2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the original “The Muppet Show,” the brilliant Jim Henson creation that sparked the imagination of most of Gen-X, and a few of their parents, too. As a huge fan of the original series, along with the ‘80s movies, I’ve been disappointed to varying degrees by most of the attempts to reboot the puppet-and-celebrity variety show (even if “bad Muppets” is still more fun than most other children’s entertainment). The ABC reboot in 2015 ran out of creative steam and the 2020 “Muppets Now” missed most of the charm of these legendary characters by trying too hard to update them for the viral era.
However, the 2011 Jason Segel-led “The Muppets” was wonderful, and this new Disney+ event special—basically just a single episode produced in the hope of being popular enough to make more—works for a similar reason: It understands why people still love the original. The “let’s put on a show” spirit of the ‘70s episodes returns for this 30-minute venture that features appearances by Sabrina Carpenter, Maya Rudolph, and Seth Rogen, who also co-produced this reboot with regular collaborator Evan Goldberg. Of course, the real star is Miss Piggy. Always. Don’t let her hear you say otherwise.
The event special pivots on Kermit having to cut a segment to fit their show’s runtime and trying to figure how to tell Miss Piggy that it’s probably hers. This plot is cut into sketches, including a few musical numbers with Miss Carpenter that are well-conceived and executed. There’s a nostalgic charm to this take on “The Muppet Show” that’s almost like a time machine, taking fans back to what they loved about Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, and the rest of the gang in the first place. The Muppets have always been about how creativity can only emerge from collaboration, and how both take a lot of thinking on your webbed feet.
From the beginning, this new Muppet Show feels like the old Muppet Show. There’s Waldorf and Statler doing a great, old-fashioned joke about the word “broke” and there’s dancing chickens doing back-up singer work for Carpenter. She proves a great fit for the first episode, finding that charm she’s employed on TV before—she’s great on “SNL”—and employing it well here. Of course, Rogen and Rudolph are great, too.
There’s really not much to say about the new “Muppet Show” given what they’ve asked we keep secret and that there’s only one episode to review, so I have to be as brief as a Waldorf cutaway joke. Maybe the best review I can give this Rogen/Goldberg reboot is the simplest: I hope they make many more of them.
“The Muppet Show” premieres on Disney+ on February 4th.
