The Muppets are Coming Back as ABC OKs Series Orders for Six Pilots

LOS ANGELES - ABC has agreed to bring back The Muppets from producer Bill Prady as the network ordered six dramas and three comedies from nearly 25 pilots.

The new "Muppets" show 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 network also gave the go-ahead to The Catch," from Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, "The Family," and the Biblical saga "Of Kings and Prophets," from Jenna Bans, Josh Safran's "Quantico," the crime anthology "Wicked City," and a yet untitled hour-long drama from Josh Pate and Rodes Fishburne. The network also ordered three comedies which included "The Muppets," the Ken Jeong starrer "Dr. Ken," and the family sitcom "The Real O'Neals,"