"In 1976, Henson took his furry characters to TV syndication, with a variety show that harkened back to the days of vaudeville. The Muppet Show lasted five years, and it was brilliant. Kermit played the host of a theater where the Muppets, and some human guest stars, put on a weekly show while a pair of grumpy old Muppets, Statler and Waldorf, watched and heckled from their box seats."
"Stars flocked eagerly to guest star with Kermit and company from old vaudevillians George Burns and Milton Berle to hot young entertainers like Linda Ronstadt, Elton John and Steve Martin. The Muppets shifted to the movies, but ABC also kept trying to revive the original TV franchise. In 1996, Henson's son, Brian, produced a wonderful update for ABC, Muppets Tonight, set at a TV station, like SCTV."
"Much more recently, in 2020, Disney, the new corporate owners of ABC, presented a terrible update, Muppets Now, on Disney+, where the show now run by Scooter instead of Kermit was a program targeting the Internet audience. But now, for 2026, ABC has come to its senses, and gone back to basics. Director Alex Timbers and his writing staff have put Kermit back in charge, returned to the old theater setting Statler and Waldorf included and gone back to the way things used to be."
Kermit the Frog originated on a Washington, D.C. local TV show in the mid-1950s and became a Sesame Street star by the late 1960s. ABC aired two Muppet specials in 1974–75 that failed to catch on. In 1976 Jim Henson launched The Muppet Show in syndication, a vaudeville-style variety series that ran five brilliant years with Kermit hosting and Statler and Waldorf heckling. Stars from George Burns to Elton John guested. The Muppets moved into films while ABC produced revivals including 1996's Muppets Tonight and 2020's Internet-focused Muppets Now. In 2026 ABC returned to the original theater format with Kermit leading a talented new creative team.
Read at www.npr.org
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