'''The Muppet Show''' was a
television program featuring a cast of
Muppets (diverse hand-operated puppets, typically with oversized eyes and large moving mouths) produced by
Jim Henson and his team from 1976 to 1981. The show stars
Kermit the Frog, who was also a guest star on ''
Sesame Street''. Whereas Kermit was a happy, perky and somewhat
avuncular character on ''Sesame Street'', here he is trying to keep control of the varied, outrageous, kinetic Muppet characters (and his temper), as well as keep the human guest stars happy and secure. The television show depicted a
vaudeville or
music hall style song-and-dance
variety show, as well as the backstage antics involved in putting the show on.
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. Each show also featured a human guest star; after the show became popular with audiences, many major celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in film. The diverse roster of guests included
Christopher Reeve,
Johnny Cash,
Twiggy,
Sandy Duncan,
Julie Andrews,
Steve Martin,
Rich Little, characters from ''
Star Wars'',
Mummenschanz,
Diana Ross,
Ethel Merman,
Paul Simon,
John Denver,
John Cleese,
Gene Kelly,
Alice Cooper, and
over a hundred others.
Muppet performers over the course of the show include
Jim Henson,
Frank Oz,
Jerry Nelson,
Richard Hunt,
Dave Goelz,
Steve Whitmire,
Louise Gold,
Kathy Mullen,
Eren Ozker, and
John Lovelady.
Jerry Juhl and
Jack Burns were two of the major show writers.
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 8 p.m.
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.
Lew Grade, head of the British commercial station
ATV, offered a deal to Henson that would see his show produced at the ATV studios in
Elstree, 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.
At first, signing guest stars for the series was a challenge and the producers had to call on their personal contacts to appear. The breakthrough is thought to have occurred with the appearance of the hailed
ballet dancer,
Rudolf Nureyev. The publicity of the dancer appearing on such an unusual show generated such positive publicity that the series became one of the sought-after productions to appear in. ''The Muppet Show'' premiered in
1976 and finally, after 5 years and 120 episodes, it went off the air in
1981, not from a lack of popularity, but because of Jim Henson's desire to move on to bigger and better projects, such as ''
The Muppet Movie'' (released in
1979) and his first fantasy film, ''
The Dark Crystal'' (
1982).
List of recurring Muppet Show characters
''The Muppet Show'' poster
★ '
Kermit the Frog', director and host of the Muppet Show. Performed by Jim Henson until his death in 1990.
★ '
Miss Piggy', a glamorous diva pig in dual pursuit of stardom and Kermit. In the first season, her puppeteering duties were shared between Frank Oz and Richard Hunt. Starting with the second season, Oz took over the character full-time.
★ '
Fozzie Bear', a (questionably talented) stand-up comic bear, and Kermit's unofficial second-in-command. Performed by Frank Oz.
★ '
Scooter', the
gofer. His uncle owns the theatre. Performed by Richard Hunt.
★ '
Gonzo', a.k.a. The Great Gonzo or Gonzo the Great, stuntman, daredevil, performance artist and "The Muppet Show's Resident Weird Person". Performed by Dave Goelz.
★ 'The' '
Swedish Chef', a cook with weird culinary habits who speaks in a language of Scandinavian-sounding double-talk called "mock Swedish". Performed by Jim Henson with the hands of Frank Oz.
★ '
Rowlf the Dog', the show's resident wisecracking piano player. Performed by Jim Henson.
★ '
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew', Head of Muppet Labs, a scientist and inventor. Performed by Dave Goelz.
★ '
Beaker', Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's hapless guinea pig/assistant. Performed by Richard Hunt.
★ '
Camilla', a chicken,
Gonzo's true love. Usually performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Sam the (American Bald) Eagle', American superpatriot and self-appointed censor of the Muppet Show. Performed by Frank Oz.
★ '
Dr. Teeth', ultra-hip band leader, and keyboard player for
Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem. Performed by Jim Henson.
★ '
Sgt. Floyd Pepper', bass guitarist and all around hip person of
Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem. Performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Janice', the Band's hippie-chick lead guitarist (and Floyd's main squeeze). Performed by Eren Ozker in the first season and Richard Hunt for the remainder of the run.
★ '
Animal', the Band's savage, frenzied drummer. Performed by Frank Oz. Drumming performed by
Ronnie Verrell.
