It’s about time for talk shows, coast to coast, to get another dose of outer space. The Jim Henson Company has announced a new series it’s developing for Disney+ called Earth to Ned, a 30-minute talk show where an alien interviews celebrities to learn more about humanity.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ has given Earth to Ned a straight-to-series order, hot off the iconic puppeteering company’s smash hit Dark Crystal prequel at Netflix.
Earth to Ned is about a blue alien named Ned and his lieutenant, Cornelius, who find themselves abandoning their planned invasion of Earth because they’re too fascinated with popular culture. Their talk show features Ned interviewing celebrities to chat about all the things he finds so amazing about Earth and its people.
If this all sounds a bit familiar, it might be because Comedy Central tried something like this a couple of years ago with T.J. Miller’s The Gorburger Show, which was based on a Funny or Die sketch series.
The show, which was picked up in 2017 but cancelled before airing, was about a blue alien talk show host who interviewed celebrity guests to learn more about humanity. Only in that case, the foul-mouthed alien had forcibly taken over a Japanese talk show and was interviewing the guests against their will. It was… not the best idea. Earth to Ned, meanwhile, at least seems a bit less mean-spirited and more about the fun of enjoying awesome things together.
The series comes in the wake of the recent news that Josh Gad and others had announced that they were no longer working on a Muppets series for the megacorporation’s upcoming streaming service, citing creative differences.
Other Muppets shows are in the works for Disney+, given that with the acquisition of Fox, Disney now has access to Kermit and friends wholesale—so it’s interesting to see the studio licence out shows from the Henson Company for projects that aren’t Muppet based.
Disney+ launches in Australia on November 19, though the premiere date for Earth to Ned has not been announced yet.