https://youtu.be/Tb7LQrONUG0
One episode of ABC’s new primetime series The Muppets has aired and the results are already in – people are mad as hell and they’re not going to Muppet anymore. So-called critics are already suggesting that The Muppets should take a hike, as the always classy New York Post referred to this “betrayal” of Jim Henson’s vision as “sordid prostitution,” this dude speaks for everyone with his Muppet rage, some people think the show might be too dark, and other critics know what the Muppets should be, and damn ABC for taking a chance at making something different. All the while, Jim Henson’s daughter thinks her father would have loved the build-up to the show’s debut, but that shouldn’t matter to the finger-waggers. (I, for one, think it’s a fun concept that needs to find its furry feet — my colleague Jason agrees — but we simply don’t have time to let shows get better!)
But no one has thrown more hatred at a gaggle of puppets than One Million Moms, the advocacy group that raises money from pissed off parents around the country in the name of shaming all that is “perverted” and disgusting. The group’s ire was focused on The Muppets because of the new series’ “sexually charged jokes,” and that was before Millions of Mad Moms even watched the show. More than anything, the Marauding Mamas of Madness outrage stems from the fact that they don’t believe that parents should have to explain to their children why the Muppets are making these jokes. The real villains here, if you ask me, are the men with guns standing in every living room across the country, forcing people to watch the show. Oh sweet mercy, if only they’d let us change the channel.
For more on One Million Moms outsourcing outrage, anchors Tom Storey and Briana Lane weigh in on today’s episode of The Desk.
