I definitely wish the John Denver/Muppets Christmas CD was more readily available. Here we already have a perfectly good Christmas CD and it's not being exposed. And I do think this idea that the Muppets need to be "updated" is unfounded. I've seen plenty of evidence that kids today like them just as they were (when they get a chance to see them that way, which is increasingly rare).
It really is just the formatting of exposure that needs to be updated with the Muppets. That's just marketing. It was whay Jim went to Disney in the first place. The problem is that people, including kids. can't find the Muppets and - most importantly - don't know to look for them!
Muppets Tonight, back in its day, was the best kept secret.
If the Muppets show up (at ease as their classic selves)
people will come. They've just gotta know where and when the opportunity comes. These days they just need the opportunity. The recent specials have done well. Sure there have been complaints and critiques, but that's not unusual for any project. It just means people showed up to watch!
Disney has been too tentative with the Muppets and very poor in marketing them. The online Disney Store has those ugly and expensive Glycee thingies when they should have simpler items like
Muppet beach towels, Muppet pencil tops, Muppet writing pads, regular priced Muppet photos and
posters. Those types of easy-to-move merchandise.
The Statler and Waldorf From the Balcony segments win a webby and then disappear. The set-up is there, but no follow-through. It's not that there is a disinterest in the Muppets, just not enough of it.