Someday We'll Find It

One of the many things my son has become interested in during this quarantine: the Muppets. Having grown up at the tail end of the era where the Muppets were still led by Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and more, you can imagine my delight at this turn of events. The flip side, of course, is that I’m watching more of the new Muppet stuff, from the recent Disney movies to the ABC TV show to even the recent video of Kermit singing “The Rainbow Connection” from his swamp, making it look like he’s filming a celebrity video plea for peace in a time of confusion and concern.

I should be used to the fact that the Muppets I have always known are, depending on how you look at it, not the original Muppets. Jim Henson died when I was 5 years old — the first Muppet movie I would’ve seen in theaters was The Muppet Christmas Carol, in which Steve Whitmire took over as Kermit, a role he adopted for nearly three decades. Whitmire came close to playing Kermit for more years than Henson ever did. But when you watch the original films or the original Muppet Show, it’s hard not to be somewhat jarred when you hear someone else’s voice come out of Fozzie or Kermit or Miss Piggy.

I’ve been thinking more about the Muppets because of watching the 2011 Muppets film, which I remember enjoying quite a lot in theaters. I say that because while it’s true — though some critics may not want to admit it — that opinions can shift over time, it feels rare to me to have such a shift in opinion as I’ve had with this film. Maybe part of what turns me off is the fact that Jason Segel isn’t nearly so famous now as he was 10 years ago, thus making his presence here all the more frustrating. But I think the main problem is one I have as much with the Henson Company as with Disney, neither of whom seem to know what to do with the Muppets anymore.

The premise of The Muppets is that no one likes the Muppets anymore to the point where Kermit had an intense falling-out with the other Muppets years ago. Or, rather, that would be the premise if the movie bearing their name was actually about the Muppets. We only learn about how so many people appear to dislike or simply ignore the Muppets thanks to our lead characters, Gary and Walter. The former is played by Segel (who wrote the film), and the latter is a Muppet. Gary is struggling with his identity as much as the Muppety Walter is, bringing his brother on a trip to L.A. with his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams, who is so wasted in this film that it is retroactively more insulting to see her given such poor material).

Watching the film this time around, I just grew more annoyed with the movie. I still kind of like it. But I also still get annoyed at the perception that the people running the show don’t know what to do with the Muppets. It would be easy to pin this all entirely on Disney, and for moderately good reason. They bought the Muppets in the mid-2000s, and the results have been up and down, to say the least. Even watching an episode of the new TV show again, I was struck by how someone — the producers, maybe, or the network, or Bob Iger — chose to take the hard route and not just do a new version of the Muppet Show. Instead, the show’s pitch appears to be “What if 30 Rock met The Office, and it had Muppets?”

As much as this new show vexes me, as much as the new Muppet movies are mixed bags (I like Muppets Most Wanted a lot more than its predecessor, but I’m aware that it’s got problems of its own), I do wonder if the harsh reality is unavoidable: the Muppets can’t do better than the work of Jim Henson and his cohorts, because without them, there’s not much there.

I’m glad that we have modern Muppet movies, if only so that a younger generation can enjoy them. I wish that the original Muppet Show was streaming still. But I can’t shake the difference that there’s always going to be something off about them.

As a postscript, so too will my son. Last night, we watched that “Rainbow Connection” video, with Kermit now being performed by Matt Vogel. It was fine. Not a great version of the song, but I liked that it didn’t sound sweetened or pre-rehearsed. (As it should be.) After it was over, my son said, a bit haltingly, “That sounded like someone playing Kermit.” I didn’t go into the details of it with him, but that comment sure sounded like a realization that Kermit wasn’t…the same anymore.

Ah well.