Kermit the Frog Was Just Trying to Put on a Variety Show. Fifty Years Later, the Muppets Are Some of the Biggest Stars in Television History

The curtain opens on a Muppet named Gonzo, framed by a ladder and a ghost light. The scruffy blue creature has decided to leave “The Muppet Show” to become a movie star, and this is his farewell act. As he performs a wistful rendition of “My Way,” his voice begins to falter.

He’s sad to leave his friends behind—so sad that the host, Kermit the Frog, cuts the number short. After the segment aired, viewers told Dave Goelz, the human who performs Gonzo, that they’d been moved to tears. Their reaction surprised the puppeteer, who had been nervous about making an emotional moment land.

Goelz has been bringing Gonzo to life for half a century, and fans frequently tell him that the show’s “resident weird person” gave them permission to be different. He had never tried to project that message. But in retrospect, he can see that he’d been seeking a similar sort of permission.

Bunsen Honeydew, he would start by identifying a flaw within himself. We had to be lovable.” And audiences did love them. The series debuted in September 1976, and less than two years later, the New York Times was calling it “possibly the most popular contemporary television program in the world.” These days, fans gather each year to celebrate show creator Jim Henson’s birthday, performers regularly appear at fan events, and Muppets memorabilia sells for impressive sums at auction.

Last year’s commencement speaker at the University of Maryland, Henson’s alma mater, was none other than Kermit. The Muppet universe is vast, and today’s audiences are familiar with its characters and conventions through decades of film and television. But it all came together on “The Muppet Show,” which turns 50 this year.

Unlike in later adventures, the characters weren’t trying to thwart jewel thieves or break out of a Siberian gulag or reunite with their space-alien relatives. Their goal was far more complicated: putting on a successful variety show. In every episode, Kermit, the soft-spoken showrunner, is charged with wrangling the chaotic crew—much like Henson wrangled his creative team.