The Muppet Show won four Emmys on Saturday night at the first of this year’s Creative Arts ceremonies, including Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), and it did so on the 50th anniversary of the day the original series premiered.
The Disney+ special, which brought Kermit, Piggy and the gang back to the variety-show format with Sabrina Carpenter as guest host, also took Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming and Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special. It went in with six nominations and beat Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film, Dave Chappelle, Nikki Glaser and Wicked: One Wonderful Night for the top variety prize.
Sabrina Carpenter’s First Emmy
Carpenter was credited as an executive producer and performer on the special, which makes the Variety Special win her first Emmy. With her Grammys already on the shelf, that puts her halfway to an EGOT at 27. Seth Rogen, one of the executive producers, accepted the award and pointed out from the stage that Saturday marked 50 years since the original Muppet Show first aired on September 5, 1976.
Carpenter responded to the wins the next day with a short statement on social media. “So incredibly proud of the whole Muppets crew on our Emmy wins!!!!! A lot of love and happiness and hard work and diva fights went into making this special,” she wrote.
Sabrina Carpenter comments on The Muppet Show’s wins at the Emmy Awards:
— Drew Smith (@DrewDisneyDude) September 6, 2026
“So incredibly proud of the whole Muppets crew on our Emmy wins!!!!! A lot of love and happiness and hard work and diva fights went into making this special.”
Alex Timbers directed the special, which was written by Albertina Rizzo, Gabe Liedman, Nedaa Sweiss, Kelly Younger and Andrew Williams. Kelly Lyon won for picture editing, and Denise Pizzini’s production design team of Chet Maxwell, Robert Aguirre and Bethany Barton took the design award. The producing team credited on the win also includes Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Matt Vogel and Eric Jacobson.
The special had one nomination left after Saturday, and it was a Muppet one. Matt Vogel was up for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance as Kermit the Frog on Sunday’s second Creative Arts night.
Update, September 7: Vogel did not win. The voice-over award went to Julie Andrews for her narration on Bridgerton, leaving The Muppet Show at four Emmys from its six nominations, still the most of any Disney program across the two Creative Arts nights.
The Rest Of Disney’s Night
Disney’s other outlets picked up wins as well. National Geographic’s Ocean with David Attenborough won two, for cinematography and sound editing, and Tucci in Italy won Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special for the same network. On the ABC side, Jeopardy! took Outstanding Game Show and Jimmy Kimmel won Outstanding Host for a Game Show for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
The night’s biggest winner overall was the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny with seven Emmys, followed by The Traitors with six and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with five in its final season. Mariska Hargitay, who hosts the main telecast, won two for her HBO documentary My Mom Jayne.
Still No Second Episode
The special premiered on Disney+ and ABC on February 4, yet Disney has still not ordered a full season or even a second episode. Four Emmys on the franchise’s 50th birthday is the strongest argument yet for one, and the question of what comes next is now the only Muppet story left to tell.
Edited highlights from both Creative Arts nights air Saturday, September 12 at 8 p.m. ET on FXX and stream on Hulu afterward. The 78th Emmy Awards telecast airs live Monday, September 14 on NBC and Peacock.
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