The muppets: Abc head explains need for season 1 retooling

The Muppets is getting a bit of a makeover before it returns for the rest of its Season 1 run.

ABC picked the series up for a full season in October 2015, but shortly after it was announced that initial showrunner Bob Kushell would be departing the project over reported creative differences. The network pulled The Muppets off the air after its first 10 episodes and Galavant's Kristin Newman took over as showrunner for the comedy's final six episodes with the intent to retool its DNA.

ABC President Paul Lee spoke at the 2016 winter Television Critics Association press tour about the decision to pull The Muppets off the air and what he thought some of the issues with its initial run were.


"The expectations were very high because we ran, if I may say so ... we ran a great campaign for that," he said. "It's a solid comedy, but we didn't quite feel it had the joy, the laughter and the heart that we were looking for, and we thought that Kris Newman would be a great person to bring that in."

Though Lee hasn't seen the final six episodes of Season 1, he did speak highly of what Newman brought to the show. "She's done it. We've got some fantastic scripts going forward," he said. "We haven't seen her last six episodes, but we have some very high hopes for them and hope that they will be as good as the scripts."