Category Archives: Other Disney + Shows

The Muppet Show S2 E9, E10, E11, E12

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Guest Star: Madeline Kahn

Guest Star: George Burns

Guest Star: Dom Deluise

Guest Star: Bernadette Peters

We got a couple of iconic bits during the first episode. Kermit singing “Happy Feet” is one of my favorites of all time. I will start singing this just out of nowhere many times in my life. Then, Gonzo singing the “Wishing Song” which is one of the sadder songs you’ll hear.

Of the guest stars, Bernadette Peters was easily the best. Her song with Robin was so beautiful. Robin was feeling ignored and her song (with the other Muppets) was just amazing and nearly gave me goosebumps. It helps when the guest star is actually a singer with a great voice.

The George Burns episode was fun and they had a running joke, “Gonzo fiddles while George Burns.”

I was not that much of a fan of the Dom Deluise episode, but I did enjoy his song at the end with the Muppets, “We Got Us.”

Kermit and Piggy had a lot of songs in these episodes. Kermit and Piggy sang “I Won’t Dance” on the set of At the Dance. Piggy even went as far during the Dom Deluise episode paying off the audience to cheer for her.

The running joke of the Bernadette Peters episode was other Muppets showing up behind Statler and Waldorf in their box and forcing them to cheer or boo as wanted. Piggy was especially jealous of Miss Mousy, who sang with Kermit.

The Muppet Show S2 E4, E5, E6, E7, E8

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Guest: Rich Little

Guest: Judy Collins

Guest: Nancy Walker

Guest: Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy

Guest: Steve Martin

Some fun episodes from the second season highlighted the Muppet Show rewatch today.

Starting with the Rich Little episode. Honestly, his imitations of the Muppets were fairly weak. I have heard many better over the years. I did enjoy the final number where Rich Little sang as famous celebrities songs from musicals including “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Did You Ever?,” and “I Remember It Well.”

That first episode also started Gonzo’s affection for chickens, as he was auditioning them for a dancing act. Of course, these were live chickens.

Judy Collins came next and she sang a whole bunch of songs. I guess when you have someone with her voice, you try and use it as much as possible. The performance of “Send in the Clowns” is one of the most iconic guest songs of the show. I enjoyed her version of “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” too. It was neat seeing her do a piano duet with Rowlf with “Do-Re-Mi.”

We get the backstage storyline with Scooter’s uncle J. P. Grosse, who is ready to tear down the theater to put in a parking lot.

The Nancy Walker episode saw Kermit at home sick and Fozzie trying to run the show. Things do not go well for our favorite furry funnyman. My favorite bit was the accidental mixing of Veterinarian’s Hospital and At the Dance. They worked very well together.

Edgar Bergen brought his ventriloquism act to the Muppet Show, which fit in beautifully. Charlie McCarthy was very smart mouthed when it came to the Muppets. It was a lot of fun.

My favorite number on that episode was the “Time in a Bottle” song where the old scientist was making a formula to turn him younger.

Then, the best episode of this chunk was with Steve Martin. They took the typical Muppet formula and flipped it around as Kermit cancels the show for the night because they accidentally scheduled it on a night when they were supposed to be having auditions. Kermit sent the audience home and they spent the time auditioning new acts.

Steve Martin stuck around to “entertain the boys” and did a bunch of fun things from his act, including balloon animals, banjo playing, doing “Ramblin’ Guy.”

Some of the new acts we saw audition included Statler & Waldorf singing/dancing to “Varsity Rag,” a little girl named Carrie Louise and friend (who was a frog, and she would sing while the frog added the word ‘ribbit’ to the songs), Baskerville the Hound and his comedy act that reminded us all of Fozzie Bear and Marvin Suggs and his All Food Glee Club.

The show had removed the laugh track since the audience was gone and we would hear just a few guffaws from, apparently, the Muppeteers.

I loved how they took the format and tried something totally different and it really was a fresh episode.

The Muppet Show S2 E1, E2, E3

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Guest: Don Knotts

Guest: Zero Mostel

Guest: Milton Berle

Season two of the Muppet Show kicked off with some changes.

