The TV show Muppets Live Another Day is not moving forward at Disney Plus. After years of collaboration on films like The Muppets Christmas Carol and the Muppet*Vision 3D theme park attraction, Disney finally brought the rights to The Muppets in 2004. However, they’ve only enjoyed intermittent success with the brand since then. Their first movie, The Muppets 2011, was an Oscar-winning box office hit, but its followup (Muppets Most Wanted) disappointed commercially, and the subsequent ABC series, The Muppets, only lasted a single season.
Back in February, it was reported that Frozen voice actor Josh Gad was developing a new Muppets series, Muppets Live Another Day, for Disney Plus with Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis (creators of ABC’s Once Upon a Time). Then, at August’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, Disney announced plans for Muppets Now, a short-form “unscripted” show that will premiere on the company’s streaming service in 2020. Turns out, though, only one of those Muppets projects is actually happening.
According to Deadline, Muppets Live Another Day has been cancelled after its writers disagreed with the heads at Muppets Studios over their vision for the series. The show’s pilot would’ve picked up right after the events of 1984’s The Muppets Take Manhattan, in which Kermit and his pals successfully launch their theatrical production, Manhattan Melodies, on Broadway, and Kermit and Miss Piggy finally get married. From there, it would’ve followed Kermit as he tries to bring the Muppets back together (after they’ve disbanded) and locate the missing Rowlf.
A separate report from THR states the show was referred to as Muppets 1984 during development, and was designed as an eight-episode limited series. Kitsis and Horowitz had been working with former Muppets Studios VP Debbie McClellan on the series, before Disney Parks Live Entertainment senior VP David Lightbody recently took over from McClellan. Lightbody, according to THR, was interested in developing his own take on The Muppets brand, but offered Gad, Kitsis, and Horowitz a chance to revamp their project. However, the trio felt strongly about their original idea and decided to part ways with Muppet Studios in what’s described as an “amicable” split.
Truth be told, this might’ve been for the best. The Muppets Live Another Day (or Muppets 1984) premise was arguably a little too reminiscent of the setup for The Muppets 2011 (in which Kermit must also reunite the Muppets). Similarly, it sounds like the show banked heavily on nostalgia for the Muppets in, again, some of the same ways The Muppets 2011 did. Muppets Now, by comparison, takes an intriguing approach that hews closer to the the classic Muppet Show than either Muppets Live Another Day or ABC’s The Muppets did. By embracing a less structured format, Muppets Now may yet manage to recapture some of that old-school Muppet magic and charm along the way.
Muppets Now premieres on Disney Plus in 2020.
Source: Deadline, THR
