As chronicled in the first six episodes of ABC’s The Muppets, running a television series can be harmful to romantic relationships, healthy eating habits, and senses of right, wrong, and when to enlist Josh Groban in your post-breakup manipulation tactics. And while Kermit The Frog continues to work a job that puts him at constant risk of being karate chopped and/or verbally harassed by Laurence Fishburne, Bob Kushell has decided that he’s had quite enough of being a showrunner—on The Muppets, at least.
The major Hollywood trade publications are reporting that Kushell has left his position at the head of ABC’s Muppet revival, with Galavant’s Kristin Newman named as his likely successor. Variety cites purported conflicts over the show’s creative direction between co-creators Kushell and Bill Prady; Deadline describes Kushell’s departure as part of a reboot that will occur after the series’ 10th episode. (ABC recently upped The Muppets’ first-season episode order from 13 to 16.) The A.V. Club’s inside source at The Muppets, meanwhile, had this to say about the situation:
Meep meep meep meep meep meep meep. Meep meep meep meep meep meep meep meep meep. Meep meep meep meep—meep meep meep. Meep meep? Meep!