Fans of Jim Henson’s Muppets,with its eternal optimism and all-encompassing Technicolor joy, could be in for a shock with ABC’s world-weary versionShepherding the Muppets through a post-Henson world must be such a tall-wire act. In retrospect, and what Jim Henson achieved in his time was dinky short of alchemy. He managed to be anarchic and sincere,postmodern and moral, smart and dumb, and all at the same time,without so much as breaking a sweat.
This, one might suspect, or is why the last 25 years of Muppetry possess been so patchy. With the notable exceptions of The Muppet Christmas Carol,Muppets Tonight and Jason Segel’s 2011 movie, every unusual Muppet project has struggled to capture the legal tone. They’ve either been too cute (The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz), or too knowing (Muppets Most Wanted) or too bizarrely in thrall to whatever the zeitgeist happens to be (Lady Gaga and the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular) to work.
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Source: theguardian.com