ABC Eyes A New 'Muppet Show'

Following their triumphant return to the big screen, the Muppets are ready to return to their home turf: television. ABC is developing a reboot of The Muppet Show, with the pilot presentation expected to shoot this month. Get all the details on the Muppet Show reboot after the jump. 

TV Line reports Bill Prady and Bob Kushell will write and executive produce the Muppets TV reboot, with the latter also serving as showrunner. Production Weekly adds that Randall Einhorn will direct the pilot and produce. The pilot will shoot under the working title Muppets 2015.

Details are hard to come by, but here's the logline according to TV Line: "The Muppets excitedly gather at ABC for a meeting about the new Muppet Show. However, the show will not move forward unless Miss Piggy signs on." Deadline, meanwhile, has heard that the series will be set behind the scenes of a late-night talk show. The two descriptions aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

Prady, who is best known as the co-creator of CBS' ratings juggernaut The Big Bang Theory, has a long history with the Muppets. He's written for several Muppets shows and specials over the past three decades, including, most recently, a 2007 pilot presentation for a different Muppets series. His other credits include Gilmore Girls, Dharma & Greg, and Caroline in the City.

Kushell is coming off of FX's Charlie Sheen vehicle Anger Management, which aired its final episode in December. He's also worked on Suburgatory, Samantha Who?, and Third Rock From the Sun.

The Muppets made their debut on Sam and Friends in the 1950s, and they've been on TV on and off ever since. The original The Muppet Show ran for five seasons between 1976 and 1981. In 1996 ABC continued the series with Muppets Tonight, which lasted just two seasons. And today marks the debut of Disney Junior's Muppet Moments, a short-form series aimed at small children.

Following the 1999 movie Muppets From Space, the franchise lay dormant. Kermit and company never completely disappeared from the public imagination, as they continued to make cameo and guest appearances on other properties and pop up in the occasional commercial. But it wasn't until 2011 that they started to return to their former glory, with the release of the James Bobin-directed The Muppets.

Disney has done well expanding their movie franchises to the small screen. The Disney-owned ABC currently airs Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, extensions of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with Once Upon a Time, which pulls from Disney's fairy tale stable. They also have Star Wars Rebels airing over at Disney XD.