The Muppets are back, and audiences can’t seem to get enough of Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the gang.
A new half-hour special that debuted on February 4th across Disney+ and ABC has seen its viewership explode in the days following its premiere.
The numbers tell a compelling story about the enduring appeal of Jim Henson’s beloved characters in 2025.
What started as a respectable 3.07 million viewers for its ABC broadcast ballooned to an impressive 7.58 million after eight days of streaming and delayed viewing—a staggering 147 percent increase.
The Revival That Nobody Saw Coming
Disney ordered this special back in September 2024, positioning it as a potential pilot for future episodes. The concept harkens back to the classic Muppet format: a variety show featuring celebrity guests, musical performances, and the trademark chaos that made the original series a cultural phenomenon.
Pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter served as both special guest and executive producer, bringing her massive fanbase to the project. Comedy heavyweight Seth Rogen and SNL veteran Maya Rudolph also made appearances, with Rogen pulling double duty as an executive producer through his Point Grey Pictures production company.
How The Numbers Stack Up
The 7.58 million cross-platform viewers puts The Muppet Show special in rarified air for network television in 2025. Those numbers are remarkably similar to ABC’s current comedy lineup when accounting for multi-platform viewing.
For context, Shifting Gears reached 7.57 million viewers after seven days of viewing for its season premiere. Abbott Elementary, one of ABC’s most successful recent comedies, climbed to 6.64 million over the same timeframe for its season opener.
The Muppet Show special achieved comparable performance with just one extra day of measurement—a testament to both initial interest and strong word-of-mouth momentum.
What’s Driving The Viewership Surge?
Several factors appear to be fueling the special’s success:
- Nostalgia factor: Multiple generations grew up with The Muppets, creating built-in family viewing appeal
- Sabrina Carpenter’s star power: The pop sensation’s involvement brought younger demographics to a legacy property
- Dual-platform strategy: Simultaneous release on Disney+ and ABC maximized accessibility
- Positive critical reception: Reviews praised the special’s return to what makes The Muppets work
Critics Weigh In
The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg offered measured praise for the revival, acknowledging both its strengths and limitations.
This is not The Muppet Show at its best, but it’s a return to what the Muppets do best.
That assessment captures the general critical consensus: while the special may not reach the heights of the original series’ golden era, it successfully recaptures the spirit and format that made The Muppets iconic.
The variety show structure—featuring celebrity guests, musical numbers, and backstage chaos—feels refreshingly authentic compared to recent Muppet projects that experimented with different formats.
What Happens Next?
Disney has remained quiet about greenlighting additional episodes, but industry observers note that these ratings figures significantly strengthen the case for a full series order.
The special was explicitly designed as a pilot, testing whether modern audiences would embrace a return to the classic Muppet Show format. The viewership surge suggests they absolutely would.
Behind the scenes, an impressive production team assembled for the project. 20th Television, Disney Branded Television, and The Muppets Studio collaborated with Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures to bring the special to life.
Executive producers include Carpenter and Rogen alongside Point Grey’s Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, and Alex McAtee. The Muppets Studio contributed David Lightbody, Leigh Slaughter, and Michael Steinbach, while Albertina Rizzo, longtime Muppet performers Matt Vogel and Eric Jacobson, and director Alex Timbers rounded out the leadership team.
The Streaming Effect
The 147 percent viewership increase over eight days highlights how dramatically viewing patterns have shifted. Traditional same-day ratings no longer tell the complete story of a program’s success.
Disney’s strategy of making the special available on both Disney+ and ABC simultaneously allowed viewers to watch on their own schedule. That flexibility appears to have paid dividends, with the majority of viewership coming through delayed and streaming platforms rather than live broadcast.
For legacy properties like The Muppets, this multi-platform approach seems particularly effective. Older fans can tune in traditionally while younger audiences discover the characters through streaming—exactly the cross-generational appeal Disney needs to justify continued investment in the franchise.
Whether these numbers translate into a full series order remains to be seen, but Kermit and company have proven they can still pack ’em in when given the right showcase.