The Muppet Show revival was built as a backdoor pilot, it drew strong reviews, and it is now an Emmy nominee. What it still does not have, six months after airing, is a second episode.
That is the tension running through a new Variety column on the franchise’s current hot streak, which notes that despite the reviews and the Emmy recognition, the special remains a one-off. The people who made it are openly signaling they want more. Muppets Studio vice president and executive producer Leigh Slaughter tells the trade, “There is so much momentum,” while Miss Piggy performer and fellow executive producer Eric Jacobson describes a franchise with wind in its sails.
The Special That Was Supposed To Start Something
The Muppet Show returned February 4 as a Disney+ and ABC special timed to the original series’ 50th anniversary year, with Sabrina Carpenter as guest star and executive producer and Seth Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures producing alongside The Muppets Studio, 20th Television, and Disney Branded Television. Alex Timbers directed, Albertina Rizzo led the writing, and the announcement made the strategy explicit from the start: the hope was that the special would serve as a backdoor pilot for a full new season of the variety series Jim Henson created in 1976.
The creative gamble worked on its own terms. The special returned Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, and Gonzo to the Muppet Theatre with the franchise’s veteran performers behind them, reviews were warm, and the Emmy nominations followed this summer.
A Franchise That Keeps Restarting
The hesitation has history behind it. Disney’s small-screen Muppet efforts since the 2011 film have started and stalled repeatedly, from ABC’s short-lived 2015 mockumentary to Muppets Now and The Muppets Mayhem on Disney+, none of which earned a second season. A revival that finally landed with critics and Television Academy voters is exactly the opening the brand has been waiting for, which makes the silence on a renewal the most interesting part of the story.
The original show remains the franchise’s high-water mark, and the bar the revival is being measured against. Jim Henson’s series ran from 1976 to 1981, aired in more than 100 countries, drew guest stars from Elton John to Johnny Cash and Diana Ross, and collected Emmy, Grammy, Peabody, and BAFTA honors along the way. All five seasons currently stream on Disney+ beside the new special.
In the meantime the characters are working, from the film side of the company to the parks, where Kermit fronts a new Passholder push at Walt Disney World this month. Whether the theater stays open for a full season is now a question for Disney rather than the Muppets.
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