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Turns out, it is indeed time to play the music, time to light the lights. According to Variety, the one-off special episode of The Muppet Show has drawn 7.58 million across Disney+ and ABC. This broad popular appeal comes alongside almost unanimous critical praise, with the special currently sitting at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Those not paying attention may wonder what cutting-edge gimmick Disney used to garner such attention. Did ChatGPT create new, hip Muppets? Did the Muppets become superheroes? Did a Russian and Canadian Muppet have a steamy but hidden affair that their teammates would never understand?
No, the special was just an episode of The Muppet Show. Which is what we’ve wanted all along.
The Muppet Show originally ran from 1976 to 1981, first on ATV in the UK and then in syndication in the US. The series famously struggled at first. Not only did ABC pass on the first two pilots that Muppet creator Jim Henson and his partner Frank Oz made for a series, but the Muppets proved a poor fit on Saturday Night Live, where they were part of the show’s first season.
However, the show soon found its groove, and fans thrilled to its wacky take on vaudeville variety routines. Even though first season guest hosts included people who would never in a million years appeal to kids—season one featured Broadway folks like Ruth Buzzi and Joel Grey, and past-their-prime sitcom stars Jim Nabors and Florence Henderson—the show still entertained. It survived past its original Gen X audience to become a mainstay of kids’ entertainment.
To be sure, part of that survival is due to spinoffs that put the characters in different scenarios. The Muppet Movie and Muppet Babies work as prequels to The Muppet Show, but The Great Muppet Caper, Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Muppet Christmas Carol have little to nothing to do with the variety show.
However, later attempts to revive the Muppets have seemed almost afraid to return to the basic show format. MuppeTelevision from The Jim Henson Hour, Muppets Tonight, and Muppets Now did away with the vintage format to put Kermit in co. on a hip modern talk show or on a streaming web series, making for an awkward fit each time. The Muppets Mayhem was a narrative series about Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, which didn’t work, but was still better than the disastrous the muppets, a mockumentary sitcom in the vein of The Office.
The 2026 The Muppet Show is none of these things. Yes, it has Gen Z pop star Sabrina Carpenter as the guest host, and yes, she does sing her hit song “Manchild” (her other number is the decidedly not Gen Z Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers classic, “Islands in the Stream”). But the structure is all classic Muppet Show: different acts, backstage drama, Statler and Waldorf cracking jokes.
The fact that people of all ages have responded so well to the new special proves that the experiments are no longer needed. We just want The Muppet Show again. So why don’t we get things started?
The Muppet Show is now streaming on Disney+.
The post The Muppet Show Special’s Ratings Prove That All We Wanted Was The Muppet Show appeared first on Den of Geek.
