^{The Muppet Show (ABC, Disney+)}

The Muppet Show, which debuted as a special back in February, has won four Emmy Awards out of its six nominations at the Creative Arts ceremony. Its haul includes Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Picture Editing for a Variety Special, and Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special. In addition to being its special guest star, Sabrina Carpenter served as an executive producer. She thus shared in the win with fellow EP Seth Rogen and several others. With these four wins, it’s worth once again asking a question that’s lingered for seven months: When is Disney going to greenlight a full series order already?

Throughout their decades-long history, the Muppets haven’t drastically changed their brand of humor, which ranges from self-referential, to slapstick, to surreal. What has changed is the format in which their comedy is presented. The Muppets have starred in retellings of literary classics, mockumentaries, and animated shows that explored their baby years. Yet, the Muppets have rarely revisited the format that made them household names: a variety show. The original Muppet Show ran from 1976 to 1981, winning an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy – Variety or Music Series. While Jim Henson could’ve kept The Muppet Show going longer, he bowed out on a high note.

Since then, we’ve only occasionally seen the Muppets return to their variety roots. The closest we got to a revival of the 1976 show was Muppets Tonight, a very 90s incarnation right down to the Arsenio Hall-esque host. After fifty years, the Muppets reopened their old theater for this one-off special… or possibly a full revival. As Kermit, now performed by Matt Vogel, says at the top of the show, this is basically a trial run to see if there’s enough interest to produce a whole season. Across ABC and Disney+, the special attracted over seven million viewers during its first eight days. Now that the special has won four Emmys, what more does Disney need to move forward with more Muppets? Of course, accolades don’t always translate to more episodes. The Muppets know this all too well.

The aforementioned Muppets Tonight won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program in 1998, although this wasn’t enough to bring the show back for a third season. More recently, The Muppets Mayhem won Outstanding Children's or Family Viewing Series at the 2nd Children's and Family Emmy Awards. By then, the Electric Mayhem-centric series had already been cancelled after one season. A similar fate befell the Jim Henson Company-produced The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Debuting on Netflix in 2019, the prequel series encompassed the technical wizardry of the 1982 cult classic, but with stronger characters and a compelling story that unlocked the full potential of Henson’s creation. Days after winning the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program, Netflix cancelled Age of Resistance.

Despite winning Emmys, these shows got the axe for various reasons. Muppets Tonight garnered a mixed reception while its ratings weren’t up to ABC’s standards. The Muppets Mayhem was critically acclaimed, but it seemed to lack the promotional push that some other Muppet projects received. Age of Resistance Season 1 cost almost $100 million to produce. Unless you’re pulling in Game of Thrones numbers, it’s hard to justify that price tag. Age of Resistance sadly couldn’t, which perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise since even the 1982 film wasn’t the biggest commercial success upon release.

While The Muppet Show has solid ratings, positive reviews, and now four Emmys, it remains to be seen if that’ll be enough to convince Disney. At D23 this year, there was no word on whether Disney would be moving forward with a Muppet Show revival. In general, Disney didn’t unveil any new live-action shows that weren’t already in the works. This seems to suggest that Disney+ might be downsizing in the live-action department, meaning The Muppet Show may never get past the backdoor pilot stage. That’d be a shame. All the pieces are there, including Rogen, who got half of Hollywood to appear in the first season of The Studio. Imagine if he got Martin Scorsese for The Muppets!

Carpenter will be a tough act to follow, acting opposite Miss Piggy with the same reverence she had performing alongside Paul Simon at SNL’s 50th Anniversary. At the same time, The Muppet Show could evolve with a full series order. As enjoyable as the special was, it largely played the greatest hits, from Fozzie’s corny puns, to Gonzo’s absurd stunts, to virtually every sketch going off the rails. That’s not a bad thing per se. Considering that this is essentially a proof of concept, it made sense for the special to remind us of the good old days.

The result found a balance between current and classical. If The Muppet Show gets picked up for a full season, though, nostalgia won’t be enough to fuel it. The show will need to experiment to forge its own legacy. Disney has to give The Muppet Show that opportunity first. The Muppets were tailor-made for the stage. Their talents shouldn’t be wasted on Booking.com commercials. The four Emmys could wind up being a bookend to the Rogen-produced Muppet Show. If the industry support means anything, though, hopefully things are just getting started.

UPDATE 9/10/2026. According to a source at Deadline, "I hear there have been difficulties cracking a premise for an ongoing Muppet Show series that Disney (Disney+ and 20th TV), The Muppets Studio and Point Grey will all be on board for." This is curious, as the "premise" proposed in the special seemed straightforward and in the tradition of the original Muppet Show. Deadline adds, "There are no active series conversations about at the moment... That could change if the Emmy wins give the process new momentum and motivates all sides to find a winning series format."

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!