Hello to all my Wonderful World Outside Our Window Subscribers,
In 1976, The Muppet Show first graced American airwaves and proved that the invention of television was not, in fact, a complete mistake. In contrast to the often dark and cynical ‘70s, the Muppets offered a vision of the world based on happiness, singing, and dancing. When the show ended in 1981, many Americans permanently turned off their televisions, for without the Muppets, what was the point? Now, 50 years later, The Muppet Show is back.
And it’s really damn good.
Executive produced by Seth Rogen and guest starring Sabrina Carpenter, this new (hopefully-not-one-time) Muppet Show special is a welcome return to form for a franchise that’s been adrift for two decades. While Disney’s ownership of the Muppets gave us the wonderful and instant classic that was Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller’s 2011 film The Muppets, fans have since endured a parade of disappointing and short-lived attempts to modernize Jim Henson’s creations. With this special, Disney has finally made the right call, proudly declaring that it isn’t the Muppets who need to adapt to our times — it’s modern audiences who need to adapt to the Muppets.
Hitting the ground running, the special wastes no time with setup or first-episode malaise. Instead, it barrels full steam ahead into patented Muppets antics and chaos, acting as if the 50 years separating this special from the original show are no time at all. Kermit is backstage, desperately trying to wrangle his performers. Gonzo spends the entire runtime stuck in a stunt-gone-wrong. Miss Piggy threatens to sue Sabrina Carpenter, claiming her style is too similar to the famous pig’s. This, my friends, is the Muppets at their finest.
The premise is simple: it’s been so long since the last episode that every performer wants back in, and Kermit is desperately trying to manage an overbooked lineup with too many acts and not enough time. Being reliably polite, he told all the auditioning Muppets their acts “seemed fun.” Kermit, the soft-spoken and anxious frog that he is, assumed that was an acceptable and nice way of saying no; Scooter, back as stage manager, worries that wasn’t very direct.
The overbooking comes to a head in the show’s most memorable number: a duet between Sabrina Carpenter and Kermit that quickly becomes a duet between Carpenter and Miss Piggy after she sneaks onstage and (somewhat violently) kicks Kermit off mid-song, claiming she didn’t have enough screen time. The song choice remains unspoiled here — it’s funnier going in blind — but this easily ranks among the top ten Muppet music videos of all time, a list that hasn’t budged in 50 years.1
Carpenter is an inspired choice for first guest star, slipping seamlessly into the Muppets’ chaotic, self-effacing humor. She delivers a bawdy joke with a straight face and perfectly adapts to whatever shenanigans Kermit and gang throw at her.
Rogen’s appearance is brief but funny, while Maya Rudolph steals her scene with a cameo in which she dies and then, seemingly, goes to hell. It’s oddly sweet and sincere, and a real highlight.
In a time when the world feels like a decidedly unfun place, the special doesn’t attempt to straddle the line between contemporary bleakness and hokey nostalgia. It is pure Muppets through and through. That isn’t to say it’s not current: the Dr. Honeydew and Beaker segment tackles the “Attention Span Crisis,” and a new bit, “Pigs with Wigs,” though not quite living up to “Pigs in Space,” is funny and seems to be inspired by Bridgerton.
While the special is currently a one-off, a full season seems likely if it succeeds. It’s not perfect — Matt Vogel’s Kermit voice still leaves much to be desired, and the half-hour runtime feels rushed — but this backdoor pilot proves the concept works.
Some will question whether the Muppets, in all their gloriously imperfect chaos, can connect with the TikTok generation, kids raised on carefully choreographed dances and ironic, detached humor. Can the frenetic, low-budget aesthetic find purchase in the airbrushed 4K world of streaming?
After much consideration, I think I have come to an answer: who gives a shit? The Muppets have never asked permission to exist. They’ve never apologized for showing their seams or coming apart at the stitches. For 50 years, nothing has come close to what Henson created. Maybe that’s because everyone else is too scared to be this earnest and messy and so defiantly themselves. In an increasingly artificial world, the Muppets remain stubbornly, wonderfully, impossibly real.
The Muppet Show is back, baby. For those who love them, it’s exactly what we wanted. And for those who don’t get it? Well, there’s always the latest Netflix original.
Signing off,
Max Bolen
Has written no less than four academic essays about The Muppets
The Muppet Show Special airs February 4th at 9:00 PM on ABC and Disney+. Photos and early screening provided courtesy of Disney.
To be fair, this video is certainly in the running and is (relatively) new: Pöpcørn | Recipes with The Swedish Chef | The Muppets
Great review. The point about the Muppets not needing to adapt but audiences needing to adapt to them is kinda the perfect encapsulation of what Disney has been getting wrong with nostalgic properties for years. Grew up on the original show reruns and the earnest messines is exactly what made them work. Curious whether Vogel's Kermit voice will settle in if they get a full season.
When I watched it, I did wonder, 'do people like Rizzo more than I think?'