Muppets Tonight was an updated version of The Muppet Show, complete with guest hosts, musical numbers, and general awesomeness. The series aired in 1996 on ABC but was canceled after only ten episodes. It then ran on the Disney Channel from 1997 to 1998, only to be canceled after 11 episodes.

The show was set in a television studio, its premise being that Clifford (a Muppet first introduced on The Jim Henson Hour) was hosting a variety show gone awry. The basic set-up was that acts would begin but shortly cut back to a clip of either a backstage scene or a Statler and Waldorf one-liner.

While the cast was complete with old favorites from Kermit to Rizzo, several now-regularly seen Muppets were introduced during the short-lived series: Pepe the King Prawn; Johnny Fiama, the Frank Sinatra of Muppets and Sal Minella, his monkey bodyguard; and Bobo the Bear.

Muppets Tonight had some instant classic, then-culturally relevant skits. Among the regular sketches were "Bay of Pigswatch," a Baywatch parody; "Pigs in Space: Deep Dish Nine," a Star Trek spin-off from The Muppet Show's "Pigs in Space"; "EIEIO-R" an ER parody; "Tales from the Vet" based on Tales from the Crypt, and "Great Moments in Elvis History," where famous historical moments were acted out by three Muppet Elvises (every week, there would be a "next time on Great Moments in Elvis History" that intentionally didn't exist, not unlike what Arrested Development later did at the end of each of their episodes).

While I would love to post a video here, the only ones that exist on the Internet are unlicensed and I would hate to see them taken down. That being said, were you to look around a certain Tube, hilarious sketches such as "Seinfeld Babies," "Co-Dependence Day," and Sandra Bullock's greatest work, a clip called "Phenomena," are available, albeit illegally. The show was pretty dirty, especially for family programming in the mid '90s. A particular sketch that comes to mind is a When Harry Met Sally parody in which Miss Piggy (as Sally) debates with Billy Crystal (as Harry) whether or not men can tell when a woman fakes a sneeze. Her fake sneeze mimics Meg Ryan's original fake orgasm, and at the end of the skit, one of the diners parodies the film's famous line, saying "Waiter, I'll have what she's having, only less pepper."

The guest stars on this show were pretty impressive too. Michelle Pfeiffer was the first host on the series, but others included Garth Brooks, John Goodman, Cindy Crawford, Tony Bennett, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Short, Prince, Rick Moranis, Heather Locklear, Pierce Brosnan, Coolio, Don Rickles, Paula Abdul, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, George Takei, Daryl Hannah, and Johnny Mathis.

There have been no releases of Muppets Tonight on DVD or video, but Brian Henson has expressed hope for a DVD release of the series after season five of The Muppet Show. I sure as hell am keeping my fingers crossed while I watch the precious twenty-two hours of illegally uploaded material floating around the Internet.