The Muppets: Ex-Factor

November 5, 2015 1:19 AM - Season 1, Episode 6

Kermit consults Miss Piggy for help finding a birthday gift for Denise; Kristin Chenoweth accidentally causes dissent within the band The Electric Mayhem.
posted by hippybear (23 comments total)

I really enjoyed this episode a lot. It felt less... mean-spirited than the first few. I really enjoyed the emphasis on the Electric Mayhem and Deadly is increasingly awesome.

For me, the magic in this episode was Kermit's facial expressions. There was a subtlety going on that was remarkable and somehow stood out to me a lot.

I found the product placement to be a bit... obvious and problematic.
posted by hippybear at 1:44 AM on November 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Scooter kills it again this week. "Wear a robe, Ken."
posted by drezdn at 4:51 AM on November 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

This episode hit every single note. The scene with the band and Kristin Chenoweth in the van was FANTASTIC. Every joke a winner, even the Funyuns line (because, *of course* they would love Funyuns). Although Animal's line "Animal would like to play with live snakes, but Zoot big baby!" utterly slayed me. My only carp with it at all is that something about the way it was shot made me hyper-aware of the puppet-ness of the Muppets, especially Dr. Teeth. It's one of the very few times in all the years i have watched the Muppets that I did not feel like they were actual living beings.

Scooter was completely on-point, but the tag scene with Pepe and Rizzo took it to another level. I am, however, bitterly disappointed that they did not take advantage of the opportunity to actually make an IAmPepe.com website to go along with the [e-mail] email they showed on-screen.
posted by briank at 5:44 AM on November 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

FUNYUNS! FUNYUNS! FUNYUNS!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:24 AM on November 5, 2015

Also, whoever is doing the puppeteering for Kermit now is really good.


And Uncle Deadly. Always.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:26 AM on November 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

I wasn't sold the first few times I watched this, but I caught the last few episodes over the weekend and this last night and now I'm on board. There's stuff I don't love (Chip), but they band was killing it last night and it was all in all a very good episode.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:35 AM on November 5, 2015

Yeah, Chip and Denise don't do it for me at all, but espcially Chip.
posted by briank at 6:37 AM on November 5, 2015

I find the Electric Mayhem better in smaller doses, myself; they're kind of a one-note joke.

I found the product placement to be a bit... obvious and problematic.

Yes, that was weird.

Does Scooter canonically live with his mother, or is that a new invention of the show? They were leaning a little too hard on that joke; I've always thought that Scooter's not so much sheltered as simply charmingly naïve.

News yesterday: showrunner steps down, rumblings of a retool/reboot for the back half of the season.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:18 PM on November 5, 2015

My only carp with it at all is that something about the way it was shot made me hyper-aware of the puppet-ness of the Muppets, especially Dr. Teeth.

I noticed that too: in the scene outside the van, he's right in the foreground but is very noticeably barely animated at all.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:20 PM on November 5, 2015

Not enough Pepe. I have a theory I'll like any episode Pepe has substantial screen time.

San Pegne with the Bradley Coopers
posted by lmfsilva at 1:23 PM on November 5, 2015 [3 favorites]

Explain the champagne joke to me.
posted by maxsparber at 7:14 PM on November 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

I know that Muppet Babies isn't canon for the live action Muppet universe or whatever, but it seems weird to me that Scooter's twin sister Skeeter just doesn't exist in this world.
posted by elr at 11:50 PM on November 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

They really need to lose Chip. He's the first Muppet I've ever flat out hated.
posted by scalefree at 4:30 AM on November 6, 2015

Explain the champagne joke to me.


Ju know- Champagne...the actor? Fast Times at Ridgemount Highs? Dead Mans Walking?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:25 AM on November 6, 2015 [8 favorites]

Oh my god.
posted by maxsparber at 8:41 AM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

briank: I am, however, bitterly disappointed that they did not take advantage of the opportunity to actually make an IAmPepe.com website to go along with the [e-mail] email they showed on-screen.

Well, Disney owns IAmPepe.com, which was recently created, but there's nothing there. I sent a message to Don Juan Prawn, and there's no auto-reply (another missed opportunity), but someone might get back. If so, I'll share what I get. They're a few steps behind Better Call Saul's efforts (they had a proper local number with an answering machine!)


Bulgaroktonos: There's stuff I don't love (Chip)

Whaaa? Chip is historic, an obscure Muppet that nobody remembers, and amusingly creepy! At least, that's how I view him. (OK, I've come to love him.)
posted by filthy light thief at 2:29 PM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

For some reason, I look at Chip and the only thing that comes to mind is one of the faux-socialists around here.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:36 PM on November 6, 2015

Also, whoever is doing the puppeteering for Kermit now is really good.

Totally agree. Although the voice still sometimes gives me the uncanny valley fantods, the physical expressions are so amazing for such a simple puppet.
posted by dnash at 4:30 PM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

While Kermit is one of the simplest Muppets (most people good in crafts can do a convincing replica), I think he was also designed from the get-go to be more expressive than regular puppets of the time - since he doesn't seem to carry much hard foam on the head, he's way more flexible and some nimble fingers can do wonders with the extra room.
Not to take anything from the puppeteer (and the direction), of course. The only thing I'm missing is YAAAAAY *flails arms*
posted by lmfsilva at 8:18 PM on November 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK, looks like the folks on the tech side of The Muppets have done zero work to make IAmPepe.com a thing, let alone get an auto-responder working on the [e-mail] email address. Here's what I got back yesterday:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.

Delivery to the following recipient has been delayed:

[e-mail]

Message will be retried for 2 more day(s)

Technical details of temporary failure:
DNS Error: MX lookup of iampepe.com returned error DNS server returned general failure

Cheryl will be really annoyed.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:25 PM on November 8, 2015

Mayby hippybear can use his Twitter clout with the series writer to get them to snap to attention and make a Pepe The King Prawn website ASAP!
posted by briank at 7:46 AM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

It is a bit mystifying that they would have this prominently displayed email address and domain and then not actually be doing anything with it in time for the episode to air. Seems like a major fail somehow.
posted by hippybear at 10:25 AM on November 9, 2015

I think the domain was registered because of some FCC rule that forces networks to own any fake domains they put on the air. Still a missed opportunity, however.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:05 PM on November 9, 2015