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“The Muppets are coming back to TV!”

It was the message shouted from the rooftops, reposted all across the internet, hyped over hill and plain, across the vast expanse of the Universe, building to a maddening fury that erupted in a greater magnitude of force than chickens flying over penguins exploding into monsters eating chickens. The Muppets are coming back to TV!

Summer 2015 was a glorious time to be a Muppet fan. After the initial announcement of a new TV show was made, both characters and performers dazzled crowds at Comic Con, Disney’s D23 Expo, and Dragon Con. The Muppets were everywhere, promoting what was to be. Fans loved every minute of it. Finally, we said, what we’d been waiting for was happening. We would all see it once again. The Muppets would be right where they belonged, giving the world what it so dearly needed: the world’s third greatest gift (laughter).

September 22, 2015 was the air date of The Muppets, Season 1 Episode 1: “Pig Girls Don’t Cry.” It aired on ABC at 8pm Eastern, and the entirety of Muppet fandom eagerly drank in every second, hoping to quench a thirst that had stretched over decades. Did the rich and famous Kermit the Frog and Company deliver? Let’s take a look.

Caution: This article contains numerous spoilers. You’ve been warned!

Cold Opening. Kermit is the first face we see, and he picks up right where we are in Muppet history, newly-separated from Miss Piggy. We know all about what’s going on, because we’ve been hearing it in the media for months: Kermit is the Executive Producer of the new show Up Late with Miss Piggy. Nothing needs to be explained, which shows how perfectly-tuned the publicity machine has been all summer. It’s all been building up to this moment. Guys, we’re here! On the studio lot with Kermit! His first words to us: “There are a lot of challenges being the Executive Producer on a show starring your ex.” Pan up to the huge sign depicting the Up Late logo. Short, sweet, and funny. Pitch-perfect, because it immediately sets Kermit in his traditional role: the shoulder-er of greater burdens, in a hilarious way. Cue the music!

Title Sequence. We continue to see Kermit as the hapless center in this storm of crazies, and that’s as it should be. There are numerous comparisons to The Muppet Show throughout, and while this show is refreshingly new in many ways, there are many hidden and not-so-hidden nods to legacy. For instance, the title sequence crams as many Muppet characters onscreen as it can, just like the opening of the Muppet Show. It begins with Kermit attempting to get his morning coffee in the breakroom. Enter Fozzie, and as the Muppets fly in and out out of a super-speed torrent of characters, Miss Piggy is the last to leave, taking the coffee she naturally assumed Kermit was getting for her. Kermit is left not quite speechless, uttering the classic “Time to get things started,” followed by the familiar musical motive from the Muppet Show theme. Good use of the line, and of the music.

Other thoughts: I’m not sure why the typewriter font was chosen for The Muppets logo. As we go through this episode, there is only one scene that concerns the show’s writers, and that’s the profession I think of when I see that font. Maybe it will make more sense in the future?

Production Meeting. And we’re off! No red curtain, no “Hi-ho everyone.” We find ourselves immediately in the thick of things, in the 9am production meeting. The Muppets (minus Miss Piggy) are gathered around the table to go over the plan for the day’s show taping. The first joke of the episode (not counting the cold opening) is made by Scooter and Pepe, about a family wedding Pepe recently attended. It’s not a bad joke, but for Pepe it fell a little flat (however I will say it was better the second time I watched it). Everyone is talking as Kermit characteristically tries to quiet the group with no success. Bunsen offers to help by tazing Beaker, whose “Meeeeeeeeep!” and flickering flesh gets the group’s attention. In my mind, for some reason I expected Rizzo to rush up and scream “QUIET!” No such luck here. I wanted Bunsen & Beaker to be bigger here. The Muppets are supposed to explode, a lot, right? This effect, and the joke, felt small. It was funny, but it could have been better.

Kermit calls the meeting to order, which paves the comedy road for Zoot to wake up and introduce himself, and add that he is a…at which point Floyd shushes him, saying this isn’t that kind meeting. Zoot! Ladies and gentlemen, ZOOT!! Way to own the first scene of the first episode of the show, buddy! Nice hat, too. Gonzo rounds out the scene with banter that most of us saw in the Summer’s sizzle reel, lamenting the fact that the show will be shot in the cut-away interview style. Unfortunate that this moment needs repeated, since we’ve seen it in numerous advertisements already, however it is needed footage. It’s a good joke and it works, it’s just annoying that we had to watch it again.

