Search - The Muppet Show - Season One (Special Edition) on DVD

Finally :o)

Ronald Markworth | Berlin, Germany | 06/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Finally, the Muppet Show - 1st season is arriving. And this is their program:


Charles Aznavour
Song: "I Feel Pretty"
Song: "Dance the Old-Fashioned Way" - Charles
Sketch: Gonzo's rock act ('Art! (thunk!) Art! (thunk!)')
Sketch: Vet's Hospital
Sketch: French bread
Sketch: At the Dance
Backstage?: Charles & Kermit - use French to get women (Piggy)
Sketch: panel (Gonzo: 'art and culture', Kermit: 'MA, PhD, RSVP, whatever')
Song: "Inchworm" - Charles


Kaye Ballard
Song?: Hillbilly band
Song?: Floyd & the theme song
Song: "What Would You Say" - Kaye
Sketch: At the Dance
Backstage?: Kaye & Kermit talk
Sketch: Vendaface
Song: ? - Kaye


Candice Bergen
Song: "What Now My Love?" - Piggy
Song: "Put Another Log on the Fire" - Candice
Fozzie's running wire/letter running gag
Panel: Travel
Kermit & Candice & photography
Swedish chef - spicy sauce
Song: "That Face" - Candice as model
Vet's Hostpital
Song: "You've Got to Have Friends". - Candice et. al.


Ruth Buzzi
Song: "Sunny?" - Fast # by Dr. Teeth
robot host replaces Kermit
At the Dance
Song: "Row, Row, Row" - Wayne & Wanda
Song: "You're Just Too Good to be True" - Ruth & Sweetums
Ruth & Kermit talk
Fozzie
Ruth as an interrogated spy
Song: "Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd" - jug band


Phyllis Diller
Song: "Mississippi Mud"
Phyllis & Rowlf commiserate ('it fell on me!')
At the dance
Phyllis & Fozzie chat
Song: "Hugga-wugga"
Muppet Labs - exploding clothes
Vet's Hospital - sick bread
Phyllis plays the sax


Sandy Duncan
Two bomb jokes
Song: Sandy does a drunken bar song & dance
Fozzie's writer Gags Beasely (and the banana sketch)
At the Dance
Sandy cheers up Sweetums (and overdoes it with the next one)
Song: "Never Smile at a Crocodile"
Sandy & Fozzie tease Kermit about the banana sketch
Vet's Hospital
Song: "Try to Remember the Kind of September" - Kermit & Sandy


Bruce Forsyth
(the only one I don't have!)
Song: "Trudge-Trudge/Streaka-Streaka"


Joel Grey
Song: "Comedy Tonight"
At the Dance
Song: "Cabaret"? - Joel
Joel & Kermit
Song: "A Calafica" (sp?)
Fozzie's topical jokes
Song: "Stormy Weather" - Wayne & Wanda
Song: "Razzle Dazzle" - Joel


Valerie Harper
Song: "Broadway Baby" - Valerie
Swedish chef - Japanese (?) cake
Statler courts Valerie
Rowlf poem
At the Dance
Song: "Gonna Find Her"
pinch/punch line
Wayne & Wanda
Valerie & the Clodhoppers.


Florence Henderson
Bouncing Borcelano Brothers
Song: "Bright Elusive Butterfly of Love" - Florence
At the Dance
Kermit & Florence & Piggy
Panel
Fozzie
Song: "So Happy Together" - Florence & monsters
Koozbanian Mating Ritual ('blam! peep! peep! peep!')


Lena Horne
The Ragmops
Song: "I Got a Name" - Lena
At the Dance
Lena & Kermit talk
Swedish chef: living spaghetti
Song: "" - Lena & Gonzo
Song: "Sing a Song" - Lena


Harvey Korman
Song: "Atom Bomb" - Dr. Teeth
Animal interview
Harvey - animal act
Panel: Meaning of Life
At the Dance
Kermit & Harvey talk
Vet's Hospital
Wayne & Wanda
Fozzie
Song: "Halfway Down the Stairs" - Robin


Ethel Merman
Song: "Jabba" (slinkies & "whee" sound effect)
Ethel & the Muppets do a medley of her songs
Fozzie's agent
Ethel & Animal (Ethel: 'Eek!'; Animal: 'Perfect pitch!')
Ethel & Kermit talk
Richard Bradshaw - shadow puppets
Fozzie's act ('that Gonzo is so dumb - I told him there was water shortage and he suggested we dilute it!')
Song: "There's no Business Like Show Business".


