Trivia / The Muppets (2015)

• Acting for Two: Again, many of the performers. But taking it even further, Big Mean Carl and his sister Carla must be twins...
• Creator Backlash: Kermit's longtime performer Steve Whitmire was vocally outspoken on-set, regarding the direction the show took with the characters and believes that this was ultimately what got the show cancelled (and presumably led to his sacking).
• Directed by Cast Member: Bill Barretta directed the episode "Little Green Lie".
• Disowned Adaptation: Retired Muppets performer Frank Oz didn’t care for the show, thinking that it wasn’t true to the characters.
• Drawing Board Hiatus: Their mid-season hiatus in December 2015 became this when a retool was ordered. It resulted in Piggy becoming less antagonistic, Pizza being dropped out, Camilla getting brought back and Rowlf returning for a Veterinarian's Hospital sketch. It still wasn't enough to avoid cancellation.
• He Also Did: Bob West, the original voice of Barney the Dinosaur, did graphic design for this series. He is credited under "Production Crew".
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": As of December 2015, the show hasn't aired yet in Australia and their national non-commercial channel (also named ABC) already posted an article about Dave Grohl and Animal's drum duel at the end of "Going, Going, Gonzo" almost as soon as that episode aired in the States.
• The Other Marty: In the presentation pilot, Fozzie's human girlfriend Becky was played by Margo Harshman. For the series, she was replaced by Riki Lindhome.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Allegedly, the behind-the-scenes tumult of the series played a role in Kermit's longtime performer, Steve Whitmire (who inherited the role after Jim Henson died), losing his job after working for The Muppets since 1978. Whitmire reportedly hated the changes being made to the characters and passed around notes to his colleagues against Disney's wishes. He also had trouble performing a scene from the series in which Kermit lies to his nephew, Robin, about breaking up with Piggy, which he felt was an insult to Henson's vision of Kermit. Disney, however, claims it was his many years of outrageous behavior behind-the-scenes (that apparently go as far back as when the Jim Henson Company still owned the Muppets according to Brian Henson) and that the issues regarding the show were the tipping point. He was actually fired five months after ABC announced cancellation, but the news wasn't disclosed until nine months later.
• Screwed by the Network:
  • During the first season's mid-season hiatus, ABC sought to address several issues that caused dissonance among viewers. Bob Kushnell, series co-creator, was fired and replaced by Kristen Newman, who ordered a quick retool in order to address some of the problems the series was plagued with. Aside from the character of Denise being dropped and increased focus on the characters working in Piggy's show than in their personal lives, not a whole lot was changed. The reception to these episodes was much more positive, but ABC seemed to not care, as they stopped actively promoting new episodes later on, hurting its ratings. Two months after the season ended, ABC confirmed that the series would be axed, putting the Muppets out of television once again. On the bright side, It didn't stop Disney and Muppet Studios from doing more Muppet projects afterwards as they've since rebooted Muppet Babies in 2018 and created Muppets Now for Disney+ in 2020, so it looks like their future may not be so bleak after all.
    
    Some dispute whether or not ratings were actually a factor, however. During production of the series, ABC got a new head honcho, who decided to revamp the network's slate and keep more established fare on the air, making The Muppets one of many series thrown in the reject bin. Additionally, Disney, the parent company of ABC and owner of the Muppets franchise, suffered a setback in its television and consumer products businesses (with the Muppets being part of the latter) during the financial quarter of the show's airing^note  for three reasons: One being the controversy over The Lion Guard, the second being the decline in ESPN subcribers and the third being declining ratings for Disney Channel due to the successes of Teen Titans Go! and PAW Patrol, a factor which also lead to other Disney-owned channels cancelling popular shows, thus causing Disney to have to cut back on both units in order to recoup losses.
  • In an example of Screwed by the Affiliate, ABC's Boston affiliate WCVB delayed the episode "Tail of Two Piggies", along with the entire Tuesday night lineup, to the early morning hours due to running ad nauseum coverage of the New Hampshire primary election. A few other affiliates did this as well, and in some cases (again using WCVB as an example) many DVR's that were set to record the episode instead recorded half of The Muppets and half of Fresh Off the Boat.
• Short Run in Peru: Canadian channel City TV aired the show a day earlier than ABC did.
• Star-Derailing Role: Steve Whitmire's career with the Muppets beginning in 1978 came to an end after the failure of the series.
• Troubled Production: Details are vague, but there was some kind of behind the scenes drama while the show was getting off the ground, which resulted in one of the producers leaving halfway through the first season and a major reboot occurring after the winter hiatus. The first episode made after this incident, the midseason premiere "Swine Song", lampshades and addresses these changes.