Your Thoughts: The Muppet Show Starring Sabrina Carpenter

[Phillip]

Tonight’s the night! For the first time in 45 years, a new episode of the Muppet Show will premiere on ABC at 8|9c and today on Disney+. The special features guest star Sabrina Carpenter and special guests Seth Rogen and Maya Rudolph. Tune in and watch the must-see event of the year!

 

[Phillip]

Special - The Muppet Show Starring Sabrina Carpenter
ABC Premiere: Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Disney+ Premiere: Wednesday, February 4, 2026

It's “The Muppet Show!” Kermit, Miss Piggy and the beloved Muppets ensemble are back with a brand-new special event. Music, comedy, and a whole lot of chaos are bound to ensue when The Muppets once again take the stage of the original Muppet Theatre with their very special guest, Sabrina Carpenter!

If you saw "The Muppet Show" on Disney+ please like this post and share your thoughts below.

 

[eurbane]

So I enjoyed the new muppet show 50th anniversary special.

We start with Sabrina Carpenter singing Manchild complete with Crazy Harry with a huge fan making the chickens feel naked. For Gonzo's stunt rollerskating through flaming hoops and torture stuff while naming every oscar winning actresses. We get a segment called Pig in Wigs where Miss Piggy falls in love with a pig but also falls in love with Pepe. Rizzo makes a return singing Blinding Lights and Beauguard destroyed the lights. For Muppet Labs, we have the monocular experiment which made Beaker's eyes pop out and back in and out again with Maya Rudolph in the audience and choked on one eye and the news reporter thought she was dead. Then we join Kermit and Sabrina Carpenter for Islands in the Stream and since Miss Piggy thinks her act is cut, she does it with Sabrina after all. For the big finale, since a whole lot of acts got cut they all sing Don't Stop Me Now. Now I see why this groundbreaking show has become a worldwide sensation for 50 years.

 

[antsamthompson9]

This was a lot of fun! My favorite parts were Rizzo singing Blinding Lights and the whole gang singing Don't Stop Me Now.

 

[wiley207]

Now THIS is a revival! Even with all the wonky (real life) behind-the-scenes stuff involving Disney and the Muppets, they sure kept the spirit of the original "Muppet Show" alive. Showing the audience of humans and Muppets was a nice touch, too!

It's kind of surreal having the 20th Television logo now conclude a Muppets TV show, but of course, 20th Century Studios is now Disney's mature product division (had Disney not bought out 20th Century Fox, this would've likely been under the Touchstone Television banner).

 

[Grumpo]

Just watched it. I have to say -- Hats off! Hats off to the writers, to the performers, to the props and decorations teams! I think they managed to make it as close to original as humanly possible these days. A neatly balanced act with numbers and music, onstage and backstage action all in their proper places. Matt is really doing his very impressive best as a puppeteer, and the writing supports the characters -- the only thing (heck, I won't even go into this here!). Expectations surpassed.

It is so very much superior to any recent productions. Why the heck couldn't they do it in 2020, 2015, 2011, etc.?

 

[FanOfOneTimers]

Absolutely fantastic, god I hope the ratings are good enough for a full season

 

[GonzoIsCool]

Matt Vogel really improved his Kermit performance. He nailed it! I even went straight to watching Jim Henson afterwards without issue. I think it helped that the writing was better so he sounded less awkward.

I liked that the song choices made sense for the characters. Rizzo's song was very him.

They kept the balance and it felt like the old show again.

I admit I was extremely nervous, lately the writing hasn't been very good, but they did awesome!

 

[datman24]

That was the most laughs I’ve gotten out of a piece of Muppet media since the 2011 movie. This was exactly what the Muppets needed. The stuff with Maya Rudolph was probably some of the best stuff in the whole special. I do like that they took advantage of the wide shots of the theater that they could not do in the original. Matt Vogel as Kermit was… fine. I love all the chaos of trying to put together a show with everything going wrong, since that's what the Muppets do best. Overall, 9/10. I can’t see how Disney will not pick this up for one season. I think this was something we all needed right now.

 

[Muppet Master]

I thought it was pretty enjoyable overall. It really did feel like they had the tone of the classic Muppet Show down for the most part (with a modern twist of course). Perhaps just nitpicking, but I would've preferred they did it like the original series where the guest star performs in the second number and the closing number. I also think they should've had more spontaneous sketches without a Kermit introduction.

One thing I think they actually improved on the original series was having more scenes with the actual audience members. Maya Rudolph felt most at home with the Muppets of the 3 guest stars. And on that note, I hope they stick to having one guest star like the original if future installments are made.

As far as highlights go, I really loved seeing Muppet Labs, Sam playing the bartender in the Sabrina Carpenter number, and Gonzo doing another daredevil act. Felt like a callback to the Lou Rawls episode (in which Fozzie couldn't control his roller skates) when Gonzo kept zooming around the theater. And Beaurgard messing things up as Rizzo performed "Blinding Lights" by the Weeknd was excellent, perhaps a nod to the Joan Baez episode where he befriends the rats. Also some little tidbits here and there were fun, like Pops sleeping in the theater box, Hilda having a line for the first time in half a century, and Janice getting a backstage scene.

A small compliment, but it was nice that they had a full end credits sequence that matched the original series, as most modern shows have ditched that at this point. I'd probably give this special an 8.5/10. A little rough around the edges, but a strong return to the classic format nonetheless. And hats off to Dave Goelz. We are so incredibly lucky he is still performing his classic characters.