Other thoughts: It’s always strange for me to watch the Muppets on TV without a laugh track. Not that I need to be told when to giggle, but it helps create a certain world, an environment where Muppet humor lives. I understand that we’re not in that world anymore…but I miss it. This episode didn’t feel like a “first” episode, and I liked that. This wasn’t the beginning, this was another day in the life of the Muppets. No screaming “Hey, we’re back!” (We’ve done that enough over the summer.) That’s also good for syndication, down the road.

One final thought in this segment: Is there a danger that this style of show will make the Muppets seem too “normal?” Personally I can see both sides of the argument. Seeing their “private” lives pulls back an awful lot of the curtain, exposing the audience to more facets of these characters than we’re used to. Fozzie is funny because of specific character traits and flaws. Seeing too much of him in-depth threatens to pull us away from those “Fozz-ic” elements. On the other hand, hearing Zoot think he’s at an AA meeting was hilarious. And Pepe makes jokes about his extended family all the time (see: Uncle Minolo).

Show Taping. Fozzie is warming up the studio audience for the show’s taping. This looks a lot like the scene from the El Sleezo Cafe, in The Muppet Movie. He even does the “Wocka-Wocka” hula dance, and it’s perfect. Statler and Waldorf make their first appearance as front-row audience members, and it’s a wonderful way to get them into the show, heckling the bear like they always should be. Piggy is finishing makeup and making her way to the set, with snappy dialog between Pig and Frog. This is the first time we see her, as she chews out the makeup artist (“I look like a half-naked Hawaiian dug me up!”). She’s temperamental and testy, but funny. Kermit sees her approaching and advises nearby Scooter “It’s to late for me, save yourself,” as the he scampers away. The whole scene illustrates a pig whose ego runs rampant over everything and everyone. It’s more of the same all-attitude, not-much-else Piggy we’ve seen recently. Next comes some of the technical innovation Steve Whitmire alluded to in talks over the Summer. Miss Piggy leads Kermit in a walk-and-talk around the twists and turns of the production office floor. This is a lot of ground for puppets to cover, and a surprisingly long (and impressive) shot. Kermit takes various notes from Piggy, including: he should lay “generic trash” on top of Piggy’s personal trash in her dressing room, so no one thinks to go through it; he should speak to God about the unpleasing smell of lilacs (He does have a connection there, right? Can’t he call Danny L?); and oh yes, remove Elizabeth Banks from the next day’s show’s guest list. Piggy hates her, and we don’t get to know why. From her reasoning, she’s just being temperamental and unreasonable (Uncle Deadly sidles up with a lint roller during this spat, which is strangely hilarious). Piggy refuses to budge, slamming the door on Kermit. In swoops Bobo the Bear, with a reassuring “So how’d that go for ya, okay then?” This line is a callback to Muppets From Space, a movie largely panned and, in my opinion, unfairly. And even if you didn’t like the movie, how much can you really do with Bobo? Cut to a Kermit talking head saying that, when they were dating, Piggy’s erratic behavior was “kind of sexy,” but when you take dating out of the equation…”she’s just a lunatic.”

Wrapping up his audience warmup, Fozzie mentions Bobo as the stage manager, giving him the signal to wrap it up. I like how they’re subtly establishing everybody’s role on the show. “Either that,” Fozzie quips, “or I’m about to be blown away by a tornado!” Is it me, or is that a particularly weak Fozzie joke? Do I expect too much from “bad” jokes? There’s a difference between “good” bad jokes, and truly bad ones. This has been a topic of discussion on the podcast too: I often feel like Fozzie isn’t “here” anymore. It’s very hard to nail a character like Fozzie, as I believe Frank Oz has said numerous times. Maybe having a girlfriend is messing with Fozzie’s self-confidence. Meaning, it’s giving him some. His warm-up routine over, it’s time for the audience – both onscreen and we viewers at home – to see Up Late with Miss Piggy! This is the show-within-a-show that The Muppets revolves around. Both the comedic mockumentary and the late-night show formats are widely recognized in modern television, and it’s exactly where the Muppet characters need to be. They can play in the movies, but their true home, thanks to Jim Henson, will always be television. Fozzie is the Show Announcer, and Sweetums is the cue card holder. Fozzie does a fantastic job here, as does Sweetums (he aptly messes up the cue card sequence, forcing Fozzie to mis-read his lines). The Electric Mayhem is the house band, naturally. As the band plays, Piggy waits behind the curtain for her introduction, continuing to bicker with Kermit. He insists that Piggy better have a good explanation for dropping a guest star one day before taping, to which Piggy response “I do have a good reason: I hate her stupid face!” THAT was funny! I don’t mind Piggy being mean if she’s still being funny. Miss Piggy is announced, as she strides through the curtain to her adoring audience. “I love me just as much as you do!” she jokes. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Miss Piggy. The diva, the star, the swine. She’s wanted to be a superstar her whole life, and now she has her own late-night captive audience. Everything about Up Late just fits. The sets, the costumes, the characters, the audience (live or laugh track, it doesn’t matter). It’s all…well, it’s The Muppets!

