Untitled Muppet Halloween Specials

The Muppets have made several attempts at producing Halloween-themed television specials. The first was The Muppet Halloween Show in the early 1970s. A theatrical feature was considered during the 1990s, followed by an attempt at an ongoing series in the early 2000s.

1990s

A year after Jim Henson's death, a short piece in TV Guide talked about plans for the Muppets' return to television:

“The classic Muppet characters -- including Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Kermit and Gonzo -- will be slowly making their way back onto television, beginning with a Muppet special tentatively planned for Halloween. That's the word from Jim Henson Productions president Brian Henson, who says the company is "coordinating an overall strategy" to get his late father's priceless puppets "back on the air and to do more with them. We'll start in a small way, primarily with holiday specials."”

Kirk Thatcher and Jim Lewis began developing a Halloween project, initially as a TV special, then expanded to feature-length, then back to a special. The story begins with the Muppets going on a musical beach vacation, when Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is alerted of the passing of a distant uncle. The Muppets accompany him to his uncle's castle in Transylvania, where they encounter his butler named Surly. It is soon revealed that Bunsen's uncle was planning to use the Muppets' to distill pure goodness, but his experiments created the essence of pure badness. Much of the Muppets, save for Robin the Frog and a couple others, become exposed to the badness and become versions of classic Hollywood monsters (e.g., Kermit/Frankenstein, Piggy/Bride of Frankenstein, Fozzie/The Wolfman to name a few). The project as pitched never came to fruition, but the basic plot line was adapted for the video game, Muppet Monster Adventure.

A later project involved the main Muppet characters, save for Miss Piggy, being turned into ghosts through an accident involving a fallen bookcase. While they attend a military-style haunting school, Piggy becomes courted by a southern gentleman, who believes she is the reincarnated form of his late wife.

Thatcher and Lewis later collaborated on "The Monsters' Muppet Halloween Special", written circa 2007, in which the Muppet monsters attempt to put on their own show in New York City.

Jim Lewis with the script for "A Haunting We Will Go", written circa 1999, with Kirk Thatcher.

Jim Lewis with the script for "The Monsters' Muppet Halloween Special", written circa 2007.

2009

Announcement at D23 in 2009

A special event was held for Walt Disney World Passholders at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on March 7th, 2009. Craig Shemin hosted a presentation and guest panel including Dave Goelz (with Gonzo), Heather Henson, and Stephanie D'Abruzzo. It was revealed during a Q&A session about upcoming projects that a new Halloween special with the Muppets was in the works.

Rumors soon circulated that the special was planned to air in October that year, but was later confirmed at the D23 Expo in September 2009 that the special was on hold until 2010.

According to the Disney news website Jim Hill Media, the special was postponed once again to allow The Muppets Studio to focus all its creative energy on the production of The Muppets in 2011.