The Muppets (2015) 2-Disc Box Set DVD

The Muppets arrived on ABC in the mid-2010s as a primetime mockumentary-style series that took the iconic puppet characters into a behind-the-scenes-of-a-talk-show format. The premise placed Miss Piggy as the host of a fictional late-night program, with Kermit producing, Fozzie and the rest of the gang working on the production, and the show running on the workplace-and-relationship comedy that came from putting them together in an everyday TV-job environment. Each episode delivered a self-contained workplace story plus a thread of ongoing relationship arcs.

What stands out is the format choice. Where most Muppet productions across the decades worked as variety shows or feature films, this one borrowed the contemporary single-camera mockumentary register that defined a wave of 2010s prime-time comedy. The familiar characters were given more grounded, adult-rhythm dialogue and personal subplots, which let writers explore them in a different register than the variety-show approach. The puppetry stayed sharp, the celebrity guests cycled through quickly, and the workplace setting gave each episode somewhere familiar to land its jokes.

In the broader era of mid-2010s prime-time network comedy, this kind of legacy-property revival in mockumentary style was a particular experiment, with the Muppets joining a wave of properties trying to find their place in a contemporary television landscape. It suited adult and family viewing for fans who knew the characters from earlier decades, viewers who liked their network comedy character-focused, and audiences interested in seeing how the old gang adapted to new formats. It is a particular snapshot of how heritage characters tested new structures.

Favorite episodes include the franchise-launching "Pig Girls Don't Cry," the makeover comedy of "Hostile Makeover," the relationship comedy of "The Ex-Factor," the celebrity-guest "Going, Going, Gonzo," the holiday-flavored "Single All The Way," the fashion-themed "Got Silk?," and the season-closing "Because... Love." This 2-disc set gathers all 16 episodes of the single-season run, a complete archive of mid-2010s mockumentary-style network comedy that disc ownership keeps available.