The Muppets are back with a brand new series, “The Muppets Mayhem”, which is a comedy series, that sees The Electric Mayhem Band going on an epic, music-filled journey to record their first-ever studio album. With the help of a driven young music executive, Nora, the old-school Muppet band comes face to face with the current-day music scene as they try to finally record their first studio album.

It is important to note that this series is focused on The Electric Mayhem Band, which includes Dr. Teeth on vocals and keyboards, Animal on drums, Floyd Pepper on vocals and bass, Janice on vocals and lead guitar, Zoot on saxophone and Lips on trumpet. So fans of the core Muppet characters like Miss Piggy, Kermit, Fozzy and Gonzo, might be a little disappointed, but it’s great to see the band characters expanded in this series.

Getting the Muppets right is never easy, and Disney has been trying out different formats to get the characters to connect with a new generation and please existing fans.  With ten episodes, each around 25 minutes long, I can’t help but feel like the storyline was drastically stretched out and could have worked better as a film. You could literally jump from the first episode to the finale, and you’d understand the entire show.

There are subplots throughout the series, with some stereotypical band storylines, like a member quitting, having different plans for their future, getting writer’s block and moving on to become successful in other fields.  Only for the humans to bring them all back together for an epic show.   It’s pretty obvious the creators took some inspiration from some music documentaries like “The Beatles: Get Back” and other classic documentaries, to give us a story that suits “The Electric Mayhem Band”.  But will this connect with a younger audience?

The series is jam-packed with lots of celebrity cameos, including Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee, Ryan Seacrest, Kevin Smith and many more, though I’m not gonna lie, half of the cameos, I didn’t have a clue who they were, but it was rather nostalgic seeing celebrities interacting with the Muppets again.

For a show that’s supposed to be a comedy, I’m not sure I laughed or chuckled once.  Taking characters that usually only have a short and stretching it out for ten episodes just felt way too long.     Had this been condensed down to a film length, it would have really helped cut out all the unnecessary filler, and I think it would have worked much better, as the show was so bloated, and I’m not sure kids are going to have the attention span for it.    Fans of the Muppets might enjoy it, but I’m still not sure how these characters can work in modern times, especially since the band is still acting like it’s the 70s and some of the jokes are from that era too.   I’m also not sure most younger viewers are really going to get most of the jokes, or understand how this is a parody.

“The Muppets Mayhem”, was, honestly, a little disappointing and just doesn’t warrant a full series of this length.   If this is aimed at older Muppet fans, it’s too childish, but for younger fans, it’s not funny enough.  Animal is one of my favourite Muppet characters, but he only works in small doses, which is the same for the rest of the characters in the band.    I’d certainly say to check out an episode and see how you feel about it, but it just didn’t click with me at all.

Rating – 2.5 Out Of 5

All ten episodes of “The Muppets Mayhem” arrive on Disney+ on Wednesday, 10th May 2023.

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

View all posts