The opening theme came closer to what I remembered as the iconic theme. They removed Fozzie’s joke from the opening and added in Statler and Waldorf. However, my memory of Statler and Waldorf was them singing the next verse which started “Why do we always come here…” which was not what was in this season’s beginning. Kermit’s intro of the guest star is now at the very beginning of the song instead of the middle. It ends with Gonzo, no longer with a club, but with a trumpet. The opening had a much bigger feel to it.

It also featured the “cold open” where Scooter sticks his head into the guest star’s dressing room and gives them an update on how long until the show starts. This pre-theme gag would go for the rest of the series, if I remember correctly.

There were some weird things in these episodes as well. In episode one with Don Knotts, the Disney + version of the show was chopped up with things removed. Don Knotts’s finale, which was Knotts playing a bass with the Electric Mayhem on a song called “Lullaby of Birdland” was removed completely. I never figured out the reasoning behind the editing (sounds like it had something to do with copyright). They also chopped up the backstage segments between Fozzie and Floyd where Floyd gave Fozzie some sunglasses and proclaimed him a hip dude.

Episode two featured Zero Mostel, who actually died not too long after the show was recorded. This was a great episode with things such as Chopin’s Polonaise in A-flat major as performed by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (I loved Animal screaming “Chopin” as he drummed), “Smoke Gets in your Eyes” by Rowlf and Zoot, and Mostel dressed as Henry the VIII performing “What Do the Simple Folds Do?” It also ended with some Lady Wrestling, as per request from Scooter’s uncle J.P. Grosse. Kermit couldn’t find anyone to participate (the scene where he asked Piggy to do it was hilarious), so he donned a wig and took on Granny the Gouger. Kermit got his butt kicked and tossed into Statler and Waldorf’s box. Miss Piggy did not like that and showed up and did the “hi-yaaaah” to Granny. As a wrestling fan, I remember loving this skit when I was younger.

Episode three featured Milton Berle in several tremendous skits. The standout of the whole episode (and perhaps the season so far) was Milton Berle vs. Statler and Waldorf. I was so impressed with him since he allowed the two old hecklers to get the best of him the entire routine. Uncle Miltie, a literal comedic legend, was willing to play straight man to a couple of Muppets and let them make him look the fool. It was really one of the funniest skits I have seen on the Muppet Show so far. Milton Berle also did a fantastic rendition of “The Entertainer” (which the show strangely followed up with Miss Piggy singing the same song too) and a great comedy-duet with Fozzie called “Top Banana.” Milton Berle worked beautifully with the Muppets here.

There were some classic debuts during these three episodes. This was the first time we have seen Beaker in the Muppet Labs sequence. Beaker would go on to become on of the most iconic Muppets of all time. We saw the first episode of Pigs in Space with Link, Dr. Strangepork and Miss Piggy.

I loved in episode one where Rowlf sings “What a Wonderful World” to a real living puppy. I love the Louis Armstrong song and Rowlf does it very well.

The second and third episodes of this season have to be considered some of the best of the series and it was a shame that the Don Knotts episode got as chopped up as it did, because it had the potential to be just as great.

The Muppet Show S1 E20, E21, E22, E23, E24

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Guest: Valerie Harper

Guest: Twiggy

Guest: Ethel Merman

Guest: Kaye Ballard

Guest: The Mummenschanz

I finished the first season of The Muppet Show with the final five episodes. It was an interesting group of guest stars including Valerie Harper, Twiggy, Kay Ballard, The Mummenschanz and EYG Hall of Famer Ethel Merman.

There was an extra guest star on the Ethel Merman episode. Richard Bradshaw, who did not appear on the actual show, was a puppeteer who worked with shadows. That was fun as it was kind of Muppet-ish.

My memory was that the Phantom of the Muppet Show came with Alice Cooper, but that was not the case. He was on the Twiggy episode. By the way, the Twiggy episode had a classic moment with the AA Milne poem “The King’s Breakfast” where the king just wanted some butter for his bread. It also had Twiggy singing a Beatles song. Really? She sang “My Life” which filled me with surprise and hatred at the same time.

