WE COULD ALL DO WITH SOME laughs right now. Thankfully, the Muppets are riding in to save the day with their new Disney+ series Muppets Now. Featuring the classic stable of characters such as Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and the Swedish Chef, along with more recent additions like Pepe the Prawn and others, the whole gang is back together making a show to bring some light back into the world.
Under the felt and behind the camera is long-time Muppet performer Bill Barretta (Pepe, Rowlf, Dr Teeth). He and fellow executive producers Andrew Williams and Sabrina Wind are putting forward a contemporary version of the OG The Muppet Show spirit in Muppets Now. Instead of Kermit desperately putting together a variety act in a dusty theatre, Muppets Now collects recurring sketches hosted by Kermit, Piggy, Pepe, Dr Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker and more.
It’s poor, bespectacled Scooter, who has graduated to post-production coordinator, who has to wrangle all the egos and collect the final pieces from his remote pals. “The Scooter stuff was the throughline of it all, which I think is really fun,” Barretta tells Red Alert. “He’s the right person for the job, but the bad news is that everybody’s calling him and getting in the way of it.”