The Muppet Show Review
When the world needed them most, The Muppet Show returned to grace our eyes once more. And our world has gotten a little bit brighter and sillier for it.
Even if you don’t know the name Jim Henson, you no doubt have at least heard of the term “Muppets.” For more than seventy years, they have entertained people of all ages across a variety of different shows and projects. The most famous of them all, though, is none other than The Muppet Show. Airing from 1976 to 1981, it welcomed some of the biggest celebrities of the time as guest stars with every episode, and had them get involved in silly slapstick sketches. And the show’s humor still holds up pretty well today. While the Muppets have never stopped being famous since the show ended, they haven’t really managed to recapture the feeling that The Muppet Show gave us all…until now. Thanks to Seth Rogen and bunch of other celebrities, The Muppet Show is back in time to celebrate it’s 50th birthday, and everyone is loving it.
And they didn’t have to change a single thing to do it.
Why the Other Times Didn’t Work
This isn’t the first time that people have tried to bring The Muppet Show back. After Jim Henson died, there were multiple attempts to give the Muppets a chance on TV. There was Muppets Tonight in the 90s that tried to make it into an actual TV show. There was that short-lived sitcom from the 2010s that parodied series like The Office. And I think that they even tried making a web series at one point or another. However, besides the movies, none of them could ever really had the same spark that The Muppet Show had? Why? Because they were trying to fix what was already a tried and true formula.
Even after fifty years, the way The Muppet Show was set up is still perfect the way it is. We’ve got the special guest star of the week, who serves as the outsider joining the chaos that is the Muppets. There’s the various sketches that can range from comedy acts to stunts and jokes to covers for popular songs. Lastly, tying it all together, we’ve got everything that’s going on backstage as Kermit tries to maintain some semblance of order. And we also got my two favorite Muppets, Statler and Waldorf, who provide funny commentary on how the show’s going. Those two are the patrons of every Internet troll and heckler, and I love them!
The Muppet Show is Perfect as is
The point is that the formula that Jim Henson and company came up with for The Muppet Show was already perfect the way it was. It’s one that doesn’t really need any updating and could easily work for a show even in the modern day. In fact, sometimes I like to imagine episodes where the Muppets invite more modern celebrities to take part in the show, and it makes me smile. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to have an episode of The Muppet Show featuring cast members from the biggest shows from the last ten years? Crazier still, they could get internet celebrities! We might still get them, but more on that in a moment.
As for this 50th birthday special, the celebrity with the honor of appearing is Sabrina Carpenter, who manages to work incredibly well with Miss Piggy. The overarching plot, though, centers around Kermit trying to cut some of the acts due to their being too many for their first time back. And it all culminates in a final toe-tapping rendition of “Don’t Stop Me Now,” one of my favorite Queen songs. It’s not just a way to close out the special; it’s a message asking Disney to not stop The Muppet Show.
The whole point behind this special isn’t just to celebrate the show turning fifty. It’s a test to see if a revival would be successful. Given how almost everyone agrees that it was hilarious, I think it’s safe to say that it passed. It’s time for the Muppets to take the spotlight once more, and they don’t need any gimmicks to make it appeal to modern audiences. It’s perfect the way it is, and we want more.
So, what are you waiting for? Why are you still reading this? Go watch the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational This is what we call The Muppet Show!