Another classic was “Tit-willow” from the Gilbert and Sullivan’s show The Mikado, as done by Rowlf and Sam the Eagle (who did the “tit-willow” line). It’s another example of how the show took non-kids songs and such and made them for the Muppet Show. The show did Broadway show songs such as “Broadway Baby” done by Valerie Harper and a medley of Ethel Merman’s songs such as “Friendship,” “Anything You Can Do,” and “You’re the Top”, all with other Muppets.

The Kaye Ballard episode was fun as Floyd Pepper and the rest of the band wanted to quit because they were tired of playing the theme song (BLASPHEMY!). It was such a running gag that at the end of the episode, only Rowlf was playing the theme on the piano. How awesome that gag was.

Another running joke that was a hoot was Statler wanting to meet Valerie Harper, and brought her a special plant that, when watered, grew uncontrollably. Obviously that happened.

Gonzo the Great tried to get it on with Miss Piggy. That was kind of weird, and Kermit’s non-reaction was quite funny.

The Mummenschanz were awesome too as they have a lot in common with the Muppets. They way this group of theater performers who perform in a surreal mask- and prop-oriented style. I remember them clearly from the first time I saw them on the show. They were so memorable even though I do not think I have seen them in anything since.

The first season is now down and I will be heading to season two soon. I think that it is in season two when the opening theme song changed a bit. I think it was when Fozzie was removed and they went to Statler and Waldorf.

The Muppet Show S1 E19

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Guest: Vincent Price

This was a bizarre episode of the Muppet Show. It featured the guest star Vincent Price and a whole bunch of the Muppet Monsters.

We also got the Muppet debut of Uncle Deadly, a blue creature who was used as Vincent Price’s sidekick. Uncle Deadly would have a long run with the Muppets, including the Phantom of the Muppet Show in a future season.

This episode also featured a bunch of Muppet Monsters eating other Muppets. It happened multiple times through the episode as it seemed like the main joke that the show had.

There were some cool ghost Muppets too that really looked great. I’m not sure how they did the effects on it, but it was well done.

There was a three-headed monster trying to audition for Kermit, which was the running backstage segment of the episode.

Interestingly enough, the show did not have Miss Piggy, though Fozzie Bear was front and center.

They final number had Vincent Price “singing” the song “You’ve Got A Friend.” There were several other monsters, including Uncle Deadly, singing with him. Vincent Price was not much of a singer, but he gave it his all.

The Muppet Show S1 E15, E16, E17, E18

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Guest: Candice Bergen

Guest: Avery Schreiber

Guest: Ben Vereen

Guest: Phyllis Diller

Another strong run of four episodes of the Muppet Show consistently amaze me. I mentioned this earlier, but the material on the Muppet Show is so far advanced for a kids program that it goes to show you that you do not have to play down to kids.

In these four episodes, we got a song from Ben Vereen, Mister Cellophane, out of the Broadway play Chicago. Rowlf played a classical piano piece by Beethoven called Für Elise. The classic song Tenderly was performed in a distinctly rock format by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

Crazy Harry was all over these episodes. He was the running gag in the Ben Vereen episode, constantly blowing things up when someone made a comment connected to explosions.

Veterinarian’s Hospital was on all these episodes. This is a classic bit that the Muppet Show made famous with Rowlf, Miss Piggy and Janice. They told some terrible jokes and laughed at them all.

The Candice Bergen episode featured some of the songs I remember on here including “Put Another Log on the Fire” and Piggy’s “What Now My Love.” Candice Bergen was not singing, and I was thinking, “Oh so she is not a singer so they are not making her sing” and then she did “You’ve Got to Have Friends.”

Piggy tried to make Kermit jealous by pretending to have a relationship with Avery Schreiber, which seemed to work until Scooter let the cat out of the bag. During this, we learn Miss Piggy’s true name, Pigathias- which means “River of Passion.” Other running jokes included Fozzie trapped in a box, Fozzie doing the “I’ve got a ____ for Kermit the Frog” bit, and Hilda worried about her age and appearance.

