Muppet Show Revival On ABC? Maybe, If Miss Piggy And Kermit Patch Their Rocky Romance

The Muppets are back! A pilot is in the works for ABC, helmed by The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Brady, in a second attempt to bring Miss Piggy, Kermit, and company back to TV.

Details about the ABC pilot are scant, but here’s what we do know, according to the Hollywood Reporter: It’ll be a variety show and most of the regular characters will be back. And there will be two celebrity cameos – though no names have been attached to the show yet.

And as the New York Daily News puts it, the show has a “meta-feel” – the plot evidently will follow Kermit and friends as they pitch a new Muppet Show to ABC Studios. And naturally, Miss Piggy gets in the way – her tumultuous relationship with Kermit threatens to derail the whole project.

Luckily, the real-life efforts to resurrect the Muppet Show for ABC don’t appear to be stymied by any romantic difficulties. A “proof of concept” is currently being filmed under the working title “Muppets 2015,” the New York Post reported; Prady (who hasn’t inked a deal just yet) is co-writing the script alongside Bob Kushnell, the guy behind 3rd Rock From the Sun.

Prady used to work alongside Muppets creator Jim Henson himself. In fact, the Muppets is where he got his start in 1982, the Reporter added. Prady wrote for The Jim Henson Hour until 1990, when he died; his work even earned him an Emmy nod, and he’s continued his dedication by writing for Disney’s Muppet attractions.

ABC’s Muppets revival marks two trends in entertainment right now – the return of the variety show (Marlon Wayans and Neil Patrick Harris both have their own shows coming up) and Disney’s habit of unearthing old projects (like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast) and giving them a fresh spin. Disney bought the rights to the Muppets in 2004.

But it also marks the trend of keeping the Muppets alive. Kermit and friends had a variety show from 1976 to 1981, there was The Jim Henson Hour, then Muppets Tonight, three movies in the 1990s, more recently the 2008’s The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted in 2014.

Proving people can’t get enough of them – and now it’s ABC’s turn to satiate the need for Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Gonzo.

[Photo Courtesy Hulton Archive/Getty Images]