It’s time to play the music. It’s been nearly 45 years since The Muppet Show wrapped its now classic five season run back in 1976-1981, with its last episode guest starring Singing in the Rain actor Gene Kelly. It seemed like everyone who was anyone was a guest on the show, from Vincent Price to Don Knotts, from George Burns, John Cleese and Steve Martin to Elton John, Julie Andrews, Debbie Harry, James Coburn, Roger Moore, Sylvester Stallone, Lynda Carter, Christopher Reeve, and even the cast of Star Wars. The show won four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy, and began streaming on Disney+ in 2021. The countdown has begun for the return of the original variety show under new management. An unlikely face–Seth Rogen–is behind it all.
It’s time to light the lights. In the Disney era we first saw the Muppets return in the 2011 film Muppets, then in 2014 celebrities known for villains took center stage in cameos along with our felt heroes in Muppets Most Wanted. In 2015 a fun but short-lived series called The Muppets came to ABC. Since then we saw Frank Oz and others from Henson’s original team in Muppet Guys Talking (and they came back againwith even more behind the scenes antics), in 2019 one of the greatest fantasy television series ever aired (not from Disney) with The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, in 2020 Disney+ released another short-lived TV series, Muppets Now, in 2021 all the episodes of 1976-1981’s The Muppet Show began streaming on Disney+ along with the Halloween-themed movie, Muppets Haunted Mansion, and Disney’s best effort arrived with a rockumentary, Muppets Mayhem. A 2024 documentary looked at the man behind it all in Jim Henson–Idea Man, and the Muppets’ first motion picture, 1979’s The Muppet Movie, returned to theaters in 2024 for its 45th anniversary,
It’s time to get things started on The Muppet Show tonight. Jim Henson’s creations have garnered recent impressive retrospectives for your library with definitive books on The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Fraggle Rock: The Ultimate Visual History (and don’t forget Brad Meltzer’s sweet I Am Jim Henson), and they were even the subject of international intrigue in the pages of Muppets in Moscow. And in 2025 Jim Henson’s Creature Shop brought new characters to both the breakfast table and Star Trek for the 70th anniversary of The Jim Henson Company.
The Muppets are here to stay.
The Muppet Show will be back in Primetime and streaming on Disney+ with a one-time event episode February 4, 2026. The set and the never-aging Muppets look just like they did when we first met Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Rowlf, The Electric Mayhem, Scooter, Sweetums, Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, and Statler and Waldorf. Supposedly the show could continue, but Disney doesn’t seem ready to commit.
Check out the first look at the all-new The Muppet Show:
The variety show format that was so successful in the 1970s came back for two seasons in 1996-1998–Muppets Tonight itself won two Primetime Emmys. It also had guests like the original, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Whoopi Goldberg, Prince, and Pierce Brosnan. And of course the Muppets starred in eight theatrical releases, including A Muppet Christmas Carol, which returns every Christmas for new viewers.
Look for The Muppet Show on ABC and Disney+ February 4, 2025. The first guest is Sabrina Carpenter.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
