Muppets Tonight Muppets Tonight is an updated version of " The Muppet Show " , set in a television studio . The show aired in 1996 on ABC , and was cancelled after ten episodes had aired . The full run of 22 episodes aired on Disney Channel from 1997 to 1998 . The premise of " Muppets Tonight " was that Clifford was the host of a variety show on KMUP . Most of the shows stuck closely to the " Muppet Show " format of various skits interspersed with some sort of backstage story ( usually a crisis ) . The show featured a laugh track , similar to the one used on " The Muppet Show " . One big difference between the two shows is that on " Muppets Tonight " , it was much more common for audiences to only see half of an on - stage act ( especially musical numbers ) , as many acts would begin and shortly afterwards would cut to a backstage scene ( or a comment from Statler and Waldorf ) . Another difference is that while each episode of " The Muppet Show " only had one or two featured guests , and no additional humans appearing on - screen , many episodes of " Muppets Tonight " often featured cameos by celebrities in addition to the featured guest star . Some of these celebrities also took part in episode subplots . Also , while it was rare for any scenes on " The Muppet Show " to take place outside of The Muppet Theatre , many episodes of " Muppets Tonight " had scenes taking place outside of the station . Among the regular sketches were " Bay of Pigswatch " ; " " ( a spin - off from " The Muppet Show " ' s " Pigs in Space " ) ; " EIEIO - R " ; " Tales from the Vet " , and " Great Moments in Elvis History " . There have been no commercial releases of the show on DVD or video , but Brian Henson has expressed hope for a DVD release of the series after season five of " The Muppet Show " . Characters . " Muppets Tonight " introduced many new Muppet characters , including Pepe the King Prawn , Johnny Fiama , Sal Minella , Bobo the Bear , Seymour , Spamela Hamderson , and Bill the Bubble Guy . The show also featured regular appearances from classic characters , such as Kermit the Frog , Fozzie Bear , Gonzo , Rizzo the Rat , Statler and Waldorf and Miss Piggy . In a newspaper interview , Brian Henson talks about the show focusing on the new characters instead of the classic characters . Behind the Scenes . Brian Henson said about the decision to put the Muppets in another TV series , " We were waiting until enough time had passed from the original ' Muppet Show ' where we didn ' t feel like we were doing something that we had already done once . " Reruns . A second season was commissioned by the Disney - owned network ABC , which ultimately opted not to continue running the low - rated show . Season 2 later debuted on The Disney Channel in hour - long blocks which were generally hosted by Gonzo and Rizzo and consisted of an unseen episode and a Season 1 rerun . These reruns included the UK spots which were omitted from the original ABC broadcasts . Reruns of " Muppets Tonight " aired in syndication in countries outside of the United States , though , often packaged with the MuppetTelevision segments of " The Jim Henson Hour " ( retitled " The Jim Henson Show " ) , and episodes of " The Muppet Show " .