Forty-five years after going off the air, The Muppet Show makes its triumphant return, and it hasn’t missed a beat.
While Kermit the Frog and his lovable band of misfit puppets have never truly vanished from pop culture, their status as a cultural touchstone has wavered throughout the 21st century. Every few years, the Muppets seem poised for a grand comeback, only for the momentum to fade just as quickly. Jason Segel’s heartfelt 2011 revival, The Muppets, briefly returned the franchise to the spotlight, but its follow-up, Muppets Most Wanted, failed to recapture that magic. Even the 2015 ABC mockumentary series, never quite broke through to the mainstream, despite a loyal fanbase.
That’s why something seemed different about the special that aired February 4 on ABC and is currently streaming on Disney+. Watching it, there was a familiar spark: a specific kind of Muppet magic that’s been missing for decades.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. For the past 25 years, there’s been a persistent urge to reinvent and modernize the Muppets, often at the expense of what made them timeless in the first place. This new production wisely resists that impulse. Executive producer Seth Rogen and his team clearly understand that the Muppets’ charm doesn’t come from flashy updates or celebrity overload, but from the eccentricities, rhythms, and personalities of the beloved puppets themselves.
Don’t get me wrong: Celebrity guests have always been part of The Muppet Show’s DNA. For many children, the original series served as their introduction to artists like Alice Cooper, Elton John, and Steve Martin. But the joy was never about star power alone. It was about watching the biggest names in entertainment willingly step into Kermit’s chaotic vaudeville playground and play along. This was Jim Henson’s surreal, anarchic version of Saturday Night Live, where the joke was often that the celebrities weren’t the most important ones on stage.
Mark Hamill, fresh off Star Wars, gamely played second fiddle to Gonzo. In the beloved Muppet’s Christmas Carol, Michael Caine treated interactions with Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew with Shakespearean seriousness. That same spirit carries over here. In a standout moment, Sabrina Carpenter, one of today’s biggest pop stars, happily plays second fiddle to Miss Piggy, reinforcing a key rule the Muppets have always lived by: The puppets are the real stars.
The premise is simple. The Muppets return to the studio to put on another show, hoping it won’t be their last. Kermit scrambles to decide which sketches make the cut, including the unthinkable suggestion of cutting Miss Piggy, who does not take the idea enthusiastically and promptly takes matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, chaos reigns: from egos clashing, two grumpy hecklers, and the death and revival of a comedic actress. One especially memorable gag sees Gonzo the Great attempting to ride a motorcycle through rings of fire, while naming every Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress, a challenge that goes spectacularly wrong.
By remembering this simple truth, The Muppet Show doesn’t just return, it finally feels like itself again.
Author Bio:
Ben Friedman is a contributing writer and film critic at Highbrow Magazine.
For Highbrow Magazine