★ '
Zoot', the sleepy saxophone player in the Electric Mayhem and the Muppet Show's orchestra. Performed by Dave Goelz.
★ '
Lips', trumpet player for the "Mayhem" added in the fifth season. Performed by Steve Whitmire.
★ '
Lew Zealand', boomerang fish thrower and generally fish-obsessed performer. Performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Statler & Waldorf', two old men who occupy the box seat at every show and
heckle the performances. Statler was performed by Richard Hunt, Waldorf by Jim Henson.
★ '
Annie Sue', a young pig, Miss Piggy's innocent rival. Performed by Louise Gold.
★ The '
Muppet newscaster'. Performed by Jim Henson.
★ '
Louis Kazzager', the enthusiastic reporter for Muppet Sports. performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Foo-Foo', Miss Piggy's dog. Usually performed by Steve Whitmire or a real dog.
★ '
Sweetums', a 9-foot-tall monster. Performed by Richard Hunt.
★ 'Thog', a 10-foot-tall furry, blue monster. Performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Link Hogthrob', A hunky but brain-dead pig, star of "Pigs in Space", Captain of the USS ''Swinetrek''. Also stars in "Bear On Patrol". Performed by Jim Henson.
★ '
Dr. Julius Strangepork', the science officer in "Pigs in Space". Performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Beauregard', the dimwitted janitor and stagehand. Performed by Dave Goelz.
★ '
Crazy Harry', a pyrotechnician and bomb expert who enjoys blowing things up far too much. Performed in the first season by
John Lovelady, then taken over by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Robin', Kermit's small nephew. Performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Uncle Deadly', also called "the Phantom of the Muppet Show", a sinister character who lurks around the theatre and appears occasionally on the show. Performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ 'The
Flying Zucchini Brothers', A group of
human cannonballs and
acrobats. Performed by Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz and Richard Hunt.
★ '
Pops', the elderly doorman. Performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ '
Marvin Suggs', the sadistic, crazed and flamboyant
Muppaphone man. Performed by Frank Oz.
★ '
George', the crotchety old janitor. Performed by Frank Oz. Only appeared in the first season.
★ '
Mildred Huxtetter', George's dancing partner. Usually performed by Frank Oz or Richard Hunt. Only appeared in the first season.
★ '
Wayne and Wanda', a terrible singing duo plagued by bad luck. Performed by Richard Hunt and Eren Ozker, although
Kathy Mullen played Wanda in her one appearance in the fourth season.
★ '
Hilda', the elderly wardrobe mistress. Performed by Eren Ozker. Disappeared after the first season.
★ '
Nigel',the conducter of the Muppet Orchestra.
Performed by Jim Henson and John Lovelady.
★ '
Mahna Mahna', the singer of the song by the same name, and the Snowths, the 2 pink creatures that sing ''Doo-doo-de-do-do!''. Mahna Mahna was Jim Henson, the Snowths Frank Oz.
★ '
Lubbock Lou and his Jughuggers', the jugband. Includes Lubbock Lou, Slim Wilson, Gramps, Bubba, Zeke and Lou. Performed by Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, Jim Henson and Louise Gold respectively.
★ 'Fleet Scribbler', the reporter for The Daily Scandal. Performed by Jerry Nelson. Appeared in the first and second seasons.
Recurring skits
★ 'At the Dance' – The sketch was a regular during the first season but was used less frequently from the second season onward. Muppet characters circulated on a
semi-formal dance floor offering rapid fire
one-liner jokes and come-backs as the couples passed in front of the
camera.
★ 'Muppet Labs' – Segments featuring the latest invention from Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, with his assistant, Beaker, getting the worst of its inevitable malfunction. The character of Beaker was introduced in the second season; during the first season Bunsen hosted Muppet Labs by himself, but the writers soon realized that another character was necessary to show Bunsen's failings.
★ 'Muppet News Flash' – A news announcer (a variation of the Guy Smiley puppet) gives a newsbrief only to have some disaster typically befall him (usually the same disaster he was just describing), or another strange scenario (such as the time that he ran on, stated "There is no news tonight.", and ran off). In the first season, the Muppet News Man read out news items that occasionally featured the guest star for that week playing a character that was somehow involved in the item. Muppet News Flashes often used absurdist humor: In one one sketch, the announcer stated that the Atlantic Ocean had been kidnapped.
