Miss Piggy and Sabrina Carpenter Dazzle as The Muppets Plot TV Takeover

Olivia Bennett, 1/3/2026The Muppets are staging a spectacular comeback in 2025 with a fresh variety show that blends nostalgia and modern flair. Featuring Sabrina Carpenter and Seth Rogen, this revival promises whimsy, chaos, and heartfelt antics, reminding us why showbiz madness is timeless.

The hype isn’t just nostalgia with a fresh coat of digital paint. Buried in the promo clips is a cunning wink: if the critics are kind and memes multiply (which, let’s be honest, with this many feathers and foam, they might), the world gets another round at this variety roulette. In time for a golden anniversary, no less. Kermit's back on center stage, offering that deliciously uncertain brand of confidence only a frog with one foot in history and the other sliding off a banana peel can muster; “It’s the return of The Muppet Show back on the very stage where it all started, and then ended—and maybe starts again, depending,” he deadpans. Nothing if not honest.

And how to signal this is 2025, not 1976 in rerun? Enter Sabrina Carpenter, pop dynamo for the TikTok era and a Muppet fangirl with enough gumption to match Miss Piggy, shimmer for shimmer, on that iconic stage. The fashion here isn’t just a throwback—it’s a wink, a nudge, and a possible dare. Last awards season, Sabrina channeled her inner Piggy; now the two literally match in pastel satin and mutual self-adoration. “You are an icon,” Sabrina breathes, perhaps speaking for a generation with more streaming apps than collective attention span. Piggy, naturally, absorbs it all, feigning humility in the way only she could—barely.

A reboot without old-school mischief? Not a chance. Seth Rogen slides into the producer’s chair but doesn’t stay behind the curtain for long. He’s beaming, slightly starstruck, admitting, “It’s always been a dream to be here,” before Fozzie Bear—timing as sharp as ever—interrupts: “Got any other dreams?” The punchline’s so perfectly groan-worthy, it practically begs for a rimshot. There’s a whiff of vaudeville in the wings, the ghost of Borscht Belt comedy dancing with TikTok irony.

Behind the scenes, this production isn’t suffering for creative muscle. Alex Timbers, sharp as a rhinestone and twice as showy, directs the parade, flanked by a who’s-who of contemporary comedy brains—Rogen, Evan Goldberg, the Point Grey braintrust. And don’t overlook the Muppet inner circle: Barretta, Goelz (who’s been Gonzo since before MTV was cool), Jacobson, Linz, Rudman, Vogel… Nearly half the cast could probably recite the show’s theme from muscle memory alone. The intent? Not simply to polish off old puppets, but to infuse genuine improv madness—just as Henson intended.

As for the roots, The Muppet Show never really played by television’s rules. Original flavor (1976 and all its resplendence) flung superstars onto a red curtain and let the Muppets dismantle them, one boisterous gag at a time. It was as much about Elton John’s platform boots as it was about Gonzo’s daredevil absurdity, a spectacle streamed now in its entirety—sometimes binge-watched by fans who weren’t born until after Y2K panic. Yet, here comes another round. It almost feels inevitable, doesn’t it?

But breathing life into nostalgia isn’t a given. Muppet revivals are hardly rare these days: the psychedelic swirl of 2023’s Muppets Mayhem or the cheerful, slightly kooky Muppets Haunted Mansion from 2021 both hinted at lasting magic (and, occasionally, left it slightly out of reach). Does this new outing break the cycle? Or are the Muppets dancing on strings of corporate memory, charming as ever but a step removed from their anarchic soul? Maybe both. Maybe that's exactly the point.

Truth be told, what makes the Muppets endure isn’t just the throwback spectacle. It’s the sense—silly, stubborn, maybe a little sentimental—that showbiz chaos should always have a home. A place where pop princesses and diva pigs dress alike without irony, where a puppet bear gets the last laugh on a Hollywood power player, and where nobody quite knows if this is the grand comeback or the world’s most elaborate curtain call.

On second thought, perhaps such uncertainty is the exact magic Hollywood still needs. Even after five decades, Kermit and friends don’t promise order, just the wild joy of whatever happens when the lights go up and the jokes start flying. And really, isn’t that what keeps everyone watching—even if only to see who gets pied in the face next?