Rita Moreno
Rita - slapstick cafe
Vet's Hospital (Fozzie)
phone running gag
Swedish chef - flapjacks
At the Dance
Marvin Suggs & the Muppetphones
panel - conversation a dying art?
Rita & Kermit talk
Wayne & Wanda
Fozzie
Song: Rita: "Fever".


Mummenschanz
Song: Scooter & Floyd: "Mr. Bassman"
Gonzo romances Piggy (?)
Mummenschanz- notepad faces
library sketch - Blue Danube
Mummenschaz - crawlies
At the Dance
Kermit "talks" to the Mummenschanz
Song: Wayne & Wanda: "Paper Moon"
Vendaface
Mummenschanz - clay faces.


Jim Nabors
Song: Dr. Teeth: "Money"
intro. of Scooter
Song: Jim: "Gone With the Wind"
danceros (?)
At the Dance
Jim & Kermit
Fozzie
Song: Jim: "Thank God I'm a Country Boy".


Juliet Prowse
Song: "Ma-na-ma-na"
Juliet dances
At the Dance
Juliet & Kermit talk
Western sketch (loaded pickles)
Song: Scooter & Fozzie: "Simon Smith & His Dancing Bear"
Song: glee club: "Temptation".


Vincent Price
Song: "Under My Skin"
Vincent - house of horror ('watch it! I'm the beautiful assistant! Every night at the stroke of midnight the master turns into a screaming, maniacal, demonic, raging, bloodlusting animal! And then I get _mean_!')
Wayne & Wanda
panel - gourmet food ('you must admit Froggy you look mighty tasty!')
At the Dance
Vampires
News flash - furniture monsters (priceless!)
Song: Vincent: "You've Got a Friend".


Avery Schreiber
Song: Dr. Teeth: "Tenderly"
Piggy uses Scooter to make Kermit jealous
Avery duels Sweetums using insults
Muppet Labs - gorilla detector
Avery & Fozzie - the old living painting sketch
At the Dance
Wayne & Wanda
Vet's Hostpital
Avery & Fozzie do an act
Avery & some creatures do a silly song.


Connie Stevens (+ Bert & Ernie)
Song: Kermit: "Lydia" (tattooed pig)
Fozzie & Gonzo's old teddy bear ('that bear is the most beat-up thing I've ever seen - get rid of it!')
Swedish Chef - rubber meatballs
Song: Connie: "Teenager in Love"
At the Dance
Song: Connie & Kermit & Fozzie: "Close to You"
Zoot & his sax
Ernie & Bert & Connie.


Twiggy
Song: "Dance" (fuzzy snakes)
Phantom of the Muppet Show
Song: Twiggy holds a press conference & sings "There Are Places I Remember" (with photo history)
Song: Wayne & Wanda: "Let It Snow"
skit - the king's breakfast
At the Dance
Vendaface
Song: Twiggy: "Nobody's Business But My Own" (country scene)


Peter Ustinov
An evening at the pops
Muppet Labs - Peter as a robot diplomat
At the Dance
Peter & Fozzie discuss economics (a Benny shaved is a Benny urned)
Song: "You Do Something to Me (kablam)"
News flash - cure for the cold
Song: Wayne & Wanda: "Falling Leaves"
panel - psychiatry
Song: "It's Not Easy Being Green".


Ben Vereen
Song: "Boogie Woogie Music"
Fozzie & the magic cabinet
Song: Ben: "Mr. Cellophane"
At the Dance
Ben & Kermit
Vet's Hospital
Wayne & Wanda
Song: Ben: "Imagination".


Paul Williams
Song: "All of Me"
Song: Paul: "Just an Old-Fashioned Love Song"
Muppet Labs: all-purpose tenderizer
Song: Rowlf: "Silence"
At the Dance
Scooter & Fozzie do the telephone pole bit
Paul sings.


I haven't seen it so far, but i know them from TV - and they are still great!"

