I was a bit outside the demographic for “The Muppet Show” when it aired in the late 1970s. I was in high school, so I was too old to be one of the show’s fervent kid viewers.

I was however, a show business nut. I was the kid, you might remember, who read Sammy Davis Jr.’s autobiography from my school library.

I could appreciate the show on several levels: Its silly jokes, its vaudeville style, its love of … show all appealed to me.

The guest stars were kind of dumbfounding. Mark Hamill from “Star Wars” one week, Gene Kelly the next.

So I had nothing but high hopes and good thoughts for “The Muppets,” the new movie starring Kermit the frog, Miss Piggy, Amy Adams and Jason Segel, the wonderfully awkward actor from such cult exercises as “Freaks and Geeks” and “Saving Sarah Marshall.”

Segel, apparently, was a Muppets fan growing up and despite his reputation for making R-rated comedies was given the opportunity by Disney — the studio that has owned the Muppets for much of the time since creator Jim Henson’s untimely death but has never seemed to know what to do with them — to guide a potential revival.

Segel plays a sweet, kind of clueless guy — his specialty — who, along with girlfriend Adams, helps his brother Walter — a Muppet in felt construction but a human in every other respect — meet the Muppets. Once they meet Kermit and learn that an evil oil magnate — played with relish and mustard by Chris Cooper — plans to demolish the old Muppet studio, they decided to put on a show to save the day. (And if that sounds like something out of an old Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney movie, rest assured that Rooney even makes an appearance.)

Ultimately, the movie is about the strengths of friendship and loyalty, but before the moral is lightly delivered there are plenty of celebrity cameos — Jack Black chief among them — and jokes, ranging from typical Fozzy Bear groaners to clever, meta references. (One of those comes early on, when Kermit appears ready to stop the plot in its tracks, prompting Adams to say, “This is going to be a really short movie.”)

Random thoughts upon watching the movie:

• Adams, next set to star as Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman movie, is adorable but downright womanly compared to the slight young actress who played the part in “Superman Returns.” That’s not a bad thing, but an interesting choice.

• I’m surprised the movie approached the idea of whether the Muppets are too old-fashioned to appeal to young, jaded audiences in such a head-on manner.

• Those bald, round-headed Muppet infants still creep me out.

“The Muppets” seemed like an odd choice for Segel to make, but Disney made a great decision in putting the franchise’s revival effort in his hands and those of director James Bobin. I hope the franchise goes on forever.