EPISODE GUIDE CHARACTERS • MORE | |
Premiere | July 31, 2020 |
Network | Disney+ |
Episodes | 6 |
Muppets Now is a series produced by The Muppets Studio and Soapbox Films for Disney+. The series premiered on the streaming service on July 31st, 2020.
Press description
The Summer 2020 edition of the Disney twenty-three magazine further detailed that the series consists of a variety of segments, including:
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
- Directors: Rufus Scot Church, Vito Massaro, Christopher Alender
- Executive Producers: Andrew Williams, Bill Barretta, Sabrina Wind
- Co-Executive Producers: Jim Lewis, Kelly Younger
- Muppet Workshop Supervisor: Jane Gootnick
- Muppet Workshop Wranglers: Jürgen Ferguson, Scott Johnson, Peter MacKennan, Danielle Obinger
- Puppet Heap Supervisor: Paul Andrejco
- Puppet Captain: 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").
Videos
Gallery
Sources
- ↑ Disney twenty-three Summer 2020
- ↑ D23: Everything New You Can Stream on Disney+ in July 2020, June 17, 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Decider: New On Disney+ August 2020, July 16, 2020.
- ↑ The Hollywood Reporter "Disney Planning Another Muppets Reboot for Its Streaming Service (Exclusive)" by Lesley Goldberg, February 21, 2018
- ↑ splashreport.com "The Muppets Project for Disney+" by Jean-François Allaire, Feb 7, 2019
- ↑ The DisInsider: EXCLUSIVE: Muppets Variety Shorts Coming To Disney+, May 20, 2019.
- ↑ Kirk Thatcher official website
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kirk Thatcher on Puppet Tears (1:35:55)
- ↑ GalaxyCon Louisville (at 46:15) Dec 22, 2019
- ↑ Variety 'The Muppets' Short-Form Series Coming to Disney Plus