppet played by a guy, as Samantha Bee’s show doesn’t premiere for a little while longer!), Fozzie is her sidekick/announcer/insult target, Kermit is the executive producer, Gonzo is the head writer (with Pepe and Rizzo), The Electric Mayhem is the house band, Sam the Eagle is working for ABC’s standards and practices, Scooter is a talent coordinator, Bobo is a stage manager, Swedish Chef does the catering, other Muppets do background work on the show, and Rowlf is supposed to own the bar they all hang out at after work (not show in this episode!)

The show gained a bunch of viral buzz due to the announcement of Miss Piggy and Kermit’s breakup, and Kermit subsequently dating a new pig named Denise. The fallout was hilarious, even if we are totally Team Miss Piggy here at TarsTarkas.NET. The breakup is the worst part of the series, even if I understand that they did it in order to have an actual romantic plot with the main characters. It lead to a huge group of people upset because the Muppets are being given actual romantic plot lines, and the plot lines aren’t the ones that are classically associated with the characters. But as a fan of Kermit and Piggy together, it is sad, and will take some getting used to. (And we all know they will be back together by season 2!)
Pig Girls Don't Cry The Muppets