Starring Kermit The Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie the Bear, Scooter, Sam Eagle, Gonzo, Animal, Rowlf, Swedish Chef, Dr Honeydew, Beaker, Waldorf, Statler
Written By: Jim Henson, Jack Burns
Directed By: Philip Casson, Peter Harris
Studio: Disney/ Buena Vista
Buy on Amazon.com link

Mahna Mahna! For all of you who bought the Time Life Best Of DVDs of the Muppet Show; you don’t have to worry anymore since Disney has now released the first season of the Muppet Show on DVD. I remember watching the show all the time when I was a kid, but I never liked all the singing parts to it. That’s still the case today.

The Muppet Show was a variety half hour show featuring muppets, but what is a muppet you say? Beats the hell outta me, but I guess it’s a talking puppet. You don’t see the strings for the muppets since they are puppeteered from down below. The show is taped in front of a live audience, or well it appears that way since there’s a dumb laugh track. Kermit the Frog is the host and runs the show and there’s a bunch of other muppets like Miss Piggy, Fozzie the Bear, Scooter, Gonzo, Sam Eagle, Dr Honeydew, Beaker, Waldorf and Statler and lots more! There’s so many muppets on the show but some of the recognizable ones don’t come on until later. Or most of the voices for the muppets like Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and even Kermit are different in the beginning episodes. Some of the same goes with Simpsons or Family Guy. Takes awhile to get the right voice down. The opening theme song is different than the one I remember as a kid. Each show provides a bunch of skits or musical numbers with a bunch of guests that I don’t know who the the hell they are haha. The opening number changes each time with a new joke from Fozzie, or some gag at the end of the song with Gonzo. I think it’s clever to do but has to be a pain to do each time.

As I was watching the muppet show on DVD, it’s not like how I remembered it to be when I used to watch it on TV. Well I do remember there was a lot of lame singing on it and that has always been a problem with me. If they didn’t do that and just did the skits & whatever else they did on the show, it would be a lot better! But no, they have stupid singing on there that just ruins the show. But then again, I’m technically an adult now so I shouldn’t be complaining about a kid show. And what’s with all the so-called guests! I knew who some of these people were but come on, there has to be someone better than Ruth Buzzi or Twiggy! Half the time I was saying to myself, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE??! Some of the guest stars on the show this season are: Juliet Prowse, Rita Moreno, Florence Henderson, Harvey Korman, Lena Horne, Bruce Forsyth, Sandy Duncan, Candice Bergen, Phyliss Diller and Vincent Price. I think the most notable guest stars on the TV show were the cast of Star Wars, but that episode isn’t on this season. I believe that might have been the first time I saw the Muppet Show, since I saw a commercial for it when I was a little kid. I was very big into Star Wars then and got scared when Gonzo dressed up like Vader haha. Shut up, I was little!

My favorite characters on the show are Waldorf and Statler. Those two just crack me up, at anything they say. Nothing like two grumpy old guys in the balcony making fun of the rest of the muppets, especially poor Fozzie. When I go to Disney World, I always go to The Muppets 3D show and Waldorf & Statler make me laugh every time. Fozzie is another character I like because he likes to tell bad jokes and so do I. I like Animal too because he’s crazy and a drummer. Plus he puts a little excitement into the boring Doobie Brothers rip-off band Eletric Mayhem haha. I don’t think I actually seen too many episodes of this season so it was weird to see & hear Miss Piggy all different. Looks like she had a few face lifts in the later seasons, and Gonzo talks a bit differently too. I never really was a fan of Kermit though. He’s all right I guess. For some reason, I’m never a fan of the lead characters but the smaller, sidekick type characters.

The extras contain pop up text for episodes where you can learn cool information about the series. Plus there’s the original pilot episode, the original pitch reel and a gag reel as well. I liked the pop up info on the episodes and I rather read something, instead of them telling me the info in an audio commentary. Or it would be good to have both so I could choose. The original pilot was interesting to watch and see how the characters evolved into what they are today. Gag reel was ok, nothing too special.

The show isn’t what I remembered but maybe that was of later seasons. I believe it did get better. I still don’t like the singing and music stuff on the show, which is a big portion of the show. I’d rather see the hijinx from backstage and the wacky comedy skits they do. But the show is a classic and still fun to watch after all these years! Wokka Wokka!

Features:
Original Pitch Reel
Original Pilot
Muppet Morsels
Season One promo gag reel

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Favorite Scenes: Connie Stevens, Florence Henderson, Candice Bergen, Phyllis Diller and Vincent Price
Rating: NR
Running Time: 604 minutes
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