It was like being told that everything, in the end, would turn out just fine. That Sunday night ritual, with my sister and me laughing at the slapstick gags, my parents laughing at the satirical ones, was as comforting as being tucked into bed later. It's a vision that seems so inspired by a 50s advert for TV sets that I'd doubt it – if my family didn't have a habit of making Muppet Show references to one another, if not on a daily basis then certainly on a weekly one, from Miss Piggy chasing her 'Kermie' around, to the Mahna Mahna song. When I think back on my childhood, one of the first tableaux that comes to mind is me, my sister and our parents watching Sunday night screenings of reruns of The Muppet Show. Yet it's fair to say that I grew up in a household predisposed to watch all things Muppet-based. She worked on Sesame Street (The Muppet Show was, in fact, produced in England, as all English fans of the show tell me within one minute of first mentioning the programme – that explains the extraordinarily high number of cockney singalongs). Incidentally, that is the coolest thing about me. My mother used to work for the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now called Sesame Workshop), the non-profit organisation behind various Jim Henson shows. Here is where I should, really, put the responsible disclaimer: my love for the Muppets is not without personal loyalties. But if the Muppets don't at least get to present an award, Miss Piggy should karate-chop Crystal. Sadly, the position is not chosen by popular vote and so the hosting duties went to another comedy throwback, Billy Crystal. 'If the position were chosen by popular vote, the beloved Henson creations would likely come out on top,' the journalist concluded. 'Can Muppets Save the Day?' read the headline on the LA Times. When Eddie Murphy dropped out of hosting the Oscars two weeks ago, a campaign was instantly launched for the Muppets to take his place. This beautiful movie has reminded audiences, if any needed reminding, that the Muppets were always more than just clever satirists but an integral part of American culture and society. That film, though, has been slightly gazumped by the extraordinary documentary, Being Elmo, about the man behind possibly the most famous Muppet not on The Muppet Show but on Sesame Street. The Muppets, the latest Muppet movie, opens in America this week and magazines across the nation have enthusiastically taken advantage of this to feature the cloth-covered puppets on their covers, in all their anarchic glory.

The Muppets are definitely having what Miss Piggy would call, with a proud tilt of her snout and a toss of her blonde mane, 'un petit moment'.

Miss Piggy's Rules by Jim Lewis