Backstage, Kermit looks on in disgust. “My life is a bacon-wrapped Hell on Earth,” he grumbles. I am SO glad we got this line out of the way, and I never have to hear it again. It was funny the first time I heard it, but this is the line ABC drove into the ground all Summer, in nearly every advertisement for the show. And now it’s out, and we can all breathe easier. The saving grace of this moment had to be Sam Eagle’s immediate and automatic “Can’t say Hell.” Thank you, Standards & Practices.

Other thoughts: Isn’t it weird how Muppet animals can joke about being eaten by humans that they try to entertain? I also hope they find something incredibly fun to do with Bobo. It would be just wonderful if he got some breakout moments during the course of the show.

Managing Expectations. We next find ourselves in Kermit’s office, with Scooter and actor Tom Bergeron. It’s nice to see him in the pilot, he’s a longtime friend of the Muppets. Storywise, he’s in Kermit’s office to backfill the open guest spot vacated by Elizabeth Banks. He was nearby, after all, since he’s the host of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. So it’s cool. Kermit thanks him and Tom leaves the office, after which Kermit chews out Scooter for picking, out of all the “Stars” on that show, Tom Bergeron! Bergeron hears the squabble and says through the window “I’m not on the elevator yet!” Here we see some of Steve Whitmire’s beautiful puppetry: Kermit’s face goes from shock to smarmy smile instantaneously (remember, it’s just a hand inside that head!). Tom B reassures Kermit happily that, despite the indignity, he’ll still happily do the show! Such is the showbiz life. Oh, Tom Bergeron. Next we find Fozzie driving to his girlfriend Becky’s parents’ home, to meet them for the first time over dinner. He’s worried about making a good impression. THIS is good Fozzie. “When your online dating profile says ‘Passionate Bear Looking for Love’, you get a lot of wrong responses. Well, not wrong, er…just, wrong for me.” BAM! Best joke in the whole show, in my opinion! With a huge belly laugh, I remember why I love Fozzie so much. I expect a lot out of him, and I know I’m hard on him. But when he delivers, that bear delivers!

Dinner at Becky’s parents’ house goes about how you’d expect, mostly because we’ve seen it before. Not quite shot-for-shot, but close. And once again, the footage is needed for the episode, but the entire sequence feels repetitive to those who watched it earlier in the Summer sizzle reel (which, according to YouTube, is a lot of us). Two differences stand out, though. Becky has been recast from a brunette to a blond, and her father Carl (who, along with her mother, are played by the same actors from the sizzle reel) now sports a comedically ridiculous mustache. Nice caterpillar, Carl. They are the stereotypical sitcom Mom & Dad types: stodgy Dad, syrupy sweet Mom. The living room set is equally generic, which leaves lots of room for Becky and Fozzie’s relationship to stand out as the one thing in their lives that doesn’t “fit.” They’re having salmon for dinner. Really? Cue another bear joke…ugh, we get it, he’s a bear. Mom, helpfully: “They do catch [salmon] in rivers!” Fozzie: “Actually, I get mine at Costco.” Okay, that was a pretty good joke. Nice job again, Foz. The scene progresses, with the jokes lifted almost verbatim from the sizzle reel. It felt strange, watching this entire scene play out again, only from slightly different angles this time. It was also a little boring for that reason.

