ABC Is Set to Reboot 'The Muppets'

LOS ANGELES - ABC is preparing to reboot the venerable "The Muppets Show," with Bill Prady, creator of "The Big Bang Theory," who is co-writing the pilot script, The Hollywood Reporter reported today.

Sources told the publication that Bob Kushell of Anger Management, will also co-write the pilot and is set to serve as showrunner. Randall Einhorn (Wilfred) is attached as executive producer and will direct the pilot. The proposed Muppets revival is produced by ABC Studios and The Muppet Studios, both of which are owned by Disney.

The pilot takes Prady back to to his roots, having started his career working for "The Muppets" creator Jim Henson in 1982 and served as a writer for "The Jim Henson Hour," for nine years or until 1991, a year after Henson's death.

The Muppets made their debuted on the television program "Sam and Friends," which aired on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1955 to 1961. After appearing on skits in a number of late night talk shows and commercials during the 1960s, Henson's Muppets began appearing on Sesame Street when that show debuted in 1969 on PBS.

Henson said in interviews that the term Muppets for his creations, came to him as an amalgamation of the words marionette and puppet.

The Muppets ultimately starred in a variety of TV series and films, including the original "The Muppet Show" (1976–1981), "The Muppet Movie" (1979), "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981), "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984), and "The Jim Henson Hour" (1989). After Henson's death, The Muppets continued to appear in television and films with "Muppets Tonight" (1996–98), a short-lived reboot of "The Muppet Show," and the films, "The Muppet Christmas Caro"l (1992), "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996), "Muppets from Space" (1999) and "The Muppets," (2011).