The Mouse Castle Lounge 09-19-2015 - 'The Muppets' on ABC and 'The Emperor's New Groove'

By Tim Callaway

Miss Piggy and Kermit in The Muppets.

Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, the whole gang is back for a new show on ABC. The Muppets premieres this Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. And the thing that has me really excited about the show is it’s taking the behind-the-scenes antics that were part of the original Muppet Show and bringing them up to date. So, instead of seeing what goes on backstage while the Muppets desperately attempt to put on a theatrical review, we get to see what goes on behind the scenes as the Muppets attempt to produce a night-time TV talk show, Up Late With Miss Piggy.

The Muppets is a reality show—well, as much of a reality show as a show about the Muppets can be. It comes complete with handheld camerawork, celebrity guest stars, and intimate one-on-one conversations with the cast. In fact, we’re going to get a little taste of that in today's show. Joining me today are some of the cast of The Muppets, starting with the green guy himself, Kermit the Frog.

On Monday, September 21st, one of my favorite modern-era Disney animated films is going to be celebrating its 15th anniversary with a special screening at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. The Emperor’s New Groove will be shown at 7:00 p.m. and will be introduced by an esteemed panel of artists: the film’s executive producer Don Hahn, director Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer and screenwriter David Reynolds. In May of last year, Don Hahn was my guest in The Mouse Castle Lounge and among the many things we talked about was The Emperor’s New Groove. Return with me, if you will, to that show and hear what Don had to say about this extremely funny, irreverent and unlikely fan favorite.

For our friends in the Los Angeles area, tickets are still available to see The Emperor’s New Groove on the big screen (and Don Hahn and Mark Dindal and Randy Fullmer and Mark Reynolds). Just call 1-800-Disney6 or visit www.ElCapitanTickets.com. The doors open at 6:00 Monday night and the screening starts at 7:00. I highly recommend you get there early for trivia, a costume contest and a whole lot more. 

Enjoy!

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'The Muppets': Most Sensational, Celebrational

Jason Segel knew expectations would be high. He acknowledged the pressures placed on him by his friends, colleagues and legions of Muppet fans. They told him, more than anything, "Don't mess it up."

He didn't.

He played the music. He lit the lights.

Congratulations Jason. The Muppets is a delight.

It's been 12 years since a Muppet movie has been seen in theaters (1999's mediocre Muppets From Space). Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) took on the responsibilities of writer (with Nicholas Stoller), executive producer and star to resurrect the neglected franchise, make it relevant to a new generation of moviegoers and stay true to the faithful who grew up with Jim Henson's sublime Muppet Show of the 1970s and 80s. With director and fellow Muppet fan James Bobin (The Flight of the Conchords), he's managed to pull it off with an energetic balance of silliness and sentiment coupled with a daffy "let's put on a show" earnestness.

Segel plays Gary, a happy-go-lucky Midwestern lug in love with Mary (oh-so-perky Amy Adams), a local schoolteacher who teaches auto shop dressed in flowered pastels. Gary's devoted brother Walter is a puppet (don't ask, it works) who's idolized Kermit the Frog since childhood. When Gary takes Mary on a trip to Hollywood, Walter tags along to fulfill his lifelong dream of meeting the Muppets. Mary is a bit chagrined by Walter's presence, expecting a more romantic getaway with Gary, one during which she hopes he'll propose to her.

Walter, Mary (Amy Adams) and Gary (Jason Segel)
take on Hollywood in The Muppets.

Upon arriving in Hollywood, Gary, Mary and Walter visit the now dilapidated Muppet Studios, long since abandoned by the Muppets, who have split up and gone their separate ways. All that remains of the once great studio are a collection of run down buildings and a jaded tour guide (Alan Arkin). Wandering off on his own, Walter overhears the details of an evil plot devised by oil baron Tex Richman (stone-cold Chris Cooper) to take over the studio, tear it down and start drilling for oil. Horrified at the prospect, Walter sets out with his friends to reunite the Muppets and raise the $10 million needed to rescue the studio from certain destruction.