At the studio, Kermit is in the writers’ room, with show writers Gonzo, Rizzo, and Pepe. And an extra-y looking extra, whose name is…Kim? Maybe? George? We’re led not to care. The writers are pitching their a skit they wrote for Tom Bergeron to play-host on Up Late, called “Dancing With the Czars,” featuring Rizzo and Pepe dressed up as ancient Russian nobility. I’s kind of funny. Well, not that funny. They dance the fox trot, jumping up and down and cavorting to some hokey music. It was silly and dumb, but kids might like it. Maybe if it was dancing cheese instead…oh well. It felt like a stab at Muppet Show-type backstage antics, and an admirable one, but it felt forced and didn’t quite hit the mark. Again here, the sets were fantastic. The puppetry was excellently staged and performed, including minute details like Kermit’s hand resting on the back of a chair. These small touches add realism, and make the characters true to us. Kermit’s assessment of Gonzo’s work is harsher than mine: “I hate everything about it!” Gonzo, ever the optimist, replies, “Hey, only one note!” which redeemed the bit.

And then…BOOM! It’s Denise, folks! Say hello to Kermit’s little lillypad love-dumplin’. In her grand entrance to the show, she pops in to tell Kermit she brought him a little Italian. “His name’s Guissepe. Ba dum, cha!” There’s been so much said in fan circles about this new character, and we’ve only just now heard her voice. And it’s a good voice! It’s a pig with a Southern accent, and her voice sounds more “real” than a character-type voice like Piggy’s. She is not entirely dislikable, in fact she seems on the surface to be quite pleasant! Sadly, many fans predict she won’t last, and they may be right. She’s very “normal,” which isn’t a good sign if you’re a Muppet. We cut to another Kermit talking head segment, explaining how the two of them met. They were at a cross-promotional synergy meeting and before long, they…um, cross-promoted. Eww! What does that mean? A Muppet sex joke? Wait, was he still with Piggy when this happened? So many questions!

Dinner is done at Becky’s parents’ house, and all four are seated in the living room. Becky is cute. Fozzie is enormous. I get that he’s not supposed to be slender, being a bear, but he looks like a deflated life raft here. Becky is smitten with Fozzie, and I keep asking myself why. Does Fozzie turn into an irresistible lover somehow? Is Becky deranged? Either way, Becky brings up the fact that Fozzie works with Miss Piggy on Up Late. Becky’s mom gushes over the pig, saying she absolutely adores her. Can I please ask…WHY?? Is it her humanitarianism? So Piggy is essentially Oprah, in the context of The Muppets. As Pepe would say, “h’okay.” Wait, could we possibly get the real Oprah on this show? That would be amazing! Fozzie offers to take the family to the next taping of the show, and calls Piggy to clear it. The Pig is mid-workout, and Tracy Anderson is her trainer. We know that, because Miss Piggy calls her by her first and last name (which is fortunate, because I would have had no idea who she was otherwise). Unsure who she’s talking to, she asks “Is this the guy in the hat?” Okay, at least we got out of the “I’m gonna say ‘Gary’” joke. I’ll give them that. Piggy agrees, they can come to the set, “But not touching, and no eye contact,”…meaning, Fozzie, she clarifies.

Back in Kermit’s office, we get an interesting revelation: Kermit is a stress eater! This will set up something else later, but wow, Kermit overeats! Maybe this explains his attraction to pigs? Anyway, it’s a little amphibian character development. As Kermit espouses his frustration with Piggy’s aversion to Elizabeth Banks, Denise sheds some light on things by showing him a video of Piggy and Banks, together at an audition for the Hunger Games movie. In it, Banks is a natural and Miss Piggy is awful. She causally boasts that she hasn’t read the script, she thinks she can waltz through it…wait, isn’t Piggy in show biz? Shouldn’t she should know how auditions work? At any rate, Banks walks out on the audition, her role already secure, and Kermit is led to conclude that this, obviously, is why Piggy dislikes Banks; she beat her out for a major movie role. Kermit decides that that’s a juvenile reason for kicking her off the show, and declares Banks to be back on-schedule for the taping. “I run this show,” he announces, “I make the decision.” Denise snuggles up to Kermit and says she likes this side of him, and to tell her “what you want.” Kermit embarrassingly admits he wants a chocolate brownie sundae. Kermit is calorie-loading! This is indeed a weird but interesting new angle.

