Stream It or Skip It: ‘Muppets Now’ on Disney+ Is a Madcap Return to Form

Muppets Now is a new series on Disney+ starring Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, and all your faves. This show is unlike any Muppet show you’ve seen in a minute, though, because it casts the crew as the hosts and subjects of a variety of “unscripted” webseries (or Muppisodes). The question is: should you stream Muppets Now ASAP, or skip it entirely?

MUPPETS NOW: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Hey, it’s the Muppets Now title card, complete with voiceover from Kermit—who then hits pause so he can run through some notes with Scooter via Zoom. Little does Kermit know that the time for notes has passed! Muppets Now is due now!

The Gist: The Muppets are back in action in a new “unscripted” series filled with various webseries—the kind you kill hours watching on YouTube. Piggy has a fashion series accidentally (?) titled LifeSty, super fan Walter learns about his idols’ hidden talents via Muppet Masters, Swedish Chef really tries in Okey Dokey Kookin’, and Kermit attempts a one-on-one with a celeb in Mup Close and Personal. And considering the deadline crunch, Muppets Now includes joke-packed interstitials wherein producer Scooter manages the egos and expectations of the most rowdy cast in showbiz—all via email, text, and video chatting! Truly, the Muppets have never felt more 2020.

Our Take: Muppet fans have been waiting for this exact show for a long time—a looong time. As fantastic as the recent feature films were, and as underrated (and under-watched) as the 2015 ABC series was, Muppets Now gives us the purest Muppet content in a very long time. There’s no overarching plot or narrative here; Muppets Now reintroduces the cast to (hopefully) a new generation of Disney+ subscribers as pure joke machines. In that way, Muppets Now is the total spiritual successor to the groundbreaking and iconic ’70s Muppet Show. Truly, the variety show of yesteryear would be a playlist of totally bonkers YouTube vids today.

True to the best Muppet stuff of yesteryear, like the historically faithful Muppet Christmas Carol, the show pays attention to every single detail. Everything, from the glitzy, bachelorette party vibe of LifeSty(le)’s graphics to the teeny in-jokes like the Zoom-esque chat software being called Rainbow Connector), is on point.

While more recent Muppet projects have relied heavily, perhaps too heavily, on celebrity cameos, Muppets Now never lets the gust stars outshine its true stars. Taye Diggs, Linda Cardellini, chef Carlina Will, and RuPaul all have instant chemistry with every Muppet and their joy radiates off the screen. That’s particularly true of RuPaul, an Emmy-winning host known for being appropriately intimidating on RuPaul’s Drag Race. This is the most fun Ru’s had since the “Miss Vanjie” running gag of Season 10.

Parting Shot: Just because the show is over doesn’t mean the notes are over! We leave Scooter as he sits through endless notes from Kermit, fully aware that they have another episode to turn out next week.

Sleeper Star: Every new Muppet project does the work of digging deep in the closet and pulling out a new character to highlight. And, TBH, as a gay Muppets fan, I’m pretty delighted that the last two gems—Uncle Deadly in 2015’s The Muppets and Howard in Muppets Now—are as funny as they are gay, gay, gay. Howard, a fabulous pig who’s popped up sporadically for the past 25 years, gets a chance to shine while fanning out over RuPaul. I’m here for it.

Most Pilot-y Line: Kermit: when Scooter says, “Here’s the thing, boss: we need to upload Muppets Now now,” listen to him!

Our Call: STREAM IT. We need the Muppets in our lives, and it’s wonderful to have them right now.

Stream Muppets Now on Disney+