Muppet Show - Uneven but Fun

Jerry Edwards | Vancouver, WA United States | 06/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Muppet Show is one of my all-time favorite TV shows. I have seen most of the shows throughout the years and still own a large number on video and DVD. However, I do recognize that the individual shows are not always great - depending on my interest in the guest star and the quality of the variety of sketches. Some of the acts make me laugh and laugh and laugh ... others just feel like a waste of time.

The first season of the Muppet Show was in 1976. While most of my favorite shows are from later seasons, there are several shows this season that I look forward to owning on DVD. Plus I look forward to watching the shows in the order they were shown to get a feel for how the show evolved over the years.

As I understand it, there were two "pilot" shows - The Muppets Valentine Show (which I have seen) and the Muppet Show Sex and Violence (which I don't recall seeing). It would be great if these pilots were included in this 1st Season set, but I don't know yet if they will be.

From various reference sources, I have verified there were 24 shows the first season. They are (in order they were shown, as far as I can determine):

1. Juliet Prowse
2. Connie Stevens - this show also has Bert & Ernie. I don't recall the Sesame Street characters showing up on the Muppet Show. This may be the only show Bert & Ernie was in.
3. Joel Grey
4. Ruth Buzzi
5. Rita Moreno
6. Jim Nabors
7. Florence Henderson
8. Paul Williams
9. Charles Aznavour (a French singer/entertainer)
10. Harvey Korman
11. Lena Horne
12. Peter Ustinov
13. Bruce Forsythe
14. Sandy Duncan
15. Candice Bergen
16. Avery Schreiber
17. Ben Vereen
18. Phyllis Diller
19. Vincent Price
20. Valerie Harper
21. Twiggy
22. Ethel Merman
23. Kaye Ballard
24. Mummenschanz (Mimes) - in fact my listing for this show has always been "Weird Mimes Act".

There are a few shows this season that I just didn't care for the guest star, but generally a very entertaining season. I much look forward to this collection and future seasons as often as they can be released."

Caveat Emptor: These episodes are not complete

David Michael Cohen | California | 09/27/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Like most children of the 70's, I grew up loving The Muppet Show. Sitting down to watch the Muppets was a weekly ritual the whole family enjoyed. Everyone could enjoy their humor and the music. More than that though, the Muppets could be inspiring and touching at times as well. There really is no way to adequately express how wonderful the Muppets can be.

So why am I only giving this collection 3 star? Because despite the claim on the box of being "restored and remastered," some of the episodes have been butchered. I saw the Vincent Price episode when it was originally shown, and it closed with Vincent and the Muppet monsters singing "You've Got a Friend." It was, for me, one of the most enjoyable scenes in the series. The sequence was included in the Columbia House "Best of the Muppets" series, but it is excluded from this set. Likewise, the Jim Neighbors episode originally opened with Jim singing, "You'll Never Walk Alone." Re-runs on Nickelodeon included this sequence, but the sequence is missing from this set. I can only guess what is missing from the other episodes in the set.

Mind you, these omissions do not keep one from enjoying the set, especially children who did not see the series when it originally aired and do not realize that they are missing. And, I must admit, the screwy antics of the Swedish Chef and the weekly face offs between Fozzie Bear and Stadler and Waldorf still make me smile. Still, it is frustrating to read that the episodes have been "restored" when they clearly have not."

Incomplete But Pleasing

DVDisney | 08/10/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I love this set but I think I should let everyone know that some of the episodes on this set have been edited. There are 6 songs & 2 news skits that are missing.

The missing songs are:

"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; also cut backstage and intro

"All Of Me" (Paul Williams Episode)
Sung by Two Monsters; also cut intro

"Old Fashioned Way" (Charles Aznavour)
Sung by Charles Aznavour with Mildred; also cut intro

"You've Got A Friend" (Vincent Price Episode)
Sung by Vincent Price, Uncle Deadly and a chorus of Muppet Monsters; also cut intro


Also, the original pitch reel is missing it's final scene w/Kermit. In the final scene missing from this set Kermit is standing infront of a CBS logo. He looks out and says " What the hell was that ? "

The pilot episode on this set is not the original pilot as advertised. There were 2 pilot episodes. The original pilot was called " The Muppet Valentine Show " which aired in 1974. The pilot on this DVD set is the second pilot called " The Muppet Show: Sex And Violence " which aired a year later in 1975.

It's too bad this is not a complete season set but for now, it'll still do nicely."