The Muppet Show

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The Muppet Show
Image:Tv muppet show opening.jpg

Kermit the Frog, as seen on the show's opening sequence.
Format Live-action/puppet TV series
Run time 30 minutes per episode
Creator Jim Henson
Starring Jim Henson
Frank Oz
Jerry Nelson
Richard Hunt
Dave Goelz
Steve Whitmire
Louise Gold
Kathy Mullen
Eren Ozker
John Lovelady
Country USA
Network Syndication
Original run 1976 – 1981
No. of episodes 120

The Muppet Show is a television program featuring a cast of Muppets (diverse hand operated puppets, typically with huge eyes and large moving mouths) produced by Jim Henson and his team from 1976 to 1981.

The television show depicted a vaudeville style song–and–dance variety show, as well as the backstage antics involved in putting the show on. Most of the shows revolved around the beleaguered host Kermit the Frog (performed by Henson) trying to keep control of the varied, outrageous, kinetic Muppet characters, as well as keep the human guest stars happy and secure.

The show was well known for outrageous, highly physical (slapstick), sometimes absurdist comedy, and particularly for using its puppet characters to create uniquely humorous parodies. Many major celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in film. Each show featured a human guest star. The diverse roster of guests included Twiggy, Julie Andrews, Steve Martin, characters from Star Wars, Mummenschanz, and Alice Cooper.

Though they appear in various earlier forms (see Jim Henson), the Muppets gained widespread popularity on the landmark PBS live–action/puppet series Sesame Street. The Muppet Show became the cornerstone of Jim Henson's enormously popular ongoing productions.

Other Henson Muppet creations were featured in the films The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and the Sesame Street–based Follow That Bird, as well as in a large variety of films, made–for–TV movies, direct–to–video children's releases, and television specials.

Major show writers included Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns.

Muppet performers over the course of the show include:

Image:Tv muppet show harry belafonte.jpg

Contents

History

Since 1969, Sesame Street had given Jim Henson's creations invaluable exposure; however, Henson began to perceive that he was being pigeonholed as a children's entertainer. He sought to create a program that could be enjoyed by young and old alike.

Two specials were produced and aired that are considered pilots for The Muppet Show. Neither led to the sale of a prime-time network series. However, the prime-time access rule had just been enacted, which took the 7:30 to 8pm ET time slot from the networks and turned it over to their affiliates. CBS suggested it would be interested in Henson's proposal as a syndicated series it could purchase for its owned-and-operated stations, to run one night a week in that time slot.

Enter Lew Grade, head of ATV. Grade offered a deal to Henson that would see his show produced at the ATV studios in England. ATV would network the show to other ITV stations in the United Kingdom, and its syndication arm, ITC Entertainment, would sell the show in the United States and around the world. Henson put aside his misgivings about syndication and accepted.

List of Muppet Show characters

See also Kermitage: Character Guide

Recurring skits

  • At the Dance – Laugh-In style one liners from the characters as they ballroom dance
  • Muppet Labs – the latest invention from Dr. Bunsen Honeydew with his assistant, Beaker, getting the worst of its inevitable malfunction.
  • Muppet News Flash – a news announcer gives a newsbrief only to typically have some disaster befall him (usually the same disaster he was just describing)
  • Pigs In Space – parody of science fiction shows like Star Trek, but also old 40's sci–fi serials. The space craft is called USS Swinetrek.
  • Swedish Chef – Cooking show parody
  • Vend–a–face – A vending machine that offers unique services that usually mean agonizing contortions of the muppets dumb enough to feed the machine.
  • Veterinarian's Hospital – parody of soap opera General Hospital and other medical dramas which consists of Dr. Bob (Rowlf) cracking jokes in the operating room with Nurses Piggy and Janice; each installment ends with Dr. Bob and his nurses looking around in puzzlement as a disembodied voice tells viewers to tune in next time.
  • Wayne and Wanda – Every song this duo attempted ends in disaster
  • Bear on Patrol – Fozzie is a unlucky police officer and Link Hogthrob is his stupid superior who always get into the silliest situations with the criminals brought in.

List of guest stars

No guest star ever appeared twice on the Muppet Show.

Home video

Select episodes can be currently be found on VHS and DVD. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company, released the first season on DVD in August 2005. Bits of the show also pop up in movies sometimes (An American Werewolf in London and Rocky III). The rights to the episodes and characters used in The Muppet Show, and subsequent film outings, were bought in February 2004 by The Walt Disney Company.

However, several songs have been cut from the Season 1 DVD release due to music licensing issues. There have also been some cuts in the intro sequence, and backstage scenes leading up to these songs.

  • "Stormy Weather" (Joel Grey Episode) Sung by Wayne and Wanda
  • "Gone With The Wind" (Jim Nabors Episode) Sung by Jim Nabors
  • "The Danceros" (Jim Nabors Episode) Sung by The Danceros;
  • "All Of Me" (Paul Williams Episode) Sung by Two Monsters;
  • "Old Fashioned Way" (Charles Aznavour episode) Sung by Charles Aznavour with Mildred;
  • "You’ve Got A Friend" (Vincent Price Episode) Sung by Vincent Price, Uncle Deadly and a chorus of Muppet Monsters;

Spin-offs

The Muppet Show characters went on to star in The Muppet Movie, which was the first film to feature puppets interacting with humans in real–world locations, and later films such as The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan. Also, the format was revived as Muppets Tonight in 1996. The first 10 episodes aired on ABC while the rest aired on The Disney Channel.

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