A Brief History of Why Disney Is Like This With the Muppets
After the Emmy-winning revival of 'The Muppet Show' failed to receive a continuation, it's clear that Disney's long history with the Muppets is getting in the way of success.
This week, The Muppet Show celebrated its continuing 50th anniversary festivities with news that its one-off return with Sabrina Carpenter earlier this year had won a slate of four Emmy awards—Disney's best, and only, performer for the Emmys this year.
The special, broadcast back in February, was a ratings smash, with over 8 million people tuning in between ABC and Disney+ streams. Now, it was an awards darling on top of its critical acclaim. Somehow, for some godsforsaken reason, the version of "Manchild" with the chicken backing vocals has yet to be put on music streaming platforms, to the dismay of millions. And yet, over half a year later, the future of more Muppet Show or really, more Muppets in general, is in doubt at the House of Mouse.
A new report from Deadline this week stated that Disney was stuck in limbo over a potential full-scale revival of The Muppet Show, as creatives from the studio, 20th Century Television, and Point Grey Pictures—the Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg team that produced the 2026 revival—have spent months failing to come together on an agreed format for an ongoing version of the variety special. While there is still some hope, bolstered by the series' Emmy successes, talks are, according to the trade, currently inactive.
Why is this not on Spotify!?
As baffling as it might be to some that Disney can't see the success and simply decide that the future of The Muppet Show should be "just do more The Muppet Show," the hesitation is hardly new for Disney when it comes to The Muppets. If anything, not knowing what to do with them has defined the company's ownership of the franchise.