All Dads Love The Muppets
If we want to create a new generation of Statler and Waldorfs, we need Disney+'s 'Muppet Show' revival
There are a lot of long-running family-oriented brands that I would be okay with putting on the cultural shelf. Looney Tunes is approaching its 100th anniversary, we don’t need any more. Peanuts had a great run, but it’s time to let it go. The Muppets, though? The Muppets can stay.
Disney+’s new Muppet Show special that’s not-so-secretly a backdoor pilot is the best kind of nostalgia. It keeps everything lovable about the original 1976-1981 Muppet Show — the delightful opening credits; the corny, winking humor; the way that celebrity guests interact with the Muppets as if they’re real people — and ever-so-slightly updates it for 2026. The references are contemporary, but the spirit is vaudevillian.
It will be a great way to introduce kids to the Muppets, the way that Muppets Tonight was when I was a kid. The world has forgotten the ‘90s Muppet Show sequel series Muppets Tonight, but I have not; I remember watching it with my family when I was a kid. (The things that first made me love the Muppets were A Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island; I rewatched the latter a couple of years ago because my wife had never seen it. I think it holds up, but she thinks you had to have first seen it when you were 5 years old to really appreciate it.)
The new Muppet Show features celebrity special guest Sabrina Carpenter, who is almost too perfect for the role, being something of a human Muppet herself. When she tells Miss Piggy that she’s her inspiration, she might be telling the truth a little bit. When do you think Sabrina Carpenter will make her inevitable transition from being a pop star to the easier job of being a movie star? I think she will start within three years. Of all the current pop stars/pop stars who have started acting careers in the past few years, she’s the one most likely to successfully transition. She can start with a romantic comedy that makes use of her persona, and then do something different and dark to demonstrate her range and acting chops.
To me, the highlight of the episode is Carpenter’s duet of “Islands in the Stream” with Kermit and then Miss Piggy, after Miss Piggy knocks Kermit out of the boat they’re singing the song in. That one person on the internet hates the Pig girl with their life, but I love her. She has the pathos of the un-self-aware. And when she goes “Hi-ya?” It’s funny every time.
All dads love the Muppets because they remember watching the Muppets when they were kids, or watching the Muppets with their kids. Kermit is a relatable everyman with whom dads identify. He’s just trying to keep it all together. Gonzo is dads’ chaotic impulses. Fozzie is the desperate desire to be funny. These are not necessarily dads’ favorite Muppets, however — I asked my dad who his favorite Muppet is, and he immediately texted back “Animal.” My favorites are Statler and Waldorf, because I am a critic.
Haha, I love this. I watched with my father in the 80s, and then watched the new special with a dad and he was laughing at the same characters.
I have a post about my own dad trying to name the Muppets...hilarious (see my earliest post).
Animal forever.