Seth Rogen and Sabrina Carpenter are the duo you didn’t know you needed.
The Muppet Show is back. Not “better,” exactly. More like… faithful. After decades of half-baked attempts—Muppets Now, Muppets Tonight, The Muppets Mayhem, and the office-style mockumentary simply called The Muppets—Disney and ABC have landed on a simple truth: these felt creatures work best when left to do what they’ve always done.
This new version mirrors the original series from 1976 to 1981 so closely it might alienate anyone exhausted by endless reboots. But it’s the kind of fan service that works: made not just for fans, but by them. Seth Rogen, executive producer and lifelong Muppet devotee, beams at Kermit (Matt Vogel) with a giddiness that feels real. Sabrina Carpenter meets Miss Piggy (Eric Jacobson) and her awe doesn’t read like acting. You feel it.
The show’s genius was always in its backstage farce. Variety shows were fading when Kermit and company arrived, but their lens on chaos—led by a beleaguered stage manager rather than a commanding star—gave the format new life. Vogel’s Kermit isn’t Henson’s manic everyman; the urgency is softer, the stakes gentler. Miss Piggy no longer breaks bones with a karate chop—she threatens lawyers—but Statler and Waldorf in the balcony are as pointed as ever, delivering moments that cut sharper than you’d expect.
A Muppet performer needs to sing, dance, and trade gags with monsters while keeping just enough bemusement. Carpenter nails it. She’s a waitress swinging bottles in one sketch, duetting with Kermit in another. She winks at the jokes without distancing herself from them. Corny? Sure. But effective.
Some sketches wander—Rizzo the Rat covering The Weeknd, for instance—but the randomness fits the Muppet DNA. The through line, Kermit juggling acts and schedule cuts, keeps it anchored. Not every gag is viral-ready, but the whole is bigger than the pieces. Enough to justify more episodes.
Kermit opens with a line that doubles as a thesis: “It’s hard to believe we’re back on the very stage where it all started… and is maybe starting again.” It’s a one-off special, yes, meant to spotlight Disney’s Muppet Properties, but it’s also a reminder: the Muppets work best when left to be themselves. No modern gimmicks. Just chaos, charm, and a little felt magic. Mission accomplished.
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Last modified: February 6, 2026
