‘The Muppet Show’ Returns — and Is the Best New TV Series of the Year

The opening of “The Muppet Show” is priceless. We see a green cloth hand turning on a light switch, and the darkened theater slowly comes to life, even as we hear the warmly welcome strains of a piano playing “The Rainbow Connection,” all rubato and hazy and out of focus, like a nostalgic sentimental montage in our heads. Then we see Kermit the Frog sitting at his desk and sighing with relief, happy to be back in the old routine. The camera pulls back, and there’s Rowlf the Dog, seated at the upright piano, playing the song next to him. The Frog asks, “Have you been playing this whole time?” The dog answers, “What did you think it was, some kind of sentimental montage in your head?! We’re doing the show again, Frog!” So begins the newly produced “The Muppet Show” directed by Alex Timbers, who has more experience doing Broadway musicals than anything else, and, thankfully it shows. The release is timed to the 50th anniversary of the original series and “The Muppet Show” is the best new television that I have seen so far this year.It’s worth remembering that “The Muppet Show” (1976-1981) went off the air voluntarily; the series was more popular than ever, however, producer, creator, and master Muppeteer Jim Henson wanted to move on to new projects. Surely, if Henson had not died at 53 in 1990, he would likely have returned to the series — even as there probably would have been a Beatles reunion had not John Lennon died so young. In 1996 there was a revised version of the series entitled “Muppets Tonight” which lasted for two seasons on ABC and The Disney Channel; this is an under-appreciated gem of a show that should have run longer. “Tonight” gave us several new memorable Muppet characters, particularly Pepe the King Prawn and Rizzo the Rat (both of whom are now members of the regular cast and are prominent in the current special) as well as classic guest appearances by Tony Bennett, Martin Short, and Garth Brooks.Still, the 2026 special is the first complete return to the classic format of 1976, which was co-developed by Henson and the veteran comedian Jack Burns, otherwise best known as half of two very successful teams, the first with George Carlin and the second with Avery Schreiber. It was Burns, an old school standup comic, who helped develop the idea of “The Muppet Show” as a vintage vaudeville production, with singers, comics, and various other acts (most frequently the mondo bizzaro daredevil acrobat Gonzo the Great) performing onstage even while there was dramatic shenanigans in the wings. In that way, “The Muppet Show” was both a sitcom and the last great television variety show.So what’s different now? Well, we have a major guest star in the 26-year-old pop icon Sabrina Carpenter, who does the usual funny bit with Miss Piggy, who could generally be counted on to try and out diva whatever female guest was on that week. Here, Ms. Piggy and Ms. Carpenter encounter each other in the exact same drag, right down to the hair, and it has very much a Seinfeld-Newman vibe. For the first number, Ms. Carpenter reprises her well-known “Manchild” as a feisty waitress in a noisy bar, even while she is throttling miscellaneous monsters and winning the affection of a flock of chickens — talk about a hen party. (This all makes perfect sense in the Muppetverse.) At first it seemed a little too on-the-nose that she initially just sang one of her own hits — for me, the guest stars doing standards and show tunes was a major part of the show’s charm — but she won me back over in doing the country classic “Islands in the Stream” with Kermit, and then Piggy. This made me think that the late Kenny Rogers — whom, I have to admit, performed his best version ever of “The Gambler” on the show in 1979 — might have a different use for all those chickens. The other big number is “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd, a singer and songwriter from Toronto. This is performed by a choir of adorable rats — to the extent that rats can be adorable — led by Rizzo, a streetwise performer to be sure. Even as the bumbling custodian Beauregard messes up the electricity, an ensemble of rodents engages in a “Thriller”-like line dance.The running plot lines include Gonzo speeding by on rocket-powered roller skates while reciting the names of all the Academy Award winners for best supporting actress (“Whoopee Goldberg! Angelica Houston!…”), and there are funny cameos by Seth Rogen and “Saturday Night Live”’s Maya Rudolph. The main issue backstage is that Kermit has inadvertently booked too many guests, and you can guess how Piggy feels when the frog reluctantly suggests that one of her spots be cut. It winds up somewhat predictably but satisfyingly with Kermit gathering the entire extended cast on stage for an uplifting, en massed rendition of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Hopefully this is a shout out to the future. I still want to see Tom Hanks, Megan Hilty, Nathan Lane, Melissa Errico, Marilyn Maye. and Harry Connick, Jr. appear as guest stars, so hopefully Disney won’t stop this new incarnation of “The Muppet Show” now.

‘The Muppet Show’ Returns — and Is the Best New TV Series of the Year

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