I've lost count of the number of Disney-backed Muppet projects over the last few years. Many have been creative and energetic, but none of them quite managed to figure out how to translate the charms of the old gang into the modern era. Now, a rock mockumentary series featuring The Electric Mayhem is having its turn, and this is easily the best Muppets project since the last two theatrical movies. Dr. Teeth (Bill Barretta), Floyd (Matt Vogel), Janice (David Rudman), Zoot (Dave Goelz), Lips (Peter Linz), and Animal (Eric Jacobson) look and sound better than ever, and benefit from getting some time in the spotlight away from the rest of the Muppet gang.
The band is a classic group of zany weirdos who work best as supporting characters, so most of the story actually revolves around Nora Singh (Lilly Singh), a human junior executive at a fading record label, run by the elderly Penny Waxman (Leslie Carrara-Rudolph). One day Nora discovers that the Electric Mayhem, who famously never recorded a record, owe their label a first album. So she tracks them down, and with help from her sister Hannah (Saara Chaudry), ex JJ (Anders Holm), and Mayhem superfan Moog (Tahj Mowry), manages to steer the band towards finding their place in the modern music industry. Well, sort of. Along the way there's a lot of music, a lot of cameos, and a lot of fond memories to share.
Culturally, this feels like the right angle to approach the Muppets from in 2023. After all, there are some musical stalwarts from the '70s who are still out there touring year after year. The Electric Mayhem prove there's plenty of life left in the groovy felt songsters, not to mention a lot of untapped potential. We get flashbacks to how the key members of the band got together, there's some inter-band conflict, and when Lilly introduces them to the internet and social media, it turns out to be an incredibly bad idea. Best of all, there's no real updating of the characters. Animal is still a walking id. Janice is still a woo-woo earth mother. Zoot is still oblivious. I wasn't familiar with Lips, the unintelligible trumpet player who apparently joined the band in the last season of "The Muppet Show" and hasn't been seen much since, but he's great. These characters still work fine in the modern day, get plenty of laughs, and even nail some poignant moments.
As a music industry spoof, "The Muppets Mayhem" is very, very mild stuff in keeping with the intended family audience. The band is weird, but relentlessly upbeat and optimistic. There is one episode where everyone gets high, but the bad trip is due to expired marshmallows, not any kind of illegal substances. Nora and the other human characters are sitcom creatures - very cuddly and sympathetic - and their problems are easily solved by direct communication and lucky happenstance. Nora is such an underdog her life is actually about as unstable as the band's, and she has a lot of life lessons to learn on the path to the music career she wants. She acts as the Kermit stand-in on the show, a lone voice of reason trying to herd the Mayhem members toward some semblance of professionalism. Lilly Singh gamely plays the material straight, and is able to carry the show fairly well. This is the first thing I've seen her in, and she's perfectly lovely and watchable. If "Muppets Mayhem" featured no muppets, but only her and Tahj Mowry trying to break into the music industry, I think it could still work.
As with all Muppet media, there's a deluge of cameos and guest stars, many from the music industry. It's an incredibly eclectic bunch, from Cheech and Chong to Charlemagne tha God, and the show consistently uses them in very silly ways. My favorite was in the social media episode, where the Mayhem accidentally start beef with just about every other music star, angering their fandoms. The angry convergence of the Swifties, the Beyhive, Beliebers, and Little Monsters is hilarious, and features several good blink-and-you-miss-it appearances. Or there's the bit where Deadmau5 shows up for a quick visual gag, that involves everyone wearing versions of his famous mouse mask - which immediately goes completely wrong.
As for the music itself, it's very nostalgic and very kid-friendly. Probably the best new track is the show's theme song. Not for everyone, of course, but at the very least, the new album has gotten the Mayhem properly on a Billboard chart or two for the first time in their long careers.
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