The Jim Henson-created characters may be on their way back thanks to a new Disney Film.
In the movie, written by Forgetting Sarah Marshall star and writer Jason Segel, the Muppets reunite to save their studio with one last variety show.
Should the film go well, it opens up the possibility of a television programme, also written by 28-year-old Segel.
A source said: "Jason is a massive Muppets fan and is seen as the man to finally bring The Muppet Show back to TV.
"It will obviously have all its old fans but Jason's comedy is hugely popular with youngsters so it will open it up to a whole new audience."
The source added: "If the movie script is popular Jason will write the TV series too. He is already coming up with ideas for it."
Although there have been a number of spin-offs, including Muppets Tonight in 1996, The Muppet Show originally ran from 1976 to 1981, and made famous characters such as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Gonzo - the show won an Emmy in 1978 for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series.
In the original series, Kermit, arguably the world's most famous frog, was the show's stage manager, attempting to keep order amidst the chaos, while being pursued by Miss Piggy.
The Muppet characters went on to star in a number of movies including The Muppets Take Manhatten, The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppets from Space.
Animal should be the lead character not kermit, bring on the animal
Jason Segel sang the song we all love,whilst he was pissed as a fart ....its time to play the music...its time to light the lights....
can't wait, massive muppet fan, been working with them for years :-)
mini
When Jim died so did the muppets. I just saw a new 2009 muppets callendar in the shop and it looked truly ugly.
It needs to be handed back to a group of hippies if anything, the suits totally ruined it.
Sounds great but I hope they don't make some of the mistake of assuming everyone watched the old series. They need to introduce the characters more so new fans can understand who they are and their interests. I watched the last few movies with younger viewers but they ended up bored because they did not know or understand who half the characters were.
Woohoo!! Bring back the Swedish chef *over the moon*
I actually agree with Eek & Amanda.. Although I would be so happy to see the return of The Muppet Show, it NEEDS to be done right. I have been an avid fan since I was a baby and still am a serious collector of all things 'Muppets' to this day. 'Muppets Tonight' for me was just about ok... it never had the innocence or the same humour that made The Muppets global stars in the first place. Some things should NEVER be changed, and I think that if there is going to be a new show and it's to be succesful, the writters really need to home in on the original series. You simply cant just change a character and expect it to work. Kids nowdays have such a choice in what the want to watch, and I really believe that it would be hard to sell The Muppets nowdays to kids. The only way to really cement its success is to bring it back as it was.... silly, innocent, extremely funny and without the personalities of the characters changing AT ALL! I await in anticipation. A VERY HUGE Muppet Fan!
PS... I am 34 :)
omg im so happy im litterally crying!!!
It's good news but I fear it'll be dumbed down, don't forget the original series wasn't actually a kids show. The movies since Henson died haven't worked as well and Muppets Tonight was pale in comparison to the original Muppet Show.
The new show will appeal to people in their late twenties to mid thirties on a nostalgia level but only if they get it right.
wow the muppet show is coming back i got every episode of the muppet show on tape and dvds i allso have kermits swamp years , i collect muppet stuff so hey kermit and miss piggy wellcome back muppet show for ever in memory of jim henson can we bow our heads and pray , oh god we pray that the muppet show will come back , in jesus name amen kelly brester muppet fan
@Eek - True enough... I hope you're right. I've been watching the first three seasons of the Muppet Show with my wife and kids over the past few years and we've really enjoyed the innocence of the humour. I just feel skeptical that Jason Segal will value that part of the show.
@Amanda - I hear where you're coming from (I'm 38) but there are plenty of youth who do have fantastic morals. The ones who don't may owe some of it to their parents but they have to accept a certain amount of responsibility themselves. I just hope Jason will be able to make the Muppets interesting to them without resorting to his usual bag of lame sex-jokes which some people find witty for some reason.
at last somethin decent and funny on tv for a change. pigs in space, swedish chef, bunsen honeydew and beaker, animal the list just goes on!! always watch old repeats when they come on or get chance to watch nephews dvds. cant wait!!!
Oh for goodness sakes Amanda. Lighten up why don't you? Enjoy the muppets. Seems like you could benefit from some laughter.
I love the Muppets even now that I am 28 almost 29 years old. They are part of American Culture up there with Coke and Pepsi and Apple Pie.
For them to have it come back now it can help build bridges between Generation as they allow us older folks to be kids again.
My 3 favorite Muppets are the Mr. Waldorf, Statler, and Beaker.
Well, a return of the Muppets would be just what this modern generation needs. A creative tool that provides examples of character, etiquette, classic music & art, great wit & sarcasm which is absent in today's youth. To say I am a fan of the Muppets would be an understatement, I am elated and anxiously awaiting their return to the screen.
By the way, 3D Muppet Vision at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando Florida is outstanding to say the least!
Bring it on!!! Disney have denied Muppet fans for long enough since they purchased these comedy gems. Its time to introduce the Muppets to Gen Y�, in fact, "Its time to play the music, it's time to light the lights...."
