(courtesy IMDb (c) Jim Henson Productions)
I remember in the dim, dark days of the mid-seventies when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and the Egyptians were building the pyramids (yes, I am that old) lying on the floor of the loungeroom of our house in Alstonville, up in northern NSW, excitedly watching The Muppet Show which premiered in Australia sometimes in late 1976 or early 1977 (likely the latter given that where I lived at the time had one commercial TV station and one commercial TV station only).
I can’t tell you precisely when that was because it’s now lost to the mists of time but I do remember being excited because I already knew about the Muppets thanks to Sesame Street which had barely started it’s in-excess of five decades run when we first arrived back in Australia in 1970 after half a decade or so living in Bangladesh where my dad was a minister and my mum was a pharmacist.
So while I knew about Kermit, and Grover and Bert and Eddie, I was only dimly aware at the time of Jim Henson and his ever-growing Muppet empire with my point of entry to the show being Kermit who hosted the new show, but only after two pilots, produced in 1974 and 1975 had the main characters as a screenwriter named Wally and a backstage boss named Nigel respectively.
These pilots, which like all good televisual proofs of concept allowed the show’s creators to find the look and feel of what would become The Muppet Show which premiered in England on 5 September 1976, with the rest of the world, as noted, following a little while later.
Hosted now by Kermit, The Muppet Show ran for 120 episodes, and featured a galaxy of stars who were popular at the time including Joel Grey (first episode), Steve Martin, Debbie Harry, Lena Horne, Charles Aznavour, Madeline Kahn, Julie Andrews, Elton John and so many more.
At the time, I likely didn’t know who all these people were since I was only about 11 at the start of the show’s run and just turned 16 when it ended; I was a voracious consumer of popular culture at the time, thanks to a love of reading, TV (we watched lots of movies on TV since there was no videos, no streaming etc; the only way to watch them, once they were done in the cinema, was live on TV) and movies, but still there was none of the saturation coverage of stars and media news like there is now.
Still, many of the stars of the show, who are mostly long gone sadly, were in their prime or still bathing in the glow of celebrity then and so I understood who Peter Ustinov was or why Don Knotts or Bob Hope were involved in various skits.
I knew enough about them for it to make sense, and even when they were non-entities to me, the presence of long-time Muppets like Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, Miss Piggy and Gonzo the Great (all of whom predated the show) and Muppets new to the world thanks to The Muppet Show like Fozzie the Bear, Scooter and Dr Bunsen Honeydew, all acting with trademark loveable zaniness carried me through.
Even when The Muppet Show finished up after five wonderful seasons with Shirley Bassey at the final guest, I stayed connected with the Muppets, even in adulthood, thanks to a slew of movies and comics and books.
I never really fell out out of love with the Muppets – I mean, how on else could you? They’re ADORABLE – and once you get the episodes again on video tape and then DVD, I watched them if only to remember what it felt like to be a kid and to spend time with the warmhearted silliness of characters who were the very best friends you could have on TV.
But nostalgia is one thing and having something join you in the present is another thing entirely so I was a little worried, albeit excited too, when Disney announced they were bringing back The Muppet Show for a one-off special to mark the show’s 50th anniversary (there was a suggestion at the time that this was a backdoor pilot for a revival season or two but so far that has borne no fruit).
The Muppet Show special event hit Disney+ on 4 February and honestly it was like being a kid again and feeling all the happiness and joy all over again, the guest was current pop star Sabrina Carpenter who was wonderful in the role and the addition of people like Maya Rudolph and Seth Rogen worked beautifully too.
To give you some idea of how much I loved this revival, here’s how I closed out my enthusiastic review of the event.
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.
It blended new and old seamlessly and made me feel light and happy again in an age when there is so much darkness and fear around, and while we may never get our revival series, I loved having it back (did it ever really go away?) and it was a fine way to mark the 50th anniversary of a show which has weathered the intervening quite beautifully.
The Muppet Show and its 2026 special event, along with all kinds of other Muppets wonderfulness streams on Disney+