★ 'Pigs In Space' – Parody of science fiction shows like ''
Star Trek'', but also old '30s sci-fi serials. The spacecraft is called USS ''Swinetrek'' and the title
voice-over is a parody of main ''
Star Trek'' competitor ''
Lost in Space''. It featured Captain Link Hogthrob, Miss Piggy as first mate, and Dr. Julius Strangepork (the name a takeoff on "
Dr. Strangelove"). Usually, the sketches would involve the long-suffering Piggy putting up with the wacko Strangepork and the braindead Link treating her as an inferior because she was a woman.
★ '
Swedish Chef' – Cooking show parody. It consists of the Swedish Chef, who speaks mock
Swedish, semi-comprehensible
gibberish which
parodies the characteristic vowel sounds and intonation of Swedish. He attempts to cook a dish with great enthusiasm, until the punch line hits. A hallmark of these sketches was the improvisations between Jim Henson (who performed the Chef's head and voice) and Frank Oz (who was his hands). One would often make something up on the spot, making the other puppeteer comply with the action. Perhaps the best example is a sketch where Frank Oz repeatedly adds pepper to a sauce, leading to Jim Henson cracking up. Famous gags include "chickie in du baskie (two points!)", meatballs that bounce, chocolate "moose", and attempting to cook Kermit's nephew.
★ 'Vend-a-face' – A vending machine that offers unique face-changing services—usually agonizing contortions of the Muppets who are dumb enough to feed the machine.
★ 'Veterinarian's Hospital' – Parody of soap opera ''
General Hospital'' and other medical dramas, consisting 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 to the "continuing stooory". On one occasion, both this sketch and "At the Dance" went on at the same time, with the dancers dancing in the Vet's Hospital set. On another occasion, the cast of "Vet's Hospital" appeared on the "Swedish Chef" set, and on another episode, Doctor Bob and Nurse Janice appeared on the "Pigs in Space" set. The voice of the announcer was usually performed by John Lovelady in the first season, but Jerry Nelson originally performed the role in the
Harvey Korman and
Rita Moreno episodes (the first two episodes in recording order that had the sketch) before taking over the role permanently from the
Phyllis Diller episode. In the introduction, Dr. Bob went from "a former
orthopedic surgeon" to "a quack" who's "gone to the dogs." Nurse Janice's recurring tag line was "Fascinating, Dr. Bob".
★ 'Wayne and Wanda' – Usually introduced by Sam the Eagle, Wayne and Wanda—a slapstick tribute to
Nelson Eddy and
Jeanette MacDonald—are plagued by bad fortune. Every song attempted by this duo inevitably ends in disaster. It is considered an accomplishment for them to get to the chorus. They disappeared in later seasons. It was eventually revealed that Kermit had fired them, but forgot why he did and decided to rehire them. Unfortunately, seconds after they started to sing, Kermit remembered why he fired them and instantly fired them again and forced them off the stage.
★ 'Bear on Patrol' – Fozzie is an unlucky
police officer and Link Hogthrob is his stupid superior who always get into the silliest situations with the criminals brought in. The voice of the announcer was performed by Jerry Nelson.
★ 'Fozzie's Act' - Fozzie Bear gets on stage and performs his infamously bad jokes. Statler and Waldorf heckle him, in a perpetual rivalry. The sketches became slowly less frequent as Fozzie's character came into play and he became more prevalent in Backstage scenarios.
List of guest stars
Harry Belafonte with
The Muppets on ''The Muppet Show'', performing one of the series' most celebrated numbers, "Turn The World Around."
No guest star ever appeared twice on ''The Muppet Show'', although
John Denver appeared both on the show and in two specials (''John Denver & the Muppets: A Christmas Together'' and ''John Denver & the Muppets: Rocky Mountain Holiday''). Additionally, several guest stars from the show had cameos in one of the first three Muppet theatrical films.
One unusual guest star was one of the series writers,
Chris Langham, who took the place for
Richard Pryor when the star was unable to attend taping.
★ ''
List of The Muppet Show episodes''
DVD Releases
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, a division of
The Walt Disney Company, released the first season on
DVD in Region 1 for the very first time on
August 9,
2005. Bits of the show also sometimes pop up in movies (''
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.
Several songs were 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
In addition, the version of the Joel Grey episode on the DVD is in fact an earlier edit as it does not include two Muppet News sketches and a balcony scene featuring Statler and Waldorf that were added to the episode at a later date. This appears to have simply been a mistake of Disney using the wrong tape.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date | Additional Information |
|---|
| Season One | 24 | August 9 2005 |
★ The original pilot, "Sex and Violence!"