Whatever muppets I watched in the 80's left an imprint, I recently bought best of The Muppet Show for my 2yr old daughter it's her fav....wo wo wo I met a girl, ram a dam, ram a dam a ding dong!
If you old fools would stop your drivel on 'how horrible t.v. shows are today' and 'how back in my day..' you might realize that it was part of your generation to begin the sexual movement. Oh the lovely sixties, hm? Even if that was before your time you should realize that there is a cause to that effect. Don't blame the twenty-somethings for being trashy when that has been taught throughout generations. Even Miss Piggy was trying to use her womanly wiles on Kermit. It's the twenty and thirty-somethings these days that keep moving humans forward. All of those 'charactorised' cartoons can actually keep our attention rather than a green sock fake laughing at a joke meant for slow children. I mean no harm (for the most part) but before you begin barraging the comment space with the immoral state of today's youth I'd seriously think twice.
"Pigs in Space", :"The Continuing Story of an Orthapaedic Surgeon Who's Gone to the Dogs". The sub-acts (in more ways than one) were the business. They are STILL family legends all this time later. Even my serious trader big brother STILL knows the opening line for "gone to the dogs". Muppets is the mutts nuts and is welcomed back by me - if they don't bugger it up. I'm not hopeful.
Now, I wonder if I can get the muppet christmas carol DVD on the way home.... "light the lamp not the rat!"
Otherwise I am a serious grown-up.
@Just Me: You forget that Jim Henson and Frank Oz both had a more adult side to their humor outside of the Muppets. Just because JS wrote FSM - a very "adult" comedy - doesn't mean that he can't change is tone for the Muppets.
The best news I've heard in a very long time. I can't tell you how many times I pull out a muppet movie and just chill.
Yeahhhh what fun the kids of today will have watching this. Makes a change from all the charactorised cartoons that are seen early on a saturday morning. Those of us in our early to mid 40s will remember watching this on a Saturday evening with delight with the forth coming throws of man battering miss piggy and A D H D sufferer Animal.
It will how ever show that most of the cast has had botox or plastic surgery as they will not have aged one ounce with not a great fur or hair in sight.
27 years??? I watch members of the Muppets on TV every night. The Government!!
I have Rowlf the Muppet before he was even on the Muppet show. Got him for Christmas 68.. He's worn but loved...
Robert: I think that what they mean is that this is the first time "The Muppet Show" will air in 27 years, not "a muppet show". The show in 1996 was more of a re-imagining of "The Muppet Show".
Wow I just showed Muppets Take Manhattan to my 3yr ol daughter.
She LOVED that her dog (Fozzy Bear) is named after the muppet Fozzie Bear. (We take him for a Walka-walka-walka every night).
I loved the muppets as a kid and am so excited to share them with my children now.
If something work's, why stop it. One of the funniest entertainment show's on the television, is now coming back, and about time to. They stopped BLACK ADDER,I believe that could have gone on forever, but no, they stopped that. Bring it back, I say. Good luck to luck and flaw. I think that is the names of the producers. Just go for it.There's year's yet for it to go
BOB UPTH NORTH.....
Jason Segel's comedy is totally inappropriate for children... I find it shocking that Disney would choose him to write content for the Muppets. Get ready for the Muppets to become another outlet for his crass, sex-obsessed fantasies.
@Elizabeth S: the muppets are not something you "outgrow." the muppets are an entity you stop respecting because you have become so jaded that you don't remember what is funny anymore. i'm sorry you're at that point. :(
just my opinion.
First muppets show in over 27 years... hmmm WRONG.
Muppets tonight ran from 1996-1998 first airing on ABC (on TGIF if im not mistaken) then later purchased by the Disney channel.
They had addressed that in the article as a spinoff. Douche.
WOOO HOOOOO I haven't seen the muppet show except on DVD since I was like 5. I can not wait.....By the way the show did run from 1976-1981, there was a slight return for a bit in the later 80's but it was not popular with that age.
My son (7) sits fairly patiently through the emotional tripe that is Beauty and the Beast just to see the out of date trailer for the Muppet Christmas Carol and sketch between Kermit and Miss Piggy at the end - they're his favourite parts!
I agree with him!
Love the Muppets, HATE Jason Segel. Hope he does better as a writer for the Muppets than he does as an actor on "How I Met Your Mother".
I Love the muppets!!!!
I can't wait to see it again!!!
I still know the song too!!! My 9 year old thinks I'm weird...
wow i grew up watching the muppets when i was kid, a big thumbs up to you guys if you bring them back on screen also as tv series it will be so cool muppets rock, there finally some justice in the world
Grew up at 8? So that must make me 7 and I thought I was 54! I think the Muppets are great, especially Statler and Waldorf, just hope there isn't too much 'political correctness' allowed to creep in, the double meanings made it all the better.
