| Network: | Disney+ |
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| Num Episodes: | 10 |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | United States |
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| Music: | Mick Giacchino |
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| Related: | Muppets Now (2020) |
The Muppets Mayhem is an American musical comedy television series featuring the Muppet musical group Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. The series was developed by Adam F. Goldberg, Bill Barretta, and Jeff Yorkes for ABC Signature and The Muppets Studio. The series stars Lilly Singh, Tahj Mowry, Saara Chaudry, Anders Holm and Muppet performers Barretta, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz, David Rudman, and Matt Vogel. The streaming service Disney+ released all ten episodes of The Muppets Mayhem on May 10, 2023. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
In November 2023, it was announced the series was cancelled after one season.[1]
Junior A&R executive Nora must deal with the madness caused by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, who come face-to-face with the modern musical business as they try to record their first-ever album with which to go platinum.[2]
David Bizzaro and Stephanie D'Abruzzo perform Dr. Teeth's controlling dentist parents, Gerald and Tina Teeth. Other supporting Muppet performers include Jordan Brownlee, Alice Dinnean, Bradley Freeman, Jr., Donna Kimball, Tim Lagasse, Bruce Lanoil, Drew Massey, Sarah Sarang Oh, Michael Oosterom, Nicolettte Santino, Stoph Scheer, Michelan Sisti, Art Vega and Alex Villa.
Paula Abdul, Steve Aoki, Karamo Brown, Sofia Carson, Charlamagne Tha God, Tommy Chong, Billy Corgan, deadmau5, Desiigner, Morgan Freeman, Susanna Hoffs, Peter Jackson, Kesha, Tommy Lee, Lil Nas X, Cheech Marin, Ziggy Marley, Ryan Seacrest, Kevin Smith, Chris Stapleton, Danny Trejo, "Weird Al" Yankovic and Zedd play themselves. Archival footage is shown from episodes of The Muppet Show featuring Muppet performers Jim Henson as Teeth, Frank Oz as Animal, Jerry Nelson as Floyd and Richard Hunt as Janice, as well as Elton John as himself.
Following a performance at the 2016 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Muppet performer and writer Bill Barretta developed a pitch for a series based on Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.[3] At the same time, Muppet fan Adam F. Goldberg and partner Jeff Yorkes began developing their own project based on the characters; they were interested in a project about the band because he felt their lack of popularity compared to other characters allowed them to "do anything with these guys, because people just know them enough". While Yorkes originally pitched the idea to Goldberg as a feature film, he instead suggested developing it as a series.[4] The three eventually began working together on combining their ideas onto a single series.[5]
On February 7, 2022, ABC Signature and The Muppets Studio announced developing a 10-episode series for Disney+ based on The Muppets. Written by Barretta, Goldberg, and Yorkes, The Muppets Mayhem is the first series developed by Goldberg for ABC following his deal with the studio in 2019.[6] The decision to develop a series based on Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem came from the success of a series of music videos on the Muppets' YouTube channel.[7] The series was greenlit shortly before its announcement, after finalizing deals with the Muppet performers. Goldberg and Barretta also executive-produce alongside Michael Bostick, Kris Eber, and The Muppets Studio executives David Lightbody and Leigh Slaughter, while Yorkes is a co-executive-producer.
On November 21, 2023, it was announced the series would not be picked up for another season.[1]
Writers for the series include Julie Bean, Hannah Friedman, Crystal Shaw, Hans Rodionoff, Gabrielle Rodriguez, and Danielle Maransky.[8] According to executive producer Kris Eber, the filmmakers approached the series as if it was a 5-hour-long feature film. The series explores the backstory of Electric Mayhem, which has not been depicted in previous projects; the writers worked closely with the Muppet performers to ensure their ideas stayed faithful to the characters.
The series aimed for a more grounded setting than most Muppet productions, lacking elements such as "talking fruit", with Goldberg saying the show would "[tell] a regular story in the real world with Muppets". Goldberg said this was because he wanted to portray the band as being "like real people, real, breathing entities that can be in the real world". The number of Muppet elements and characters present in the series were determined according to how natural they were integrated in the story, such as the appearance of Muppet bunnies, which Barretta described as "something that Animal's always had". While appearances from characters such as Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy were considered, they were discarded early during development in order to keep the series focused on Electric Mayhem. Yorkes said the series' comedy would derive from how the band only do whatever they want while Nora tries to lead them in making their album.
Along with the series' announcement, it was reported that Lilly Singh would portray Nora, a junior executive struggling with the chaos caused by The Electric Mayhem. Muppet performers Barretta, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Matt Vogel, David Rudman, and Peter Linz reprised their roles as Electric Mayhem members Dr. Teeth, Zoot, Animal, Floyd Pepper, Janice, and Lips, respectively. On April 5, 2022, it was confirmed that Tahj Mowry joined the cast.[9] On June 9, 2022, Saara Chaudry and Anders Holm joined the cast.[10]
Production for The Muppets Mayhem began April 25, 2022, and ended August 5, 2022.[11] Craig Kief serves as director of photography.[12] [13] [14] Matt Sohn and Kimmy Gatewood will direct episodes.[15] On July 2, 2022, it was reported that an accident took place in which a crew truck crashed into a tree on the edge of a cliff near the Griffith Observatory.[16]
See main article: The Muppets Mayhem (soundtrack).
Walt Disney Records released a series soundtrack album digitally and on streaming on May 10, 2023,[17] alongside a vinyl LP debut album titled The Electric Mayhem that featured the first fourteen tracks of the full soundtrack.[18] It featured the original songs written by Linda Perry, and cover versions of popular songs.[19] The soundtrack topped the Billboard Kid Albums chart, the first ever Muppets album to do so.[20]
On May 4, 2023, according to Jordan Williams of Screen Rant, "The anticipation for The Muppets Mayhem clearly extends beyond its core child fanbase, as the series has generated remarkable buzz with over 1.3 million online interactions, becoming the ninth-most hyped May release on Facebook."[21]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 83% based on 23 reviews with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "The Muppets Mayhem might be too slight to find the Rainbow Connection, but its ragtag band of plucky puppets and plethora of showbiz gags make for a solid addition to the franchise.[22] On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[23]
| Date of ceremony | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Trailer Awards | June 29, 2023 | Best Animation/Family Poster for a TV/Streaming Series | The Muppets Mayhem | [24] [25] | |
| Children's and Family Emmy Awards | December 16–17, 2023 | Outstanding Children's or Family Viewing Series | [26] | ||
| Outstanding Puppeteer Performance | Eric Jacobson | ||||
| Outstanding Directing for a Single Camera Program | Robert Cohen, Kimmy Gatewood and Matt Sohn | ||||
| Outstanding Casting for a Live-Action Program | Collin Daniel, Brett Greenstein and Alexa Pereira | ||||
| Outstanding Editing for a Single Camera Program | Robert Cohen, Kimmy Gatewood and Matt Sohn | ||||
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | July 13, 2024 | Favorite Kids TV Show | The Muppets Mayhem | [27] | |
| Favorite Female TV Star (Kids) | Lilly Singh |
Goldberg has expressed interest in developing a "Muppetverse" similar to Marvel Studios and Star Wars stating, "it was like, we're just doing a show about the band; let's focus on this one very specific corner of the Muppet Universe... And from there, let's now kind of branch out and do even more. So that was always our idea. In fact, we were kind of more excited about introducing new Muppet characters. That was always a goal for us." Following the show's cancellation, Goldberg revealed on social media that plans for a Muppetverse were still happening.[28]