Did Miss Piggy appear on Sesame Street?

Big Bird makes a guest appearance on The Muppet Show

Sesame Street dental hygiene sketch

Sesame Street old west sketch

CTW magazine subscription cards

WLJT-TV ch11 (PBS) 1991 station break

WLJT-TV ch11 (PBS) 1991 station break

Despite misconceptions and rumors to the contrary, Miss Piggy has never appeared on Sesame Street.

While Kermit the Frog is well-known for his many appearances on Sesame Street, Miss Piggy has not appeared on the long-running children's television series.

However, the pig has shared the screen with some of the Sesame Street Muppets - including in episode 318 of The Muppet Show, A Muppet Family Christmas, I Love Liberty, Night of 100 Stars, Free to Be... a Family, The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, and other Henson productions.

Sesame Street paid tribute to Miss Piggy with a framed photo of the character displayed on the wall in two 1978 sketches: one about dental hygiene (First: Episode 1105) as well as an old west sketch (First: Episode 1166). Similarly, an illustrated photo of Miss Piggy can be seen on a fireplace mantle in The Sesame Street Storybook Alphabet. In a Sesame Street News Flash featuring Old MacDonald, Kermit is caught speaking to a pig before he knows that he's on the air saying "Hey, you know you remind me of somebody. I just can't figure out who..." (YouTube)

Kermit the Frog is the only Muppet Show character to make any substantial appearance on Sesame Street. Rowlf the Dog made a brief cameo appearance in Jim Henson's "Nine Song" and several unnamed monsters and other characters from early Muppet productions, including Beautiful Day Monster, appeared during the first season of Sesame Street.

Miss Piggy did feature on the cover of the February 1981 issue of The Electric Company Magazine. While it was not a Sesame Street production, it was also published by the Children's Television Workshop and the magazine's title shared header space with the familiar Sesame Street logo. Additionally, the cover was used as an advertisement in some issues of Sesame Street Magazine to encourage subscription, and the two publications often featured together on pull-out subscription cards.

One possible source for the confusion may be attributed to local broadcasters curating inaccurate content alongside Sesame Street programming. For example, in 1991, PBS affiliate WLJT TV-11 in Lexington Tennessee aired a promotional spot for their "Best Friends Club" immediately following the conclusion of Episode 2882. The promo featured a woman addressing a small audience of children who sat in front of a puppet stage occupied by the unofficial use of a 1979 Fisher-Price puppet toy of Miss Piggy. "Piggy" explained the benefits of making a contribution to the station which included Sesame Street-related rewards.

In the November 13, 1993 issue of TV Guide, promoting Season 25, past Sesame Street celebrity guests answer the question "Who's Your Favorite Muppet?" While everyone else chooses a Sesame Street character, Johnny Cash says "My favorite Muppet is Miss Piggy, and I like her because she's sexy."

In Christopher Cerf's proposal of possible celebrity guests to include in the celebrity version of "Put Down the Duckie", Miss Piggy was among the celebrities listed, though in the end she did not appear in the song.

See also

• Kermit the Frog on Sesame Street