Our trio first enlists the help of Kermit the Frog to round up his far-flung former friends. The years have not been especially kind to Kermit, who now lives an isolated existence in a dark, depressing mansion. Elsewhere, wisecracking Fozzie Bear has moved to Reno to become the front man for an angry Muppet tribute act. Beak-nosed Gonzo has fared much better, becoming a highly successful plumbing tycoon (go figure). And in France, Kermit's past porcine paramour, Miss Piggy, is making a name for herself as a fashion editor for Paris Vogue. It's going to take a lot of work to get the old gang back together.

But, as Mary notes, if they fail, it's going to be a really short movie.

So, what do you think's going to happen?

Making a connection (l. to r.): Scooter, The Swedish Chef,
Fozzie Bear, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Sam Eagle
and Beauregard.

The Muppets succeeds because it remembers exactly what made the Muppets a big deal to begin with. To be sure, there's plenty of music, awful puns (good God, we missed you Fozzie) and backstage insanity as the Muppets frantically scramble to clean up their old theater and get the show going. But, there's also that sly self-awareness the best Muppet Show episodes always had. Just when you think the movie's going to bog down in some overwrought, sappy sentiment, Rowlf or Floyd or Gary or whomever will chime in with a snappy comeback to remind you that this is all really silly and you shouldn't be taking it so seriously.

Like the human guest stars of three decades ago, the cameo appearances in The Muppets are first rate. Surprise appearances by the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez and Mickey Rooney (looking a bit like a Muppet himself) are great fun. And, for reasons I can't completely explain, there's just something inherently funny about seeing political pundit James Carville share the screen with Neil Patrick Harris. The best cameo, however, belongs to The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons, who incongruously shows up in the middle of The Muppets finest--and funniest--musical number.

The film is loaded with sincerity and heart, but it's those odd juxtapositions and off-kilter moments that really get things started on this most sensational Muppets movie.

Related Story:
Jason Segel, Muppet Freak

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Jason Segel, Muppet Freak

Jason Segel and a few of his friends.

It's appropriate that actor-screenwriter Jason Segel and director James Bobin would make The Muppets together.

Just ask Amy Adams.

"Jason is a Muppet freak," she says. "He knows more about the Muppets than anyone, well, except maybe James Bobin."

Bobin often watched The Muppet Show when he was writing his quirky HBO musical comedy series The Flight of the Conchords. There's even a Muppets tribute in one of the Conchords episodes. Bobin says, "I watched the Muppets at a very early age in England, and they have significantly influenced my sense of humor and what I find funny."

Segel worked in a puppet musical (based on Dracula, no less) at the end of Forgetting Sarah Marshall with puppets designed by the Jim Henson Company. That experience inspired Segel to approach Disney with the idea of making a new Muppet film, which he would co-write with his good friend Nicholas Stoller. Disney liked the idea and Segel and Stoller would become executive producers of the film as well.

Thus went the odyssey to bring the Muppets back to the big screen for the first time in 12 years.

Rumors of a new Muppet film had persisted since Disney acquired the characters from The Jim Henson Company in 2004. It wasn't until Segel came on board in 2008 that the project moved forward.

When it came time to cast Adams in the new film, Segel asked her via a video starring Kermit the Frog and him. Adams says, "They asked if I'd read the script and consider the role of Mary. Kermit was a big part of my decision. I don't like to tell Jason that 'cause he's a little sensitive that I might be partial to Kermit, but I am."

Here, the Muppets, as only they can, explain the plot of the film and what it's like to work with Jason Segel:

True to its roots, The Muppets will have plenty of singing and dancing, including a huge musical number filmed on Hollywood Boulevard in front of the El Capitan Theatre. "In the finale of the movie, "says Segel, "there are 200 extras, 100 dancers and 50 Muppets. It was very surreal and it happened to take place on my birthday. I walked out from my trailer thinking I was coming to film, and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday,' including the Muppets. I kept thinking, 'I've tricked everyone. Somehow I've made this weird childhood dream come true.' It was the craziest thing ever."

The challenge of bringing back such iconic characters as Kermit and Miss Piggy comes with high expectations, a notion not lost on Segel. "Our whole goal was to make sure that, if we were going to do a new Muppet movie, that it live up to the expectations of what everyone feels about doing a Muppet movie. Whenever I tell my friends--anyone--it's always twofold and it's the same thing. The first is, 'Oh my God, that's awesome!' And the second is, 'You better not mess it up.'

The Muppets opens in theaters on November 23.

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