(courtesy IMP Awards)
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It’s The Muppet Show! Kermit, Miss Piggy and the beloved Muppet gang are back with a brand-new special event. Music, comedy, and a whole lot of chaos are bound to ensue when The Muppets once again take the stage of the original Muppet Theatre with their very special guest, Sabrina Carpenter! (courtesy Muppet Wiki)
We all love a momentous anniversary.
But could it be that the anniversary we love the most, especially in these dark and trying times which seem to be leaching the very air from the room, is the 50th anniversary of The Muppet Show, which begin its loveable mayhem in 1976 and hasn’t really left our hearts since?
The odds are pretty good it is sitting cosily at number one, and while you could argue that nostalgia is driving a lot of this love for one of the best Muppet vehicles ever, that doesn’t explain why someone like current pop star Sabrina Carpenter, who gives off just the right amount of joyous, innocent wonder and glee at being among Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and a host of other regulars, is so happy to be in the Muppet theatre, hailing it a dream come true.
The odds are pretty good that what someone of my vintage might call nostalgia, and let’s be honest it is in all its pre-loved glory, is simply an appeal to a kindler, gentler style of entertainment – not necessarily a time; the ’70s were fun in lots of luridly trippy ways but simpler? Not so much – that appeals to a generation growing tired of cynical, dark, digitally twisted everything.
Rather wisely, this revival of The Muppet Show, which is essentially a backdoor pilot for a much hoped and longer for revival series, doesn’t go too hard on updating things; sure, there are modern pop stars like Carpenter, and current actors such as Seth Rogen (who actually executive produced the show and has some gloriously self-deprecatory cameos) and songs definitely not from the playlist of a Golden Oldies radio station but at its heart, The Muppet Show special 2026 is very much things as they were.
And, it works an absolute treat.
What helps matters substantially is that the Muppets have always felt timeless, embodying a chaotically loveable humanity that gets things wrong a lot – Kermit even introduces the final number by admitting as such before everyone does Queen and themselves complete and utter group number justice – but comes out the other side happy anyway because they’ve been with friends and all that matters is that they’re a family and they get to do stuff together.
Sure, there’s the inevitable Miss Piggy meltdown when she’s threatened with having her historical Aphrodite musical number cut from the show, and Statler and Waldorf remaining as hilariously mocking as always, drawing from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of “Dad Joke” putdowns, and yes, Scooter and kermit by default have accidentally overbooked the number of acts they need …
BUT, and it’s a huge but, after all the dust has settled and the argy-bargy has been had, Animal is still banging his drums with a passionate mania, Janice is still trying to get Kermit to breathe his way to Zen, Gonzo can’t execute a daring act (nor control his self-driving roller skates) to save himself, and Rowlf the Dog is as piano-playing as always, and everyone seems very happy.
Even Sam the Eagle who … no, Sam is never happy especially in a bar full of monstrous man-children in a number where Carpenter happily belts out her hit “Man Child” surrounded by chickens who end up finding the wind machine, in true haphazard The Muppet Show tradition, not entirely to their feather-keeping liking.
None of the acts quite go to plan, true, including an “Island in the Streams” duet in a swamp with Carpenter and Kermit featuring a python, a crocodile and Miss Piggy on an act interrupting mission of furious revenge, but who really cares?
We are seeing our friends doing their thing, largely as they have always done it, with The Muppet Show special 2026 feeling like it very much belongs back in the original 1976-1981 run.
Far from being some sort of tired museum piece rerun though, The Muppet Show special 2026 feels fresh and alive, nostalgia injected with just the right amount of current sensibilities and references so it feels like something that has come out this year but without gutting the very thing that made it special in the first place.
It’s an update and an homage all in one and the net result of all this back to the past Muppet mayhem is a renewer sense that it is possible to go back, despite what the old adage says and to have something very much of its time slot seamlessly into one half-a-century later.
Everyone gets a moment from background characters like Uncle Deadly and George the Janitor to Floyd Pepper and Yolanda the Rat to the main gang of key players we love and are so happy to spend time with again, and it feels like no time at all and yet everything is shiny, bright and modern but in ways that only enhance and bolster the feel of being back with old friends.
What’s so especially joyous about The Muppet Show special 2026 is that it reminds you again and again that not everything has to be updated to the modern day with fierce intensity and that not every legacy franchise can only survive if it surrenders its soul and very essence.
This blissfully happy, warm hug of a special is proof positive that you can take something beloved, and with just few adroit nods to the modern world, deliver ageless entertainment that isn’t old and past its prime but rather as fresh and delightfully charming and alive with everything good and soul nourishing and with characters you love who are back where they belong, in your hearts, in the theatre they love and back on TV where we can only hope they get a big series order and fast.
The Muppet Show special 2026 is streaming on Disney+