All seasons of The Muppet Show are now available to stream on Disney+, but why did it take so long for it to get a complete home release? Back in the 1970s, viewers got to enjoy a one-of-a-kind comedy TV show in The Muppet Show, created by Jim Henson. Presented as a variety show, The Muppet Show featured sketches and musical numbers along with plotlines taking place backstage and in other areas of the venue. Within the Muppets universe, Kermit acted as showrunner and host and constantly struggled to maintain control of the antics of the other characters, which further added to the charm and humor of the show.
The Muppet Show aired from 1976 to 1981 for a total of five seasons, all with the Muppets’ trademark sense of humor. The format of the show was simple and thus effective in catching the attention of a wide audience: it had a now-iconic opening sequence with the classic “The Muppet Show Theme” as the official song, it took place at the Muppet Theater, had a couple of recurring sketches, and saw characters like Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, and Gonzo welcoming and interacting with a variety of guests, such as Rita Moreno, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, and Elton John. The Muppet Show came to an end in 1981, and it hasn’t been easy to get a hold of a copy of all episodes, let alone find them in the world of streaming.
While all seasons of The Muppet Show are now available to stream on Disney+, it took the studio too long to add them, and the show already had a complicated home release. In 1985, a collection of video compilations under the Jim Henson’s Muppet Video banner was released, and in 1993, two compilations were released under the It’s the Muppets banner. Some time later, three volumes of The Very Best of The Muppet Show were released on VHS and DVD in the UK, and in 1994, The Muppet Show: Monster Laughs with Vincent Price was released, featuring the episodes with Vincent Price and Alice Cooper. “Best of” volumes were also released as well as the first series on DVD in 2005, though with a lot of changes as many songs were cut. The only seasons of The Muppet Show to have gotten a proper home release were the first three – with all episodes going through some edits – and the final two seasons had never been released for home video.
Still, it seems odd that it took so long for Disney to add all seasons on Disney+, but it might all be rooted in rights issues. Vanity Fair points out that the absence of The Muppet Show and other Muppet properties from streaming services (and the show not getting a proper and complete home release) could most likely be due to rights issues involving music clearances, which would require a lot of money, though that shouldn’t be a problem for Disney. However, another problem keeping The Muppet Show away from Disney+ for so long could be how Disney has previously failed to find the right audience for the Muppets – the 2011 movie The Muppets was a commercial and critical hit, but the sequel, Muppets Most Wanted, didn’t have the same impact. With the studio having other bigger and more popular franchises under its wing as are the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars, the Muppets were simply left behind, and if there were problems with the rights to the music and artists from The Muppets Show, there were more reasons to postpone its release.
Rights issues were the reason why the home releases of the first three seasons were heavily edited, with mostly songs being cut out from most episodes, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that was the same reason that was keeping The Muppet Show away from Disney+ (and a home release in general). It’s unlikely Disney will reveal the reason why this classic TV show wasn’t made available to stream from the beginning and why it took them so long to give it a full home release, but at least fans can finally enjoy all seasons of it on Disney+.