And all sorts of funny thoughts run round my head

"The Muppet Show Season 1" Discs Two, Three and Four (DVD Review)

Too bloody right they do. I'm a geek. I admit it. I'm openly hostile about I am and don't really give a damn what other people think (well maybe just a little). I've now polished the rest of these discs off, although I might go back and watch some of the first disc with the trivia track on (very informative on the show, it's guests and especially the origins of all the music selections) and re-watch the last episode and the original "Sex & Violence" pilot which I (admittedly) watched way tooo late.


The guest line-up continued to impress with some genuine celebs: Florence Henderson, Peter Ustinov, Harvey Korman, Sandy Duncan, Candice Bergen (although she can't sing), Phyllis Diller, Valerie Harper, Ben Vereen, Twiggy, Vincent Price (who's episode was very obviously themed) and Ethel Merman; some heavy duty musical talent in Paul Williams and Charles Aznavor (who sings 'Inchworm' above, ooooo); and some people who I'd never really heard of (nearly everyone that guested the first year were stage and screen performers): Lena Horne, Bruce Forsyth, Avery Schreiber, Kaye Ballard. The last episode guested the theatre group Mummenschanz and the Ethel Merman episode is one of the few times to feature a guest puppeteer, Australian Richard Bradshaw and his shadow puppets.


As with the first disc there are a dazzling array of quality musical performances (many of the best were the UK spots that were never originally seen in the US!): Rowlf performing A.A. Milne's Cottleston Pie, Robin singing ''Half way down the stairs' half way down the stairs (above), Rowlf and Zoot doing 'Theme from Love Story', Kermit singing 'Not Easy Being Green', Ben Vereen performing 'Pure Imagination' from Willy Wonka and Rowlf and Sam doing 'Tit Willow'.

Skits and performances without the Muppets are now starting to become quite rare and a standard routine had started to settle in: the opening number with guest intro and Gonzo faux pas (which The Simpsons would years later turn into the blackboard and couch gags that opened most of their shows), skits such as the newsroom, veterinarians hospital, the ballroom and Wayne & Wanda became regular features.

However, they did begin to create believable tensions between the Muppets: the long-standing relationship between Kermit and Miss Piggy (with the guest star often stuck in the middle of them), Fozzie in one episode brings in his agent to negotiate his contract and in another the band threatens to quit because the theme music is, in the words of Sgt. Floyd Pepper 'square' (This episode even changed its end credits sequence so that only Rowlf and the Band Leader appear, see below).


As mentioned the Trivia Track is a veritable gold mine of info. Did you know that both Jim Henson and Frank Oz operated the Sqedish Chef? Or that Statler only ever made the one appearance backstage? Or that only once was the audience actively engaged in a sketch (in which Fozzie's cousin appears)? Also included on the final disc is an Original Sales Pitch and Gag Reel. Finally, as mentioned, there is the oft referred to original pilot, titled "Sex & Violence" it is in quite a different format, but (possibly due to Henson's already significant experience in television) is extremely confident and in addition to many of the now standard Muppets also includes an impressive repeating Mt. Rushmore skit. The end credits of this episode is the only opportunity on the entire 4 disc set to see the puppeteers at work (below). Overall, this is a pearler of a set, and I'm actively hunting down the Muppets albums now. Roll on, season two (with all those great guest stars alluded to in the Trivia Track).