The Muppets Mayhem
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. All ten episodes of The Muppets Mayhem were released on Disney+ on May 10, 2023, and the series received generally positive reviews from critics.
In November 2023, it was announced that the series was cancelled after one season.
Premise
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, which will go platinum.Cast and characters
Main
- Lilly Singh as Nora Singh, a junior executive at Wax Town Records.
- Bill Barretta as Dr. Teeth, keyboard player and nominal frontman of The Electric Mayhem.
- * Barretta also performs Davis Cactus.
- Leslie Carrara-Rudolph as Penny Waxman, Nora's boss and Dr. Teeth's ex-girlfriend.
- Dave Goelz as Zoot, Mayhem's spaced-out saxophone player.
- * Goelz also performs Jimmy Shoe and Waldorf.
- Eric Jacobson as Animal, a frenzied monster, Floyd's pet monster and the out-of-control drummer for the Mayhem.
- Peter Linz as Lips, Mayhem's incomprehensible trumpet player.
- * Linz also performs Statler.
- David Rudman as Janice, the Mayhem's flower child lead guitarist.
- Matt Vogel as Floyd Pepper, the sarcastic bass player for the Mayhem and Janice's boyfriend.
- Saara Chaudry as Hannah Singh, Nora's younger sister and a successful social media influencer.
- Tahj Mowry as Gary "Moog" Moogwski, an audio engineer and "super fan" of the Electric Mayhem.
- Anders Holm as JJ, a music executive and Nora's ex-boyfriend.
Supporting
- David Bizzaro and Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Dr. Teeth's controlling dentist parents, Gerald and Tina Teeth.
Guest
, 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.Episodes
Production
Development
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. 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 they 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 initially pitched the idea to Goldberg as a feature film, he suggested developing it as a series instead. The three eventually began working together on combining their ideas into a single series.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. 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. 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 that the series would not be picked up for another season.
Writing
Writers for the series include Julie Bean, Hannah Friedman, Crystal Shaw, Hans Rodionoff, Gabrielle Rodriguez, and Danielle Maransky. According to executive producer Kris Eber, the filmmakers approached the series like 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 " a regular story in the real world with Muppets." Goldberg said this was because he wanted to portray the band as "like real people, real, breathing entities that can be in the real world." The number of Muppet elements and characters present in the series was 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 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.