ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” will feature a few new faces in the booth tonight when The Muppets take over for a special holiday installment.
Billed as “Muppet Night Football,” the special is an expansion of the opening segments produced by ESPN’s Creative Content Unit. Kermit and Miss Piggy will make their broadcast booth debut at the top of the show, with Fozzie Bear reporting from the field and Animal, naturally, on drums. Right before kickoff of the Steelers and Bengals matchup, the Muppets characters will appear in a “Carol of the Bells” music video.
“I think they’re the best in the business,” senior coordinating producer Julie McGlone said of her team in an ESPN Radio interview on Monday. “To bring the Muppets to life in a pandemic was a huge challenge.”
She continued, “Looking at the faces on the first Muppets/CCU Zoom call, everybody was smiling and laughing. I was like, ‘This is what we want for our viewers!’ We want the whole family to be enjoying it.”
The holiday takeover follows previous “Monday Night Football” opening segments featuring other Disney brands, including “The Mandalorian” and Marvel. Previous holiday-themed broadcasts featured Scrooge (2018) and an adaptation of the story “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” (2019).