--- title: The Muppet Show Was Once the 'Only Adult Show on Television' description: Their new show, 'The Muppets,' premieres on Sept. 22 canonical: https://time.com/4034793/the-muppet-show-original-review/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-22T13:00:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:56:51.577Z article:section: History og:title: Why Grown-Ups Loved 'The Muppet Show' og:description: Their new show, 'The Muppets,' premieres on Sept. 22 og:url: https://time.com/4034793/the-muppet-show-original-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0223f5eb91f9193a/698863a035ba6fff50c0f284/muppets.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Smithsonian Muppets og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Grown-Ups Loved 'The Muppet Show' twitter:description: Their new show, 'The Muppets,' premieres on Sept. 22 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0223f5eb91f9193a/698863a035ba6fff50c0f284/muppets.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Grown-Ups Loved _The Muppet Show_ ## Video: 5 Reasons TV's Top Shows Are So Addictive [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Reasons TV's Top Shows Are So Addictive](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2RqNgPrk.m3u8) (2:16)  _Published 2014-01-16. Here's a look at how our favorite TV shows—from "Game of Thrones" to "Scandal" and "Breaking Bad"—keep us coming back for more._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 22, 2015 1:00 PM UTC  Fozzie Bear, left, Scooter, Miss Piggy, Rowlf, and the Swedish Chef are among Muppets from "The Muppet Show" donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, 2013. Fozzie Bear, left, Scooter, Miss Piggy, Rowlf, and the Swedish Chef are among Muppets from "The Muppet Show" donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, 2013.Jacquelyn Martin—AP  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 22, 2015 1:00 PM UTC When _The Muppets_ debuts on Tuesday night, the new show will have big shoes to fill: by the time the long-running original _Muppet Show_ reached its third season, in 1978, it was the most popular TV show on Earth, with 235 million people in 106 countries tuning in for their weekly dose of Kermit. And it wasn’t just kids: _The Muppet Show_ just might have been, per TIME’s take, both “the only adult show on television” and “give or take _Saturday Night Live_, the funniest show on television.” The Muppets’ unique satirical voice got most of the credit for why grown-ups loved the show, but the reason ran deeper than that, according to TIME’s 1978 story: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Those Marvelous Muppets](http://time.com/vault/issue/1978-12-25/page/72/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4034793/the-muppet-show-original-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4034793/the-muppet-show-original-review/"},"headline":"Why Grown-Ups Loved The Muppet Show","datePublished":"2015-09-22T13:00:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:56:51.577Z","description":"Their new show, 'The Muppets,' premieres on Sept. 22","url":"https://time.com/4034793/the-muppet-show-original-review/","keywords":["Television","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0223f5eb91f9193a/698863a035ba6fff50c0f284/muppets.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0223f5eb91f9193a/698863a035ba6fff50c0f284/muppets.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Smithsonian Muppets","caption":"Smithsonian Muppets","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4034793/the-muppet-show-original-review/","name":"Why Grown-Ups Loved The Muppet Show"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Reasons TV's Top Shows Are So Addictive","description":"Here's a look at how our favorite TV shows—from \"Game of Thrones\" to \"Scandal\" and \"Breaking Bad\"—keep us coming back for more.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2RqNgPrk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-01-16T20:47:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2RqNgPrk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4034793/the-muppet-show-original-review/","duration":"PT2M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4034793/the-muppet-show-original-review/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```