Mediawatch, The Session

An after-work drink with Rowlf, and a doppelbock in Deadloch

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Screenshot from The Muppets (2015), episode 7. In a dark and cozy bar with neon signs on the back wall, Kermit the frog sits, arms crossed, with a glass of whiskey at the piano where Rowlf the dog is playing
“There’s an old frog, sitting next to me…”

Sometimes, I still wonder about a late career change into puppetry. I grew up with The Muppet Show and the wider Jim Henson universe of creatures (Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth; all that) and it had a lasting impact. I’m always quick to recommend one particular incarnation that has been unfairly overlooked, and I’m going to take the opportunity1 to do so again here and now — partially because of its excellent depiction of pub life, and one perfect jab at craft beer.

A series simply titled The Muppets ran for one season, 2015-16, and was essentially “what if The Office, but with Muppets?” It added cutaway ‘confessional’ interviews to a show-about-making-a-show like Studio 60 or 30 Rock — the familiar crew all work in various capacities on a late night talk show, produced by Kermit and hosted by Miss Piggy, who have recently broken up. Over the road from the studio is Rowlf’s Tavern, which provides that crucial ‘third place’ for a lot the story.

The attention to detail in the show generally is incredible, with brilliant background acting and careful consideration obvious in everything. Rowlf’s showcases it all perfectly; there are clever references in the set design, thought has gone into what each character has ordered, and the bar has a lived-in authenticity to it.2

  • Screenshot from The Muppets (2015) episode 2. Rowlf the Dog is wiping down the bartop in his tavern, wearing a 'cone of shame' and talking to Fozzie Bear while Kermit the Frog sits nearby
  • Screenshot from The Muppets (2015) episode 4. Animal is taking a big gulp from a glass mug of pale beer in Rowlf's Tavern
  • Screenshot from The Muppets (2015) episode 4. Swedish Chef and Uncle Deadly are sitting at a table in Rowlf's Tavern, Chef has a green bottle lager (in his human hand) and Deadly is staring into the camera while holding a glass of white wine
  • Screenshot from The Muppets (2015) episode 4. Swedish Chef, Janice and an exasperated Sam the Eagle are sitting at a table in Rowlf's Tavern
  • Screenshot from The Muppets (2015) episode 8. Fozzie Bear and Kermit the Frog are on a double date at Trivia Night in Rowlf's Tavern with their girlfriends Becky (a human) and Denise (a pig muppet)

Just think for a moment of the logistics involved in making that set capable of accommodating dozens of puppeteers — tucked under benches or standing in trenches made by removable sections of the floor. Series developer Bill Prady was clearly spending resources and clout he’d amassed from co-creating The Big Bang Theory, and it turns out he was a Muppet team member long before that. This was him coming back to a beloved world, older and with different day-to-day concerns, but keen to spend time with old friends. And that’s how it was to watch, as a fan.

And when I saw that scene — literally the first appearance of Rowlf’s Tavern in the show — it felt like the whole thing was made just for me. This was 2015, remember. “Craft beer” was cresting, and the frog dinged it nicely. It’s a shame the show struggled to find and audience and wasn’t renewed,3 but I’m glad it existed and brought together some of my favourite things.

But while I’m on the subject of beer in media, two more examples — one delightful, one a distracting dud. Because that’s the risk you run when you drop a reference.

Deadloch is a 2023 murder-mystery / black-comedy masterpiece from The Kates (McCartney and McLennan) and co-starring NZ national treasure Madeleine Sami. The humor and whodunnit aspects are both excellent, surpassing countless efforts that just aim for one or the other. Set in small-town Tasmania, there are a few world-building references to breweries in the area, and one quick gag where craft beer punctures the foreground to the disgust of Eddie, who has flown down from the Northern Territory to assist on the case, and would probably rather a “normal” beer:

Love it. Of course, if you really want to nitpick — and there’s no shame in that; I usually do — maybe the prop beer should’ve been darker. I did check, and you can “officially” have a fairly pale doppelbock even though most of them are a relatively rich brown. There’s no such defense for this clanger from The Umbrella Academy:

I enjoyed the show (and the original comics). It’s ambitious and different and usually worked. But “the hoppy bitterness of a good Guinness”? Yikes. For me, that breaks suspension of disbelief harder than superpowers do, weirdly. It’s strange to think that no one on set or in production piped up to say “hang on…” and suggest a rewrite to that line. But then, Lila did spend a good portion of her life in the show in various alternate timelines, so maybe this unreality is a very subtle version of Spock’s goatee.

The Muppets (2015) is on Disney+
Deadloch is on Amazon Prime (with a second season on the way)
The Umbrella Academy is on Netflix

  1. Which I have, admittedly, given to myself since this is my own contribution to the May 2025 edition of The Session, for which I picked the theme.
  2. Screenshots here are from the Muppet Wiki, which includes an excellent list of depictions of drinking, and an informative entry on Rowlf’s itself.
  3. And even more depressing to learn, as I was reading around a bit for this post, that the working environment was a nightmare thanks to the behavior of the other co-creator Bob Kushell. Ugh.

Have at it: