Muppets Now

	EPISODE GUIDE; CHARACTERS • MORE
Premiere	July 31, 2020
Network	Disney+
Episodes	6

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MuppetsNow-PreviewStill — Scene used in "What's Coming to Disney+ in 2020" sizzle reel (YouTube)

Muppets Now is a short-form series produced by The Muppets Studio and Soapbox Films for Disney+. The series will premiere on the streaming service on July 31st, 2020.

Press description

“In the six-episode season, Scooter rushes to make his delivery deadlines and upload the brand-new Muppet series for streaming. They are due now, and he’ll need to navigate whatever obstacles, distractions, and complications the rest of the Muppet gang throws at him.
Overflowing with spontaneous lunacy, surprising guest stars and more frogs, pigs, bears (and whatevers) than legally allowed, the Muppets cut loose in “Muppets Now” with the kind of startling silliness and heartfelt fun that first made them famous.”

The Summer 2020 edition of the Disney twenty-three magazine further detailed that the series consists of a variety of segments, including:

“An uproarious game show from everyone's favorite shellfish, Pepé the King Prawn...a cooking show with none other than the Swedish Chef; a look at the trés fabulous lifestyle of the one and only Miss Piggy; some zany science experiments from Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his every-faithful assistant, Beaker; and a chat show featuring several super-special celebrity guests.^[1]”

Special guests include RuPaul, Taye Diggs, Seth Rogen, Aubrey Plaza, Linda Cardellini, Danny Trejo, Roy Choi, Giuseppe Losavio, Al Madrigal, and Carlina Will.

Episodes

Episode 101: Due Date (July 31, 2020)^[2]
Episode 102: Fever Pitch (August 7, 2020)^[3]
Episode 103: Getting Testy (August 14, 2020)^[3]
Episode 104: Sleep Mode (August 21, 2020)^[3]
Episode 105: The I.T. Factor (August 28, 2020)^[3]

Credits

Muppet Performers: Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, Eric Jacobson, Matt Vogel, David Rudman, Peter Linz
Additional Performers: Julianne Buescher, Mike Quinn
Directed by Vito Masano, Rufus Scot Church, Chris Alender
Executive Producers: Andrew Williams, Sabrina Wind, Bill Barretta

Development history

In February 2018, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Disney planned a "reboot" for the Muppets on Disney+, and that a search for a writer was in-progress.^[4]

The series would join other original programming for the platform from the company's Marvel and Star Wars properties, as well as new versions of High School Musical, The Parent Trap, Father of the Bride, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

In February 2019, a website called "Splash Report" published an item about the Josh Gad-penned project Muppets Live Another Day, which would follow the events of The Muppets Take Manhattan.^[5] The project would subsequently be shelved by September.

In May 2019, The DisInsider reported a series of improvised Muppet shorts would be produced for the platform. The approximate ten-minute shorts would take the formats of "three different segments of a game show, a cooking show, and a talk show."^[6]

Kirk Thatcher served as one of the directors for the shorts^[7], along with Bill Barretta and directors from Soapbox Films,^[8] filmed over the course of six days. They were originally intended as "three types of shows" split between eighteen episodes at approximately ten minutes each for a total of approximately three hours of content.^[9] By early 2020, the series was instead formatted as a half-hour show comprised of the shorts, with new framing material shot from the homes of the performers (due to the COVID-19 pandemic).^[8]

Promotion

The series was officially announced on The Muppets' social media accounts on August 23, 2019, in the form of a press statement written and signed by Kermit the Frog (with sections redacted in black marker under the restriction of Joe the Legal Weasel). A teaser video featuring Kermit and Joe the Legal Weasel was simultaneously screened at the Disney + panel at the D23 Expo.^[10] Portions of this teaser were incorporated into the official series trailer, released publicly online on June 24, 2020.

Another trailer was released on July 15, 2020, featuring Kermit conducting a video conference with the other Muppets to announce the series' greenlight. A corresponding press release, with annotations again by Joe, was posted to The Muppets' Twitter account (which was temporarily renamed "Joe from Legal").