First muppets show in over 27 years... hmmm WRONG.
Muppets tonight ran from 1996-1998 first airing on ABC (on TGIF if im not mistaken) then later purchased by the Disney channel.
CHECK YO'SELF!!!
First muppets show in over 27 years... hmmm WRONG.
Muppets tonight ran from 1996-1998 first airing on ABC (on TGIF if im not mistaken) then later purchased by the Disney channel.
CHECK YO'SELF!!!
I LOVE the muppets and I think Jason Segel is hilarious, so I can't wait!!
Kermit is my role model.
I LOVE the muppets and I think Jason Segel is hilarious, so I can't wait!!
Kermit is my role model.
Are you sure were in the right theatre - ah! huh huh huh huh huh huh
Noah:
I think by "kids", the article was referring to teenagers who are fans of Segel's work. Also, let's not forget that he was on the short lived television show 'Freaks and Geeks', which I believe aired on ABC Family once in syndication.
This would be great. As for what was acceptable then versus what is acceptable now. The jokes then flew over the kids heads and we still have that today. I mean anybody ever watch Spongebob?
I mean squidworth has made the it's that time of month comment before.
Spongebob told Patrick his "genius" was showing and Patrick "covered" himself and said where.
Anyway I am excited to even hear this mentioned, something I look forward to watching with my family, like I did when I was a kid.
i loved watching the muppets! can't wait to see what current celebrities decide to co-host! can you imagine paris hilton or dave navarro?
Noah should go out more. He never had a proper childhood ("outgrew them when I was 8...").
They are funny.
I used to wach it in Italy when I was a child. I loved it.
My two year old son, now watches Tingo a Sesame Street version to teach English language to foreing children. (His dad is English).
I'm a tremendous fan of The Muppets, but I always find it rather hysterical how "family friendly" people think The Muppets is in this day and age. It complied with the norms of the 70s and 80s, but people forget how much less paranoid people were about alcohol and sex.
For example:
In the Sandy Duncan episode, she has a bar-room brawl while downing shots. In the same episode, the two old men in the box seats, Waldorf and Stadler, are admiring her physique and have the following exchange: "You know she makes me feel like a young boy." "Yeah, she makes me feel like a young girl. I think I'll go find one."
The Muppet Movie, meanwhile, featured several Muppets drinking and even getting a bit drunk.
The show was and is brilliant, but it was so brilliant because it was riddled with jokes that flew over the heads of the children. Most producers would be too afraid of that, nowadays.
"In the original series, Kermit, arguably the world's most famous frog"
The world's most famous frog? I'm struggling to think of any other famous frog.
Brigitte Bardot, perhaps?
"It will obviously have all its old fans but Jason's comedy is hugely popular with youngsters so it will open it up to a whole new audience."
Uhh...Jason's "comedy" is R-rated. In his last film he exposed himself. And this "source" says that kids love Jason's comedy? That's a troubling thought...I think your "source" is putting you on. And who needs the Muppets anyway? I outgrew them when I was 8. I realize that pop culture icons have a way of returning, like malaria, but this is ridiculous.
"It will obviously have all its old fans but Jason's comedy is hugely popular with youngsters so it will open it up to a whole new audience."
Uhh...Jason's "comedy" is R-rated. In his last film he exposed himself. And this "source" says that kids love Jason's comedy? That's a troubling thought...I think your "source" is putting you on. And who needs the Muppets anyway? I outgrew them when I was 8. I realize that pop culture icons have a way of returning, like malaria, but this is ridiculous.
"Finally a decent family show with jokes for everyone comedy and an infectious joy and love of life. After the drivel and sexually oriented tat that passes for entertainment recently this will be like opening the windows and letting light and fresh air into our homes."
...which, of course, means that it won't last a season.
What a shame. :(
I wonder what Gordon Brown and his Cabinet will do faced with this new threat of competitioon?
What do you think - Rubish!
Finally a decent family show with jokes for everyone comedy and an infectious joy and love of life. After the drivel and sexually oriented tat that passes for entertainment recently this will be like opening the windows and letting light and fresh air into our homes.
Bring it on! But Muppets Tonight was hardly a spin-off, it followed exactly the same format as the original Muppet Show and included a number of the original sketches such as Gonzo's 1812. Presumably because the "modern" younger audience wouldn't identify with variety show in a theatre, the setting was changed to a TV studio.
I really hope the movie and the tv happens. I love the muppets and im pretty sure the tv show would be the best thing on tv in a long time.
There were a lot of weak aspects to the original Lew Grade television show - which was somehow sanitised in content for the then export market.
That said, go to the Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida and the attraction there based on the Muppets which Disney bought rights to some time ago is sharp and satirical even against its hosts.
It would be nice to see the Muppets again, sadly without Jim Henson - and perhaps with Frank Oz retired. New talent including the all important voices appears to have been secured and a new generation of children and adults could enjoy them.
Great news, and long overdue. I just love the Muppets