If your instinctual response to hearing the phrase “It’s time to play the music” is “it’s time to light the lights,” Disney has a treat waiting for you on February 4th. Executive produced by Seth Rogen, it’s The Muppet Show! Specifically, it’s a one-off special episode guest-starring Sabrina Carpenter and Maya Rudolph, which sets the stage for the series’s potentially triumphant comeback.
As a franchise, the Muppets have been cross-medium since way before it was cool, with movies and TV shows and books and so many other formats keeping these characters alive in the imagination for decades. However, TV has been a struggle: This Muppet Show is far from the first effort to recapture that Muppet Show magic, following the Jim Henson-created series’ run from 1976-1981. The two-season ’90s spinoff Muppets Tonight and the one-season 2015 mockumentary The Muppets did try, but both of those shows drifted too far away from the classic format to really succeed.
This special episode, meanwhile, legitimately deserves to be considered a pilot for an ongoing revival, something the show actively leans into with Kermit’s opening comment that “We are so excited to be back where it all started, and then ended, and then is maybe starting again, depending on how tonight goes.” It’s built like a show that could go on for years… Mostly because it’s built on the foundation of a show that did go on for years. Here, by embracing the idea of being a true revival (i.e.: not fucking around too much with what came before), that classic magic can be found.
In the series’ return, Kermit is once again the fulcrum of the behind-the-scenes chaos, having accidentally overbooked the show with acts thanks to his innate niceness. He’s surrounded by the familiar ensemble of characters, few of whom are doing anything to make Kermit’s life easier. This especially applies to his paramour Miss Piggy, who’s determined to make sure she gets her big number on stage — though of course a star of her caliber doesn’t have to worry about competition from blond pop stars.
At its heart, The Muppet Show is essentially a sketch comedy series, and like all sketch comedy series, there are some sketches that are better than others. Nothing’s objectively awful, but one number, in which Rizzo the Rat covers a recent pop track with a pack of his fellow street creatures, boils down to just an odd and abbreviated performance of the song. There are some technical issues happening backstage as the rats dance, because it’s The Muppet Show, but it still feels like it’s missing some extra layer of comedy. It’s one of the few occasions where the studio audience’s laughter feels slightly forced — mostly because it’s hard to discern what the joke is.
That’s as close to a low point as we get, though. The aforementioned Carpenter is the designated special guest of the episode, getting multiple fun musical numbers as well as some dressing room time with both Kermit and Piggy. The latter has some sharp commentary to make on Carpenter’s whole look being inspired by the iconic diva, and honestly, when you see the two of them side by side… Yeah, Piggy’s lawyers may have a case.
The Muppet Show (Disney)
Carpenter is game and enthusiastic and nails the most important part of acting opposite Muppets — treating them like real actors, because of course they are. Shout out to pop culture writer Brian Grubb for predicting in 2024 that Carpenter would make a perfect human foil for the gang — he absolutely nailed how her energy mashes with this universe.
The cameos by Rogen and Rudolph (both also playing “themselves”) are equally delightful, utilizing them well as performers without ever pulling the spotlight away from the real stars: The Muppet gang, in all their chaotic glory. There are multiple Muppets-only sketches, and most of the best jokes hinge on that trademark combination of silly wordplay and slapstick. Maybe a savvy viewer can predict one of Statler and Waldorf’s heckles the moment before they say it, but that’s just part of the fun.
What this new Muppet Show confirms is that in the hands of fans, Jim Henson’s legacy is safe — but specifically these fans, who understand the formula and know just how much to tweak it for today. The worst thing about this special episode is the uncertain future of the project itself, but hopefully Disney knows what it’s got here. Older fans will get hit hard in the feels, but it plays at the right level of PG to hook newer, younger fans — fans who will hopefully grow up in a world where the Muppets continue doing what they do, better than anyone else. Human and puppet alike.
The Muppet Show premieres on Disney+ and ABC February 4, 2026. Check out the latest trailer below.
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