★ The original pitch reel of the show
★ Muppet morsels viewing mode with fun facts about the Muppets
★ Promo gag reel |
| Season Two | 24 | August 7 2007 |
★ The Muppet Valentine Special
★ The Muppets on the Muppets (interviews)
★ Weezer & The Muppets (music video) |
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,'' ''
The Muppets Take Manhattan,'' ''
The Muppet Christmas Carol,'' ''
Muppet Treasure Island,'' ''
Muppets from Space'', and a Muppet remake of ''
The Wizard of Oz''.
''
The Jim Henson Hour'' featured many of the same characters, plus new and boldly different content. The Muppet Show format was later revived as ''
Muppets Tonight'' in
1996. The first 10 episodes aired on
ABC while the rest aired on
The Disney Channel. Today, all three incarnations are syndicated together as a single package.
There is talk of a new revival of the format, with FOX being the initial serious contender. Disney is using the ''
America's Next Muppet'' mini-series to test the viability of a full-fledged series.
Worldwide broadcasters
Trivia
★ Because the show was produced in the United Kingdom, it was recorded in
PAL video as opposed to the
NTSC format used on typical United States productions. For broadcasting and sale on home video formats in the US and other NTSC regions, the video has to go through a standards conversion process to modify the video into the NTSC standard - this (like with any other PAL-to-NTSC video conversion, e.g. ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus'', ''
Father Ted'' or seventies-to-eighties-era ''
Doctor Who'') significantly degrades video quality.
★
★ The reason for shooting purely in PAL is unknown; ATV's Elstree facilities were equipped to shoot and record both in PAL and NTSC simultaneously as ATV made significant sales to the United States. The company recorded a number of shows there by the singer
Tom Jones in
1970 primarily for UK transmission and for U.S. export using both systems.
★
★ It has been suggested that the stranglehold broadcasting
trade unions had on British television at that time may have dictated the decision. Indeed the unions often
boycotted the use of colour equipment during disputes and many shows were recorded using only the monochrome facility on such equipment (for example the drama ''
Upstairs, Downstairs''). However this is unlikely as Lew Grade was noted within ITV for paying whatever it needed to get shows for export made and was often considered by other ITV management as being the 'weak link' in management-union relations.
★ In 1979, there was no ''Muppet Show'' for 11 weeks from
August-
October 1979 due to an ITV strike, but on the night of the restarting of almost every ITV station in Britain, there was a special guest appearance from
Dudley Moore. It aired at 6:05 p.m.
GMT after the first program post-ITV strike, ''ITN Evening News'' (now the ''
ITV Evening News'').
★ The first two episodes taped were pilots featuring guest stars
Connie Stevens and
Juliet Prowse. Both episodes were later reworked but the original version of the Juliet Prowse pilot can be seen at the
Museum of Television and Radio in
Los Angeles or
New York. The pilot has also been included as part of the ''Muppet Show'' episode guide
[1] at the Muppet Central web site.
★ According to the
Guinness Book of Records, ''The Muppet Show'' was the most widely viewed program in the world, with an estimated audience of 235 million in 106 countries in August 1989.
★ In a
dream sequence in ''
An American Werewolf in London'', we see a scene with werewolf victim David Kessler at home when a werewolf attacks his family while his sister is watching ''The Muppet Show''.
★ Initially, the plan was to present each celebrity guest with a Muppet version of him- or herself. This was scrapped after the third episode due to costs. Only
Connie Stevens,
Juliet Prowse,
Andy Williams, and
Paul Williams received Muppet clones.
★ During his 1977 appearance,
Peter Sellers did not once appear on screen as "himself" (that is, outside of any specific role or part)--he appeared in some outrageous or unusual costume in every single sketch featuring him, as well as speaking in a variety of accents.
See also
★ ''
Muppet Babies''
★ ''
Le Bébête Show''
★
List of television programs
★ "
Mah Nà Mah Nà"
★ ''
Meet The Feebles''
★
Adult puppeteering
★
Sam Pottle
References
1. http://www.muppetcentral.com/guides/episodes/tms/pilots/3_prowse.shtml
External links
★
Muppet Wiki: The Muppet Show
★
★
"Of Muppets and Men," a 1981 documentary on the making of the show
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