Unsurprisingly, as a child of the 80’s, I was a big fan of The Muppets. As a boy, I had a plush doll of Kermit in his reporter outfit from Sesame Street. I watched all the movies and the Muppet Babies cartoon. I even recall the short-lived spin-off Little Muppet Monsters, despite Jim Henson wishing everyone would forget that one. As such, I tuned into the one-shot 2026 Muppet Show revival with some anxiety.

I needn’t have worried. The new Muppet Show does not aim for cheap nostalgia or try to modernize The Muppets. Instead, it gets back to basics, taking what worked about the classic variety show from the 1970s and replicating it for today’s audiences.

There’s not much plot to the episode, beyond Kermit’s vague note in the introduction that the show “is maybe starting again depending on how tonight goes.” Beyond that, it’s the usual Muppet shenanigans, with the complication that all of the classic performers were put on the schedule for the big special. This leaves Kermit struggling to keep the peace, while trying to tell Miss Piggy that her final musical number has been cut to make room for the second number featuring guest star Sabrina Carpenter.

I’ve seen some complaints about Sabrina Carpenter being a guest on The Muppet Show given her sexually provocative costumes and stage shows. These seem to ignore how the classic Muppet Show routinely had jokes for the adults that the kids wouldn’t get, like Sweetum’s carrying Rita Moreno off. (Come to that, one of the original Muppet Show pilots was titled “Sex and Violence” to drive home it wasn’t entirely for kids.)

Carpenter’s dress sense is more modest, but she still gets to show off her spirit in a musical skit based around her song “Manchild.” This features her as a feisty waitress, giving the rowdies in a bar & grill the Roadhouse treatment while singing with a chorus of chickens. She also gets a risqué line when Kermit apologizes for not having all the kinks worked out. “I love a kink,” Sabrina replies to a stunned Kermit.

Carpenter is not the only celebrity guest on hand. Seth Rogen (who is executive producing the revival) has a brief cameo where Fozzie informs him that his act has been cut. Maya Rudolph appears as an audience member, who gets more involved in one act that she should have.

Despite the cameos, the focus is largely on The Muppets, which is as it should be. I was happy to note that my favorite, The Great Gonzo, is part of a suitable running gag. The final musical number is also astounding, with darn near every unique Muppet performer from every era of the show. Maybe I’m the only one who missed Sal Minella and Johnny Fiama from Muppets Tonight. Yet I was downright astonished to see the likes of George the Janitor and Hilda the Seamstress again. (To say nothing of Wayne and Wanda!)

If there is any justice left in this world, the 2026 Muppet Show special will be the start of something big. I’m not all that confident given the decision is in the hands of the same people who cancelled the underrated The Muppets Mayhem series. Still, if only for a night, we had a show about singing, dancing, and making people happy again. And that’s not nothing. Not by a longshot.