In 2026, it will finally be time to play the music. Now, more than any other point since Disney bought the rights to the characters in 2004, is the time to light the lights. This is the exact correct point for The Muppet Show.
So it’s a good thing that Disney is finally bringing back The Muppet Show. Not Muppets Tonight or Muppets TV or any other variation. As announced with a short clip of Kermit flipping the switch on the Muppet Theater, set to an instrumental version of “The Rainbow Connection,” the actual, original style of The Muppet Show is coming back, right when Broadway and musicals are bigger than ever.
For those who haven’t seen the series that made the Muppets into household names, which aired 120 episodes between 1976 and 1981, The Muppet Show was a variety show with backstage antics. Each episode of The Muppet Show featured a special guest star, who would come and perform various songs and sketches, sometimes with the Muppet performers and sometimes without. There would also be segments featuring Muppet performers without guests, most famously Fozzie Bear’s stand-up routine or Gonzo the Great’s daredevil stunts, and storylines involving the behind-the-scenes production of the show.
More the felt characters that Jim Henson and Frank Oz brought to life with their fellow performers, The Muppet Show was about the agony and ecstasy of putting on a show. Even if the kids first watching the series didn’t know or care who Joel Grey or Harvey Korman or Twiggy were, they remained invested in the series. They sympathized with Kermit stressing out over production snafus, laughed at Miss Piggy trying to steal the spotlight, and swooned when, despite everything going wrong, Elton John belted out “Crocodile Rock” alongside puppet crocodiles or when Gilda Radner played along with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew’s shenanigans.