Sweetums made several appearances in this block of episodes including where he ate Candice Bergen’s camera and had an insult-off with Sir Avery (Schreiber).

The Muppet Show S1 E12, E13, E14

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Guest: Peter Ustinov

Guest: Bruce Forsythe

Guest: Sandy Duncan

Three more Muppet Show episodes and three guest stars. Looking at the three guest stars, Peter Ustinov would not be a guest star that you would expect on the Muppet Show. He was a two time Academy Award winner and had that high brow feel to him. However, he seemed to be fully engaged and willing to put himself out there. He was clearly having a good time with whatever silliness he was put in. Bruce Forsythe and Sandy Duncan make a much more understandable guest for the Muppets, but Ustinov was great.

It was on the Peter Ustinov episode where Kermit sang his iconic Sesame Street song, “(It’s Not Easy) Bein’ Green.” This was the song most connected to Kermit until the Rainbow Connection came along in the Muppet Movie.

The running storyline of the Peter Ustinov episode was that Kermit was feeling jealous of Ustinov, especially how everyone was fawning over him. We come to find out at the end that Peter Ustinov was jealous of Kermit because he always wanted to be a frog. Silly, but fun.

Bruce Forsythe helped Fozzie finish off Statler and Waldorf and their heckling. Forsythe was great because he was a comedian, a singer, a dancer, piano player and he showed all of these off during the show.

The Sandy Duncan episode found Fozzie at the heart of the backstage storyline as he was telling people that his writer was the legendary Gags Beasley. Fozzie then said he was going to do the famous Banana Sketch, which EVERYONE except Kermit knew. Kermit was getting frustrated when everyone would laugh about the Banana Sketch and would look down on Kermit when they discovered that Kermit was unaware about it. Even Sandy Duncan got into the act, barely able to contain her laughter with Fozzie when thinking about the Banana Sketch. There was no real pay off to this, outside of Kermit driving himself crazy. The bouquets of bananas her had Fozzie give Sandy Duncan at the end was a nice little punctuation to the storyline.

Of the most memorable moments for me on these three episodes, (outside of Bein’ Green) I would say that it was the song “Never Smile at a Crocodile” which was a fun respite. I did not remember hearing “I’m My Own Grandpa” on the Muppet Show before, but it was there. I am most familiar with Ray Stevens’ version of the song.

Simpsley

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Disney + has a special episode of The Simpsons drop on the streamer, and it was tremendous.

It has been a long time since I have watched anything with the Simpsons in it, so when I saw this parody of a film noir called Simpsley, I was intrigued. I am a fan of noir.

The black and white aesthetic worked well for this stand alone episode that exists outside of the Simpsons’ typical continuity. In fact, this was a total switch for the characters.

According to IMDB, “When penniless con artist Marge Bouvier is sent to Italy to convince wealthy sap Seymour Skinner to come home, she’s tempted by the trappings of his affluent lifestyle. But there’s a big fat fly in the ointment: Skinner’s clingy, dim-witted mooch of a houseguest, Homer Simpsley. Lies, lust, and Italian lira abound in this Disney+ exclusive Simpsons noir.”

I loved how these characters were put into different roles, yet showed some of their own normal traits. I also loved the way that the episode place Homer and Marge into a situation where they are clearly the bad guys, despite being the show’s protagonists.

I have to say that the cameo from Bart was shocking and brilliant.

The show had its share of shocks moving through it as it embraced the style of noir well and gave us a satisfying episode contained within.

This is a parody of The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The Muppet Show S1 E9, E10, E11

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Guest: Charles Aznavour

Guest: Harvey Korman

Guest: Lena Horne

I knew that there would be some huge moments of nostalgia for me by doing this Muppet Show rewatch because there are some clips that have stuck with me all these years. These three episodes of season one, nine, ten and eleven, included several of these.

In episode nine, guest starring Charles Aznavour, someone who I would have never recognized, did one of the numbers with lyrics I say all the time. “Two and two are four. Four and four are eight. Eight and eight are sixteen. Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two.” This is from the song Inchworm and I remember this since my youth.