Forget your usual rerun resurrection—The Muppet Show’s latest comeback lands less like another routine reboot and more like a gold-sequined boomerang flung through the glitziest corners of pop culture. Fifty years ago give or take—hard to pinpoint a precise cultural moment when “Kermie” first stage-managed envelope-pushing mayhem—the Muppets took television variety on a surreal detour. Now in 2025, Disney’s dangling what might just be the wildest bait yet: an all-star variety blowout for ABC and Disney+, equal parts meta-reunion and pilot-in-waiting. The kind of spectacle where chaos is expected—and, frankly, required.The hype isn’t just nostalgia with a fresh coat of digital paint. Buried in the promo clips is a cunning wink: if the critics are kind and memes multiply (which, let’s be honest, with this many feathers and foam, they might), the world gets another round at this variety roulette. In time for a golden anniversary, no less. Kermit's back on center stage, offering that deliciously uncertain brand of confidence only a frog with one foot in history and the other sliding off a banana peel can muster; “It’s the return of The Muppet Show back on the very stage where it all started, and then ended—and maybe starts again, depending,” he deadpans. Nothing if not honest.And how to signal this is 2025, not 1976 in rerun? Enter Sabrina Carpenter, pop dynamo for the TikTok era and a Muppet fangirl with enough gumption to match Miss Piggy, shimmer for shimmer, on that iconic stage. The fashion here isn’t just a throwback—it’s a wink, a nudge, and a possible dare. Last awards season, Sabrina channeled her inner Piggy; now the two literally match in pastel satin and mutual self-adoration. “You are an icon,” Sabrina breathes, perhaps speaking for a generation with more streaming apps than collective attention span. Piggy, naturally, absorbs it all, feigning humility in the way only she could—barely.A reboot without old-school mischief? Not a chance. Seth Rogen slides into the producer’s chair but doesn’t stay behind the curtain for long. He’s beaming, slightly starstruck, admitting, “It’s always been a dream to be here,” before Fozzie Bear—timing as sharp as ever—interrupts: “Got any other dreams?” The punchline’s so perfectly groan-worthy, it practically begs for a rimshot. There’s a whiff of vaudeville in the wings, the ghost of Borscht Belt comedy dancing with TikTok irony.Behind the scenes, this production isn’t suffering for creative muscle. Alex Timbers, sharp as a rhinestone and twice as showy, directs the parade, flanked by a who’s-who of contemporary comedy brains—Rogen, Evan Goldberg, the Point Grey braintrust. And don’t overlook the Muppet inner circle: Barretta, Goelz (who’s been Gonzo since before MTV was cool), Jacobson, Linz, Rudman, Vogel… Nearly half the cast could probably recite the show’s theme from muscle memory alone. The intent? Not simply to polish off old puppets, but to infuse genuine improv madness—just as Henson intended.As for the roots, The Muppet Show never really played by television’s rules. Original flavor (1976 and all its resplendence) flung superstars onto a red curtain and let the Muppets dismantle them, one boisterous gag at a time. It was as much about Elton John’s platform boots as it was about Gonzo’s daredevil absurdity, a spectacle streamed now in its entirety—sometimes binge-watched by fans who weren’t born until after Y2K panic. Yet, here comes another round. It almost feels inevitable, doesn’t it?But breathing life into nostalgia isn’t a given. Muppet revivals are hardly rare these days: the psychedelic swirl of 2023’s Muppets Mayhem or the cheerful, slightly kooky Muppets Haunted Mansion from 2021 both hinted at lasting magic (and, occasionally, left it slightly out of reach). Does this new outing break the cycle? Or are the Muppets dancing on strings of corporate memory, charming as ever but a step removed from their anarchic soul? Maybe both. Maybe that's exactly the point.Truth be told, what makes the Muppets endure isn’t just the throwback spectacle. It’s the sense—silly, stubborn, maybe a little sentimental—that showbiz chaos should always have a home. A place where pop princesses and diva pigs dress alike without irony, where a puppet bear gets the last laugh on a Hollywood power player, and where nobody quite knows if this is the grand comeback or the world’s most elaborate curtain call.On second thought, perhaps such uncertainty is the exact magic Hollywood still needs. Even after five decades, Kermit and friends don’t promise order, just the wild joy of whatever happens when the lights go up and the jokes start flying. And really, isn’t that what keeps everyone watching—even if only to see who gets pied in the face next?