IT’S THE MUPPET SHOW WITH OUR VERY SPECIAL GUEST SABRINA CARPENTER YAAAAAAY!!
The Muppets’ next move could be a return to where things started. Disney announced today they’re moving forward with the Muppet Show special, a one-off to be broadcast on ABC as well as Disney+ in 2026. The special is. in part, a celebration of the show’s 50th anniversary, but it’s also intended as a testing ground to see if a full revival of The Muppet Show would attract interest.
In addition to Carpenter, who has long been a vocal Muppets fan, the special features the talents of Bill Barretta, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz, David Rudman and Matt Vogel. Goelz is the only member of the team to have lasted the entire time; though Frank Oz still lives he no longer performs his characters.
It was Jim Henson’s deep desire for his creations and especially the Muppets to not be pigeonholed as a children’s property. The success of Sesame Street in 1969, however, made that perception much harder to fight. Though Henson was able to work the Muppets into the first season of Saturday Night Live, they were an awkward fit, and he decided they needed their own prime-time show…a show no one in America was willing to finance.
Henson found his opening overseas, with the British production company ITC. The Muppet Show was produced there and broadcast to the US through the syndication market. Launching in 1976, it became exactly the hit he desired it would be, featured dozens of 70s guest stars, and kept Kermit and friends from the permanent perception of being for toddlers.
The premise that The Muppet Show established — that the Muppets exist in the real world and whatever show they’re on is about their struggles to MAKE that show — has been used in pretty much every other series, except when they’re adapting a classic novel. Disney won’t say what the “plot” of the Muppet Show special is, but it’s a bit obvious.
The Muppet Show‘s 50th anniversary special will air on ABC February 4, followed by its streaming debut on Disney+.
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