In an attempt to make Miss Piggy happy, Kermit sets her up with Josh Groban who fills her head with ideas on how to make Up Late with Miss Piggy better. Fozzie is invited to a part at Jay Leno's house. Everyone is annoyed that Bobo is selling cookies for his daughter's troop.
Miss Piggy as a raging, ego-driven lunatic was one of more awkward and bothersome details about last week's premiere. She was a diva and nothing more than that. She is the star of her own show but she is still just so cruel to the people who work for her. She didn't have any redeeming quality to her. It's fine for the show not to have Miss Piggy and Kermit together. But there also needed to be something with Miss Piggy that made her a more genuine and relatable character. Right now, she's painted as a diva and nothing more than that. "Hostile Makeover" doesn't do a whole lot to rehab that image. In fact, the show takes things a step further in saying that her mood wildly varies depending on whether or not she is dating someone. She becomes a completely different person when a guy is in the picture. That's not a great story device even though the guy in question here is Josh Groban, who is always game to make fun of himself on TV comedies.Up Late with Miss Piggy is never shown as a great show. And yet, it is capable of producing good moments. Kermit is able to expertly produce a segment where Miss Piggy and Josh Groban sing a song and fall in love with each other. It's all a part of the staff's master plan to get Piggy in a relationship so that things are less stressful at work. Miss Piggy has always been a handful to deal with. But the various Muppets are now mentioning just how terrifying it has been. Scooter and Animal both schedule a block of time to cry before each show. Kermit, Scooter and Uncle Deadly all had to hide under a desk as she rampaged their offices. It's taken the character of Miss Piggy to the absolute extreme. It happens just to make the relative calm that comes later even more terrifying and destructive of the show.
Everyone wants a peaceful work environment. But the Muppets giving Josh some influence over Miss Piggy is a very bad thing. He has all these suggestions to make the show better which of course Piggy takes to heart. She wants to make him happy. Even though she is very narcissistic and hogs the camera when she spies someone is taking a picture of her, she is willing to change in order to make the guy she is dating happy. It's simply not like Piggy to host a show with a mellow band and interview authors about their latest works. The segment of Piggy and Josh singing is the type of viral moment that works in today's late night medium. In-depth interview segments with somewhat obscure guests doesn't. Kermit agrees to her new demands and the show suffers as a result. It is less fun and everyone seems to notice. It's also funny that everyone thought Up Late was a great show beforehand. It wasn't but there's still a noticeable change that requires drastic action to reverse this.
Miss Piggy's self-centered nature is what ultimately gets the show back to normal. As happy as she is while dating Josh Groban, she's much more concerned about being the only person on the show's billboard. Kermit smartly plays that to his advantage. He does know her so well. He knows how she'll react to any situation. Sure, that isn't able to help him on the day-to-day management of the show. But he does know what he needs to do in order to make Up Late the most functional version of itself. In order for that to happen though, Miss Piggy needs to go back to being a demanding lunatic.
While all of this is going on, Fozzie enjoys life being best friends with Jay Leno while Bobo does his best to get the office to buy cookies from his daughter. The Bobo story is much more enjoyable as he works so hard and makes no deals. He feels sad that his daughter can't count on him while the Muppet newsman makes it look so easy. Fortunately though, Bobo gets a ton of money simply because the band is happy to eat as many cookies as they can get ahold of. That was a fantastic story that worked because of its simplicity. The Fozzie stuff with Jay Leno wasn't as natural. It basically becomes a story about Fozzie stealing things from Jay's house and having to deal with the consequences. It just wasn't that engaging or original. Fozzie remains a great character. But that story wasn't the best.
Some more thoughts:
- "Hostile Makeover" was directed by Randall Einhorn with story by Bill Prady & Bob Kushell and teleplay by Dave Caplan & Gregg Mettler.
- It's stunning that Statler actually liked something that the rest of the Muppets did! He lets out a "Woo!" after Miss Piggy and Josh Groban finish their song, explaining to Waldorf that "he can have feelings too."
- It's still so much fun seeing which celebrities will pop up as fictionalized versions of themselves. But it is still noticeable that the show is just dipping into the ABC talent pool. This time it's Laurence Fishburne from black-ish and Lea Thompson from Switched at Birth.
- The joke about Pepe's sexual fluidity was very awkward and uncomfortable. It's a throwaway line meant to earn a laugh quickly and never be mentioned again. But it did not work at all. It was just so the show could push some boundaries with its characters.
- These first two episodes haven't been all that busy for Gonzo. But the running story about him realizing his mother is lost somewhere in a jungle was very entertaining.
- I couldn't make out the exact line but the Swedish chef did think Miss Piggy enjoying a hot stone massage was someone cooking some bacon.
- Gonzo to Kermit :"My mother is stuck in a jungle somewhere and I know she's having a better time."
- Angel Marie to Fozzie: "I take messages, I don't judge tone."
- Laurence Fishburne: "Well if it keeps sucking like it did last night, NEVER!"
- Bobo: "Screw the mountain bike, my daughter's getting a Prius."
- Kermit: "Oh and Piggy, the best part is that even though you're the only female host in late night, it shows that you're brave enough to say 'I can't do it without a man.'"
