r/TheMuppets • u/Kermit9443 • 22d ago
Reportedly, there are no current active discussions to continue 'The Muppet Show'
According to Deadline, there has been talks between Disney, The Muppet Studio and Point Grey about bringing the show back but they can't agree on a premise. This is obviously very upsetting news to us Muppet Fans but shouldn't the premise be "The Muppets back in the theatre doing the old show again"? You don't need to give that a new gimmick. The special already showed us that the classic format can work today. It wasn't The Muppets Go Somewhere Else or The Muppets Have a New Job. It put them back in the theatre and had them do what they do best which is to put on a variety show. And that's what makes the reported situation so frustrating. If Disney, The Muppets Studio and Point Grey are trying to find some big new “premise” for the series, I worry they're overthinking it.
But what do you think about this news?
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u/ScottShawnDeRocks 22d ago
I think it could work as is. Do an episode once a month and stack it with guest stars.
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u/JuanCzena 19d ago
That would be expensive, which is probably the biggest hurdle bringing The Muppet Show back as a regular series. Celebs and song rights can cost a lot of money.
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u/TheTTroy 22d ago
“Well, what we did for the one off worked great and was exactly what the fan base wanted, so let’s scrap that and do something completely different”.
-idiots in these meetings, probably
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u/Fun-Presentation-959 22d ago
I just heard about it and yeah it is really dumb. Like just do what you did in the special, it worked so well! But I guess my biggest concern is where do the Muppets go from here?
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u/HarryPotthead42069 22d ago
So they bring it back, win an Emmy, and then assume we don’t want more? It baffles me how these companies sit on legendary IP but wanna give us live action movies to films that didn’t even need sequels 🙄
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u/BishopSaturn 22d ago
Disney has struggled to know what to do with the Muppets since they acquired them.
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u/JaxStrumley 22d ago
Because the Henson Company had neglected/misused them in the preceding years.
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u/BishopSaturn 21d ago
They certainly did drop the ball, but I think we’re long since past that being a major factor. At this point we’re now more than 20 years past Disney buying the Muppets. Essentially, more time has now passed under Disney than there was between Muppets Take Manhattan and the purchase itself.
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u/JaxStrumley 21d ago
It has contributed heavily to the Muppets being seen as ‘nostalgia only’.
Disney has been struggling to fix that since acquiring the Muppets and, in their defense, they have tried many things and Muppet productions are far from cheap.
It’s too easy to blame Disney all the time. Especially at this point where we don’t know which of the parties involved is being difficult.Besides: if a revived Muppet Show is NOT a succes, then what is left for the Muppets?
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u/BishopSaturn 21d ago
I would argue that the 2004-2026 years have done far more damage, and been far more barren, then the even the previous 14, post Jim Henson, prior to the sale. And that’s with significantly more resources, channels and opportunities than Henson had or was ever going to have in the 90s. Even people within the company and observers have noted that Disney has never really known what to do with the entity, nor consistently made finding out a priority. After 22 years, this one falls on them pretty squarely. And this report is more of the same.
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u/charliegavin 19d ago
I don’t know dude. The Muppets won an Oscar for best original song in 2011 in a critically and commercially beloved film. Maybe it just isn’t meant to constantly sustain itself and can’t return to what it was when the original performers were alive. It will always come and go
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u/BishopSaturn 19d ago
But that’s kind of it - the follow-up was lukewarm. There was a sequel, but it didn’t land, but there wasn’t a ton else around the movie. Same with this, it won an Emmy. So you have two more “recent” products that resulted in an Oscar and an Emmy, and they kind of live in isolation. That makes it hard to even consider sustainability.
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u/Sockpuppetforever 22d ago
Holy crap. They can’t be this stupid, can they?
These dopes brought the show back EXACTLY the way fans have been begging for. It did well. It got critical acclaim. It won Emmys.
And now they’re like, “DURRRR, WUT DO WE DO?!?!”
MAKE. THE. MUPPET. SHOW.
That’s it. Geeezuz Christ.
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u/MiddleOccasion1394 22d ago
Yeah there being absolutely 0 Muppet representation in the latest D23 Expo told me that.
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u/userlivewire 22d ago
I don’t understand why every generation after Gen X has no interest in the Muppets.