Episode ten had a couple of iconic memories for me. First was the “Funniest joke of all time” from Fozzie Bear, who grabbed Kermit to help him and wanted Kermit to come on stage after he hears the word “Hear” and deliver the line “Good grief! The comedian’s a bear!” The homophones would be the joke of course, but this is a fabulous routine with Jim Henson and Frank Oz delivering their lines perfectly. This was on a record album of hits from the first season of the Muppet Show that I had owned.

The other amazing performance on this episode was from Robin the Frog, who sang A.A. Milne’s poem, “Halfway Down the Stairs.” I loved this growing up and it just triggers every memorberry that I have.

Most celebrities look as if they are having a great time on the Muppet Show. Some have joy and fun all over their faces. Lena Horne is a perfect example. She was so happy to be here. However, in episode eleven, it sure seemed as if Harvey Korman hated being here. He did not seem to be enjoying his time on the Muppet Show at all. Of course, he did dress in a giant chicken costume for half the show, so there is that.

This show, which was children’s show, was surprisingly high brow on many occasions. When Charles Aznavour did a dance number with Mildred as he sang “Old Fashioned Way,” there would be plenty of people who were introduced to that song for the first time here. I was surprised to see Mildred as his dance partner in this act. Later in the seasons, it would have been 100% Miss Piggy doing that. I even had to look up the name for the Muppet Mildred.

Lena Horne surprised me with a cover of “I Got a Name” by Jim Croce. I looked it up and Horne did, in fact, cover the song herself as a record. She also sang “Sing (Sing a Song)” from Sesame Street which included background singers Gonzo, Miss Piggy, George the Janitor among others. Both Kermit and Fozzie got to sing with Lena.

As I mentioned, the Muppet Show may have been targeted for children, but it did not talk down to them. It provided music and allusions to some of the greatest cultural items of all time. And, they put Harvey Korman in a chicken suit.

The Muppet Show S1 E7, E8

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Guest: Florence Henderson

Guest: Paul Williams

Florence Henderson of the Brady Bunch and singer/songwriter Paul Williams were the guest on the next two episodes of season one of the Muppet Show. Both of them are good guests that can sing, dance, act and comedy.

Florence sang Butterfly of Love and Happy Together. She does a nice job. She sang Happy Together along with the monsters and lizards. She had near zero Muppets in the first number, except for some butterflies at the very end.

Paul Williams has a connection with the Muppets. He wrote the song “Rainbow Connection” which is the most iconic Kermit song (along with It’s Not Easy Being Green). This episode comes before that song so there is no “Rainbow Connection” on this episode. Williams does sing “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song”, a song that he wrote.

In episode seven, the main backstage storyline deals with Miss Piggy’s feeling toward Kermit. Of course, this is a major Muppet theme to today.

In episode eight, the backstage bit is Fozzie and Scooter preparing for doing the Telephone Poll Bit. I guess it should be Telephone POLE bit as it turned out to be a joke about the telephone being a Polish person.

We get an episode of Muppet Labs, but it was only Dr. Bunsen Honeydew with no sign of Beaker. I did not expect that Muppet Labs had episodes without Beaker.

There was a fun song performed by Rowlf called “Cottleston Pie” which was originally a poem written by A.A. Milne and was included in Winnie the Pooh. It was a song about a nonsensical poem used to explain the unexplainable.

The Muppet Show S1 E4, E5, E6

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Guest: Ruth Buzzi

Guest: Rita Moreno

Guest: Jim Nabors

Tonight, we came back to The Muppet Show for some more first season fun. Three celebrities on these shows included Ruth Buzzi, Rita Moreno and Jim Nabors. All three had songs including “Too Good to be True” (that Buzzi sung with Sweetums), “Fever” from Moreno and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” (Nabors).

There are some weird things during these three episodes. One was Miss Piggy’s voice. I know they were not set on who was voicing her but it was weird during this first season to hear Piggy talk in her actual voice and then, the next scene, she spoke differently. Frank Oz was the long time Piggy voice performer, but there were sometimes that she was voiced by Richard Hunt.