Other thoughts: How does Miss Piggy suddenly forget everyone and everything she’s ever done? That’s funny for now, but can only be funny for so long, I think. It just doesn’t make sense.

Piggy and Banks. Production meeting time again! Kermit goes over the upcoming show’s outline, and mentions that Elizabeth Banks is, in fact, going to be on the show. The Muppet cast gasp in unison and terror! They all seem scared out of their wits over how Piggy will react. Think this might be a commentary of some late-night hosts’ staff? Interesting how Kermit was in charge of The Muppet Show, and now Piggy is in charge of Up Late…okay, Kermit was never really in charge of The Muppet Show. Rizzo makes a joke, good to see him making a splash in this show! Pepe warns Kermit not to take Piggy’s wrath lightly: “I once saw her lift up a piano to get to a half-eaten moon pie.” Meh…I like Pepe’s dirty jokes more. He can do better! Kermit reassures the cast that Piggy won’t know Banks is on the show until she walks through the curtain onstage. Cue Elizabeth Banks to walk into the studio now, hours early and in plenty of time for Piggy to see her and erupt! Kermit immediately sluffs her off on Scooter ever the faithful sidekick (and now the “Talent Coordinator”), for an hours-long tour of the studio, far from the potential gaze of the pig. Today’s slightly more grown-up Scooter, it turns out, can be a bit snarky when snapped at! His banter with Banks is pithy, and kind of out-of-character for him. He says things that Richard Hunt would most definitely say, but Scooter himself might restrain himself. Banks tires of his little game of distraction, and as they argue she throws him off the moving golf cart he was driving, only to have Scooter rush back onto the cart and attempt to wrestle control back from her. This scene is among the most marvelous pieces of puppetry on the show! Scooter was a believable puppet character, and we only saw the back (or side) of his head for most of the scene. Scooter is back, baby!

Speaking of studio tours, Fozzie attempts to lead Becky and her parents through the backstage of the Up Late set, but strains to come up with anything interesting to say. He stands behind his announcer podium and invites Becky’s dad to come see what it’s like, until he notices Rizzo on a hot rat date by his furry feet, and anxiously rushes them onward instead. Miss Piggy encounters Banks backstage, and flies into a rage. As Fozzie feebly attempts to introduce Becky’s mom to Miss Piggy, the porcine diva insults him and storms off. Fozzie attempts to smooth it over to no avail, and gets himself knocked across the room by, ladies and gentlemen, Big Mean Carl! Another fan favorite, great to see him. Fozzie has completely failed to impress Becky’s parents, although she still loves him, and tells him so. Fozzie makes a joke, saying “Yeah, that’s not enough,” and chases after Carl (the small human one, not the big mean one) with a Up Late coffee mug.

On-camera with a music joke, who should it be but the Electric Mayhem! Janis remarks how the show’s musical guests’ original band name was Imagine Dragons. After bassist Floyd Pepper points out that, that is in fact their name, Janis replies “I know…they kept it.” Baaahahaha! Classic Janis. That moment felt very Muppet Show-esque.

Kemit tries to reason with Piggy, during another walk down the hallway (although not as long of a walk this time). He tells her he knows she’s angry with Banks because of the Hunger Games audition tape, but Piggy reminds him of the real reason she can’t stand Banks: They went to see her movie Pitch Perfect 2 the night they broke up. And then…ready for this?

It’s the breakup scene! We get to watch the very moment we’ve talked so much about all summer! It was all brilliantly woven together, this new show and pop culture reality! What an amazing world we live in! Sorry, sorry, I know this is sad and all, it’s just…squee!

In this flashback to paparazzi footage, we find Kermit and Piggy on a street corner, after leaving the movie theater. Kermit is visibly annoyed that Piggy won’t stop posing and taking selfies, and generally being “out there” while they’re together for a private evening. Piggy can’t understand what Kermit is talking about. Kermit wants a deeper connection, that doesn’t always involve an adoring public at every turn. She sees that as completely unreasonable. So, Kermit says it’s over. He doesn’t shout it, he doesn’t blow up. He simply, sadly, says it’s over. It’s actually a very emotional moment. Kermit begins to walk away, and Piggy crumbles in disbelief. This, strangely enough, is huge emotion for Piggy. Bigger-than-life, gregarious, over-acting Piggy is almost natural for her, but to feel actual deep, tangible emotion like this…you can see the pain. This is the inner core of the Pig. We see her “human” side. THIS is the “pain Piggy” that Frank Oz first created on The Muppet Show. THIS is the true heart and soul, and actually what enables Piggy to behave outwardly as she typically does. It’s as good as anything Frank Oz could have done. Bravo, Mr. Jacobson, you nailed it. This is the nugget from which everything else that is Miss Piggy is built. Perfectly, perfectly done.

