I.C.Y.M.I.: Disney+ Confirms Release Date For 'Muppets Now' Series, Northwest Folklife Moves Online & More

Greetings, fellow pop culture aficionados, and welcome to week 15 of our I.C.Y.M.I. (In Case You Missed It) blog series. Our museum may be temporarily closed to visitors based on guidance from public health officials to slow the spread of coronavirus, but we're still here to recap a handful of trending tidbits from the past week(s) in popular culture, in case you missed them.
Last Friday, we called attention to a couple new happenings in the sci-fi world. This week, we're exploring an excitement announcement from Disney that brings back memories of the exhibition MoPOP visitors voted as their favorite from our museum's first 20 years.
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'Muppets Now' Release Date Set
Jim Henson fans, mark your calendars. Your favorite frog and several of his friends can be found this summer on Disney+, where a new series, Muppets Now, is launching July 31. The streaming service announced the release date this past Wednesday, first teasing the show at last year's D23 Expo when Disney+ unveiled its schedule of 2020 programming.
The show promises lunacy, guest stars, and unscripted elements, with a press release noting, “In the six-episode season, Scooter rushes to make his delivery deadlines and upload the brand-new Muppet series for streaming. They are due now, and he’ll need to navigate whatever obstacles, distractions, and complications the rest of the Muppet gang throws at him.”
MoPOP is home to plenty of Henson enthusiasts, and as we discovered during a March Madness-inspired bracket competition earlier this year, many of our museum's visitors were fond of the Henson-related exhibition we hosted from May 2017-February 2018 (revisit it in the video above!).
#FindYourFolk
Northwest Folklife is moving entirely online. Normally held over Memorial Day weekend at the Seattle Center, the annual celebration of our region's diverse communities gets underway this Saturday, May 23 and runs through Monday, May 25 with a series of virtual programming over at nwfolklifestreaming.org. Here's a look at the schedule, the artists, and the program channels.
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What Else To Watch/Do/Catch Up On This Weekend
- Our weekly horror film program, It's Coming From Inside the House!, continues at 7 p.m. PT Friday with a look at The Lost Boys, a flick picked by writer/producer/director Roxanne Benjamin, who will join us for the online watchalong + virtual discussion.
- International Museum Day was this past Monday, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons is running an event to celebrate now through the end of the month.
- Thrillist put together a list of 20 disaster films to watch right now, and if I'm picking the first one to put on from their list, we're (obviously) starting with Independence Day.
What'd We Miss?
Now that we've filled you in on a few things, what do you feel we failed to mention? Let us know in the comments, or hit us up with a suggestion on Twitter @MoPOPSeattle. We'll look to include your ideas in our next edition of I.C.Y.M.I.
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