Gopher showed up for the first time in episode 5, with an introduction. It was strange because he was in the first four episodes too. He kept using the joke about his uncle owning the theater, and using it to manipulate Kermit. Obviously, the original writing of these shows were not in the correct order.

Wayne and Wanda made their way into all three of these episodes. None of those numbers reached their conclusion.

Episode five featured a classic running joke with the backstage phone and Fozzie. The Muppet Show was notorious for their running jokes and this one was solid. Kermit even called it out so the audience understood the idea of a running joke (which they even had some people ran past).

There were a couple of acts that we see for the first time like Veterinarian’s Hospital and Marvin Suggs and his Muppetphones.

We got At the Dance in all of the episodes with the silly jokes. They deliver these lines with such a straight delivery that even some of the bad jokes turn out funny.

These Muppet Shows are great to revisit. The most iconic moment of these three episodes was the “Apache dance” routine that Rita Moreno did with her Muppet partner where she beat him up badly.

All seasons of the Muppet Show can be seen on Disney +.

The Muppet Show S1 E2, E3

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Guest: Connie Stevens

Disney + gives me an option to skip the intro, but it will never be done. The opening theme is one of the best and most entertaining themes of all time. It is just like X-Men ’97, I will always watch the theme song.

The second episode the series has another classic song that I loved, which was “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady” sung by Kermit. That was the opening act in the show.

There was a running gag with Fozzie kept overhearing Gonzo asking people about his “Teddy Bear,” which is old and ratty, and Fozzie believed that they were all referring to him.

Ernie and Bert made a guest appearance from Sesame Street so Bert could sing a song with guest Connie Stevens (“Some Enchanted Evening”). Connie had sung Teenager in Love earlier in the episode with the back-up group, The Mutations, (Not the Temptations).

There was a cool version of “Ain’t Misbehavin'” sung by Floyd. I have a feeling this was one of those acts included in the British show replacing commericals.

Guest: Joel Grey

Episode three would have been the first place I saw Joel Grey, Broadway legend and EYG Hall of Famer. Grey did two songs, a version of Willkommen from Cabaret and Razzle Dazzle from Chicago. Both were great performances.

Fozzie was involved in the running backstage story again, which was that Fozzie was working on his act of telling a joke over any topic mentioned. He was becoming annoying backstage, but he wound up nailing it onstage after Statler and Waldorf tossed out the topic “anemia.”

Rowlf portrayed Sherlock Holmes in a skit about a murder. It was a cute bit.

Wayne and Wanda made their debut as a singing group, doing Stormy Weather. Wayne and Wanda would start their regular act where something horrible that wrecked their act here. Wayne and Wanda made a cameo appearance in the Connie Stevens episode but did not sing.

Love the Muppet Show and I am excited about continuing this rewatch.

The Muppet Show S1 E1

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Guest: Juliet Prowse

One of the goals for the summer is to finish the rewatch of the Agents of Shield, which I am preparing to start season six. However, I could use a couple of new shows to rewatch for the site, and I decided that Disney + would have yet another great show that would fit that need perfectly.

The Muppet Show.

There are few shows that will trigger the nostalgia for me like the Muppet Show. I remember being in 2nd grade and going home to watch the first Muppet Show. I did not know anyone except Kermit, but I grew to love the cast of characters.

This episode had a couple of classic songs: “Mah Nà Mah Nà” and “Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear”– both of which are personal favorites from the show. “Mah Nà Mah Nà” in particular is a song that will get stuck in my head very easily.

The Muppet Choir’s rendition of “Temptation” was a lot of fun too as we basically see Miss Piggy groping Kermit.

Juliet Prowse did a beautiful dance routine to “Solace” alongside six Green Gazelles.

Gonzo tried to eat a rubber tire, Statler and Waldorf were their cranky old selves, and Scooter’s dog Muppy tried to manipulate Kermit into changing the name of the show to the Muppy Show.

This rewatch is going to be a lot of fun.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair

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I used to like Malcolm in the Middle, though I never would say that I loved it. It was something that I watched when it was originally on ABC. I knew that there was going to be a new series featuring the returning cast on Hulu/Disney + and i was somewhat interested, but I had not gone out of my way to watch it. It came out in April and I saw it on Disney + a few times, but just never got around to watching it.

Finally, tonight I had an open evening and with only four episodes of the show to watch, I decided that I would finally watch it.

Overall, I am glad I did. However, I would not say that I loved it. There were parts that bugged me, and I am not sure I would have continued if it were a longer series. I do think that this was just the right amount of episodes at four.

The show did tell a specific story centered around Lois and Hal’s 40th wedding anniversary. Again, parts of the storyline was great and other parts were cringe. The final episode had a spectacular conclusion that was emotional and heartfelt and made everything else feel better.

I want to say immediately that I really found Leah, the daughter of Malcolm, played by Keeley Karsten, to be remarkably charming and a perfect fit for the role. The show cleverly gave Leah the ability to talk to the screen like Malcolm could do, narrating much of what was going on. It is obviously a trait passed along from father to daughter.

It was very funny, and well in character, that Malcolm had not ever told Hal and Lois that he had had a daughter, and so when they crashed his home because Malcolm had been avoiding the question about attending Lois & Hal’s big party, all of Malcolm’s lies came crashing down.

I am not sure how I felt about the whole Hal story arc of these episodes, but there is no denying that he came out a better person in the end. I was torn about the whole drug trip he went on (reminded me very much of the trip taken by Mayor Tom on Widow’s Bay), but there were some very funny moments within it.

I was sure that the role of Francis had been recast, but, according to IMDB, it was Christopher Masterson playing the role. I was shocked. I thought that the recast was very similar to Francis, but that it was clearly not him. I was in err on that. Turned out the only recast of the kids was Dewey, who was now played by Caleb Ellsworth-Clark instead of Erik Per Sullivan.

Jane Kaczmarek was giving me Candace Bergen feels as she returned to her multiple Emmy nominated role. You’ve got to appreciate how committed Bryan Cranston is to playing Hal, because he is clearly willing to do anything. They really work together as well.

I was very much split on the Malcolm/Lois confrontation in the men’s room. The toilet humor just did not work for me. I have never been a fan of this style of humor. I thought the writing of the scene between the two characters was outstanding though.

Some of the other characters from the show looked rough. I am not sure if that was intended or if the actors had had tough lives. I would hate to speculate on any of them. I am glad that they were here.

The revival of this show was hit and miss for me, but I am glad that I watched it and I might even watch another show, if they did any more.

The Muppet Show (2026 special)

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Love it.

This is exactly what I was hoping for when I heard that there would be a Muppet Show special on Disney +. A show full of nostalgia and fond memories of a show of the past filled with humor and music of the present.

A show with voices that are different, but still familiar. With guest stars that are as happy to be there as I am watching.

I did not know much about Sabrina Carpenter, but she fit right in to the guest role. She had a beautiful voice and sang well with both Kermit and Miss Piggy on the song “Islands in the Stream.”

Seth Rogan, one of the executive producers, made a funny appearance as did Maya Rudolph. I liked how they had interspersed humans into the audience along with the typical Muppet characters. Maya was in the crowd and fit right into the weirdness of the show.

I was hooked immediately, from the slow walk of Kermit into the theater, to Ralph’s piano version of Rainbow Connection as background music to the absolutely wonderful theme song that I unabashedly sang along with and played twice.

This year is the 50th anniversary of The Muppet Show and this special was a way to help celebrate that momentous occasion.

My favorite song was the “Blinding Lights” version performed by Rizzo the rat. The finale with all of the Muppets doing “Don’t Stop Me Now” from Queen was another highlight.

I hope this does gangbusters for Disney + because this is an IP that Disney owns that has been woefully underused over the years. The Muppets are back in the perfect place for them. Where it all started. Where they can “play the music” and “light the lights.”

Raise that curtain. It’s The Muppet Show…