While many Americans young and old eagerly await the return of ABC's adult-themed show "The Muppets" to air this week, another group of concerned parents is looking to rally support to have the show taken off the network altogether.
The pro-family group calling themselves One Million Moms or 1MM has expressed shock at the content of the adult-themed show which features childhood characters that were developed in the 1970s being portrayed in the modern context with a more sexual connotation to the story lines. The group is calling the show "perverted" and is asking that the TV network call off the show, according to Fortune.
The network in the run up to the show premiered clips focused on the show's star characters - Kermit and Miss Piggy who are reportedly not together. Further the clip features Fozzie Bear's ongoing relationship with a young woman and an advertisement with Kermit in a scarf that reads "Finally, a network TV show with full frontal nudity."
It is the grown up and very adult topics that are being addressed through the muppets that the group feels tarnishes the wholesome image of family values that have been promoted through these figures for generations of families and children.
One reviewer of the show remarked in the New York Times that the ABC President Paul Lee's pitch of the show calling it "This is not your grandmother's Muppets" has indicated a misunderstanding of what makes the characters unique. Adding that the Muppets did not belong to grandmothers, but to everyone.The 1970s show was child friendly but at the same time was appreciated by adults as well.
The 1MM has launched an online petition where a phone number has been provided to pressure the network to call off the show.
The organizers said many parents who are unaware will be shocked and the petition is to warn them ahead before they discover that the "family-friendly Muppets of the 1970s are no more."