I've written about my deep love of the Muppets almost as much as I've written about anything else on The Range (I think this is post #11?), so I guess I feel like I have a lot emotionally invested in what are really little more than malleable concepts with backstories. That doesn't make much sense in the post-Jim-Henson era, since Disney can basically do whatever they want with Kermit and Miss Piggy and all of these characters I loved in my childhood, but I guess that's what happens. Who the hell knows? Lew Zealand and his boomerang fish could show up as a resident of a Hamptons mansion on ABC's Revenge, if Disney thought there was some money in it. What the hell do they care?

So, every time something new comes out with any Muppet connection whatsoever, I go through a weird initial burst of excitement followed by the dread that whatever the next thing is will be more Muppets in Space than The Great Muppet Caper. So, while I really did love the Jason Segal written film The Muppets from 2011, he's off to work on other non-Muppet projects, but the rest of the people who made that film are back, including Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords.

However, the first teaser for the sequel came out yesterday, and it's just not funny. I mean, jokes about "Moves Like Jagger" seem stale now and the actual movie isn't coming out until 2014. Tina Fey in a costume will always likely be amusing to me, but there's over a minute of footage that's supposed to make me excited to see Muppets Most Wanted and I don't think I smiled once. I'm sure it'll work out fine, but if you need me, I'll be huddled under my desk crying.