Coming back to current-day, we see Kermit and Piggy in her dressing room, talking calmly like adults. He apologizes to her, and they agree that they can work together. Piggy remarks how their tumultuous relationship has never affected her personally. She still can’t help herself, I guess. She continues to insist that that movie was enough to justify holding a grudge on the actress herself, and Kermit, indulging an injured lady, agrees with her reasoning. The pig and frog agree to work together and be honest with each other. And as such, Piggy blurts out: “I don’t know what you see in your girlfriend, and you’re getting a little tummy,” as she skips away. Shocked, Kermit looks in the mirror. “It goes away if I stand up straight!” he offers. “Oh no,” he realizes, “it doesn’t!” I can’t say it enough, I SO hope Kermit having a weight problem becomes an ongoing plot point. He’s always been a little round, but the thought of him getting even rounder would be truly funny!

Show Time. We find Elizabeth Banks comfortably seated on the set of Up Late with Miss Piggy laughing and joking with the host in front of a live studio audience. “We’re back with a very fit, and almost too beautiful Elizabeth Banks!” announces Miss Piggy. As they talk, Banks remarks that, to keep in shape, she hikes a lot. Piggy retorts that she hikes a lot, too. “I had this hiked [she indicates her chin], I had these hiked [she indicates…well, those], and I’m gettin’ this thing hiked on my hiatus! [indicating her backside]” “You must have a long hiatus!” quips Banks, to the audience’s delight. What a great Piggy joke, I loved it! There was a very “modern Muppet” feel to the whole scene, and Muppets talking with celebs equals gold, every time. It was evocative of the Muppet Show moments with Kermit sitting on the wall and casually chatting with guest stars. Speaking of Kermit, we find him watching offstage with Scooter. He asks Scooter if Tom Bergeron was told he was bumped from the show. Just then, who should appear behind them but…wait for it…Tom Bergeron! Tom comedically mopes offscreen. Scooter assures Kermit he’ll send him a gift basket to make him feel better, with the really fancy salami. Kermit considers it, then advises Scooter to send the “regular” salami instead. Poor Tom Bergeron.

To end the show, we go to the Electric Mayhem, playing along behind Imagine Dragons, the show’s musical act. This part of the show was not done well. The Dragons mimed only a snipped of their song, and it looked and felt very “thrown in at the last minute.” Almost an afterthought. Miss Piggy didn’t introduce them (yes, she mentioned them by name earlier in the show, but if the illusion here is that this is a “real” late night show, then let’s go through all the paces). They didn’t even perform a whole song. On top of that, the Muppets were thrown in the background, not featured as performers at all. The Muppets are known for musical numbers on TV, and this show had none of that. It made the ending feel weak. Disappointing.

Animal is the only one made a part of this performance, banging a gigantic bass drum characteristic of much of the Dragons’ music. As he pummels the drum head, it eventually bursts open, and Animal falls inside. Sweetums and Bobo inspect the drum as the music continues, and Sweetums gasps “He’s gone!” To which Bobo replies “Oh well.” Seems like an underwhelming reaction to me, but Oh Well. Statler and Waldorf, keen on finding an exit, realize they could rush to follow Animal’s escape route via the drum, “Let’s get outta here!” Very appropriate, great last moment, and if the two of them get the last word in every episode, I’ll smile every time.

There’s a lot to love here, honoring both the old and the new. The Muppets are more than the puppets themselves, they’re the performers, the writers, directors, producers, and an entire team of people putting on a show for the Muppet fans. We saw technical achievements and beautiful displays of puppetry in this episode, and if it’s any indication of what we’ll see in the future, I can’t wait. Way to honor the old, bring in the new, and to know your audience. Welcome back to prime-time TV, Muppets. We’ve missed you.

The very last thing we hear in this episode is a Dragons lyric: “I’m goin’ back to my roots.”

How wonderfully appropriate.