Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticUnto most every TV-watching generation, a new Muppets show is born. The original “Muppet Show,” which ran from 1976 to 1981, had Jim Henson’s felt puppets take over a vaudeville theater to perform songs, slapstick sketches and more unabashedly cheesy puns than its bewildered guests could count.
The “Muppets Tonight” reboot, which ran a single season from 1997 to 1998, swapped the theater for a television studio, where the Muppets frantically threw together a variety show while letting the audience in on all the drama happening in the control booth.
A sour 2015 follow-up (“The Muppets.”) tried for a “30 Rock” meets “The Office” vibe, imagining a world in which Miss Piggy had a late-night show and the rest had.
Read more on variety.com