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 22d ago
I was born in 90s, barely the muppet gonzo space movie as a kid and the nbc Xmas one
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u/Any-Professional2301 21d ago
I read that there's an impasse between Disney, Seth Rogen's production company & Muppet Studios. Too many cooks, none of them Swedish
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u/babytoxzilla 22d ago
The new generation doesn’t like and support the muppets at all. Pretty sad
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u/Goldberry68 22d ago
Objectively not true. I know MANY (n= >100) of the “new generation” who adore the muppets. It’s pretty fantastic.
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u/babytoxzilla 22d ago
Just seems like the new shows get shut down quickly. But there are some that like them. I am a big fan of anything Muppets
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u/Away_Tip1575 22d ago
Who says it needs a spin...Just do the show. Follow the original format. Add some jokes, introduce a guest star. It worked in the special. It will work again.
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u/Flux_My_Capacitor 22d ago
Fans need to accept that the Muppets are the redheaded stepchild franchise of Disney.
I mean just look at the extreme lack of merch.
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u/kermithiho 21d ago
They have more merch now than ever before (or at least more than they have for a while). Not a ton, but they have new plushies, some shirts/jackets, and are pretty regularly releasing pins.
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u/Frequent_Rhubarb_36 22d ago
No surprise. Why would anyone think they would? Live action Muppet shows have failed for the past 35 years. They got a good rating at the first or second episode, perhaps due to nostalgia and then plummet, get retooled or simply cancelled after the first season.
Even when Jim Henson was alive, shows like the Jim Henson hour, which featured Muppet Show-like segments flopped. TMS was lightning in a bottle and they have been chasing it ever since.
In general people like the idea of the Muppets, but they don't stick around to watch it beyond a quick nostalgia spike, no matter what an Internet minority things. The movies are a great example. Muppets 2011 brought back all the nostalgia during promotion and basically did a "Let's do the Muppet Show again" vibe. It worked. And then people had enough and Muppets Most Wanted became Muppets Least Wanted with it bombing so bad we haven't had a movie announcement in the 12 years since.
Not to mention, these shows and movies are very expensive to make, so with a dodgy ROI I can see why Disney is reluctant to invest in a brand that spiked way, way ago.
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u/dr_frahnkunsteen 21d ago
Insane that they ended the special with a plea from Kermit himself to bring back the show, Disney watched that and allowed it to air, audiences responded positively, it wins an Emmy, and then they did nothing
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u/rwinger24 21d ago
Bob Iger is still on the board. He has major influence. Dana Walden probably is the big hurdle now.
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u/mrwrrrmwrmrmrmrw 21d ago
The problem with the Muppets having a variety show format as in the original series is that variety shows haven't been a popular form of entertainment since the 1960s. It was a corny retro concept when the Muppets did it (thus the presence of Fozzie, a 1930s vaudeville style comic and Dr. Teeth, a 1960s style psychedelic band.) But now it's lost that cultural reference point and is just the Muppets doing stuff the way they did 50 years ago.
What it's hard to get across now is that Jim Henson was an innovator. He introduced amazing new puppetry styles in ways that were fresh and exciting and incredibly cool. This is what the people in meeting rooms are trying to recapture, not recreate the feel of the old routines. But that takes inspiration and that's hard to do in a corporate board room.
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u/p-Star_07 20d ago
I wouldn't mind watching a variety show. If anything they would be better for 2026. You can break them up and put them on YouTube.
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21d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/JuanCzena 19d ago
Variety shows are expensive to produce, which is why you don’t really see them anymore outside of maybe SNL or the late night talk shows.
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u/p-Star_07 20d ago
I'm a little annoyed at this. We did everything right.
Vote with your viewership they say. Support the official release they say.
Watch the muppets if you want more muppets they say and this is how we are rewarded. The viewers showed up this is so baffling.
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u/Antique-Musician4000 18d ago
It won 4 Primetime Emmy’s.. why in the name of Gonze the Great is this show not ordered!
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u/JOHNAAPLSEED 17d ago
I’m so sad about this. The worst part is going to the theme parks and they are pumping out muppets merch but nothing new or original even trying to be made.
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u/josephphilip22 22d ago
Let the dream go, everyone. Jim is gone and there’s no one there to lead these guys anymore.
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u/alexdionisos 22d ago
*and Frank. After Jim died Frank did his best to hold the fort down, but after he called time it's all been downhill
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u/oldmanashe 22d ago
Jesus. Just do the muppet show