It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is a 2002 American musical fantasy comedy television film directed by Kirk R. Thatcher (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Tom Martin and Jim Lewis. The film premiered November 29, 2002 on NBC. It is the first film to be made for television in The Muppets franchise. The film stars Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, Eric Jacobson, Dave Arquette, Joan Cusack, Matthew Lillard, William H. Macy, and Whoopi Goldberg. The plot centers on Kermit the Frog who, after losing all hope for saving the Muppet Theatre, is assisted by an angel who shows him a world in which he was never born. The film is a homage to Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life, which has a similar plot.