Revisiting The Muppet Show

 Hey guys! How's everyone's weekend going? Mine has been pretty good so far. I went with my parents to visit my sister this morning so that's why this post is just getting worked on now. I ended up binging six episodes of The Muppet Show on Disney+ before I went to bed last night and it was awesome. So I decided to talk about my overall history with the show, and how it holds up just from the six episodes that I watched last night. So I guess it's time to play the music and it's time to light the lights on The Muppet Show tonight!

I've watched the Muppets for longer than I can remember. Between Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock, and the movies Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, and The Muppet Christmas Carol the Muppets are forever characters for me, even before I knew who Jim Henson and Frank Oz were. They were just as much a part of my childhood as Star Trek and Batman were. And yet they were on a completely different level than Barney was. The Muppets were more on the level of Teddy Ruxpin, where it didn't matter how old I was, I would always watch Kermit and the gang in some form be it movie or TV show. 

I honestly don't remember the first time I watched The Muppet Show. That's the thing about the show, it's always been on. I know, there was a time where the show didn't exist, but, that was before my lifetime and so within the years that I've been alive, it's always been on. What's even crazier is that with the exception of Kermit, who debuted long before even Sesame Street began airing, The Muppet Show was the debut of Miss Piggy, Scooter, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and EVERY other Muppet ever seen on the show. Besides Kermit, the other exceptions are Sweetums and Kermit's nephew, Robin, who debuted in Tales From Muppetland: The Frog Prince. All the other Muppets were introduced here. Which is pretty weird to think about. 

Last night I split the six episodes between two seasons. The first three I watched were from season 1, and the second three were from season 4. And there's a huge difference between the two seasons of the show. In season one the show is focused more on the Muppets, with the celebrity guest stars playing a much smaller role. By season 4 however, the celebrity guest stars are more of the focus with the Muppets still carrying the show.

Of course these six episodes all showcased segments that I remember from childhood like Pigs in Space, Veterinarian's Hospital, the Swedish Chef, minus the chicken, Muppet News Flash, Fozzie's comedy segment, Statler and Waldorf included, and of course the musical numbers that the celebrity guest stars are involved in. Probably the dumbest segment (and the funniest) is Veterinarian's Hospital, just because Rowlf, Miss Piggy, and Janice are hilarious and it's meant to be a parody of the medical dramas, or soap operas involving medical procedures that were popular in the 70s. The jokes are REALLY bad though. Pigs in Space is pretty bad too, but bad in the good way.

Statler and Waldorf actually hold up pretty well considering they're hecklers and that kind of humour can be inappropriate sometimes in some cases. I mean the Muppets play it safe only to a point since it's a family friendly show, but Statler and Waldorf's cracks, particularly at Fozzie are pretty scathing even for a family friendly show produced in the late 70s and early 80s. They're still the funniest part of the show though.

I am very glad that Disney chose to put The Muppet Show on Disney+. It's probably been about sixteen or seventeen years since I watched it last. It used to be on in reruns on CTS, which was a Christian TV network here in Canada. They also played shows like Full House, 7th Heaven, Happy Days, Charles in Charge, and The Waltons weekday evenings, before and after 6 o'clock. Naturally, I would watch it, of course the episodes were edited down for syndication because on both the Kenny Rogers episode and the Stars of Star Wars episode, both from season 4, there were parts that I don't remember being in the episodes from when I watched the show on TV in the mid-2000s. But still, the fact that I even remember those episodes is amazing. Mind you, a dancing Chewbacca and Mark Hamill being on screen with, and talking to, Luke Skywalker are things that are pretty hard to forget. 

Alright guys that is going to be it for me for this week. I'll be back on Monday with a comic book review, or maybe a movie review, not sure which yet, and then on Wednesday I'll be reviewing the first episode of Superman & Lois which premieres on Tuesday night. So until then have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.