The Muppet Show

***The Muppet Show*** is a comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring The Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975, respectively. While neither episode was moved forward as a series and other networks in the United States rejected Henson's proposals, British producer Lew Grade expressed interest in the project and agreed to co-produce *The Muppet Show* for ATV. Five seasons, totalling 120 episodes, were broadcast on ATV and other ITV franchises in the United Kingdom and in first-run syndication in the US from 1976 to 1981. The programme was filmed at Elstree Studios, England.

*The Muppet Show* is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with plotlines taking place backstage and in other areas of the venue. Within its context, Kermit the Frog acts as showrunner and host, who tries to maintain control of the overwhelming antics of the other Muppet characters, as well as appease the rotating slate of guest stars. *The Muppet Show* is also known for its uniquely designed characters, burlesque nature, physical slapstick, sometimes absurdist humor, and parodies. As *The Muppet Show* became popular, many celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in film.

The cast of performers over the course of the series consisted of Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Fran Brill, Eren Ozker, Louise Gold, Kathryn Mullen, Karen Prell, Brian Muehl, Bob Payne, and John Lovelady. Many of the performers also worked on *Sesame Street*, whose characters made sporadic appearances on *The Muppet Show*. Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns were two of the head writers. The music was performed by Jack Parnell and his orchestra.

## History

Since its debut in 1969, *Sesame Street* had given Jim Henson's Muppet characters exposure; however, Henson began to perceive that he was becoming typecast as a children's entertainer. Subsequently, he began conceiving a programme for a more adult demographic. Two television specials, *The Muppets Valentine Show* (1974) and *The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence* (1975), were produced for ABC and are considered pilots for *The Muppet Show*. Neither of the two specials was ordered to series. However, the prime-time access rule was recently enacted, shifting the 7:30 to 8 pm ET slot from the networks to their affiliates. CBS became interested in Henson's series proposals and expressed intent to broadcast it weekly on its owned and operated stations. According to the original pitch reel, George Schlatter was originally involved.

Lew Grade, proprietor of the British commercial station ATV, was familiar with puppet television programmes, having underwritten the various works of Gerry Anderson, while also producing two specials with Henson: *Julie on Sesame Street* and a special on Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. Grade offered a deal to Henson that would result in the latter's programme being produced at the ATV studios in Elstree, England. ATV, as part of the ITV network, would broadcast the programme to other ITV stations in the United Kingdom, and its distribution arm, ITC Entertainment, would handle international broadcasts. Henson set aside his misgivings about syndication and accepted.

Meanwhile, Henson's Muppets were featured in *The Land of Gorch* skits during the first 1975-76 season of the American comedy television program *Saturday Night Live*. Although they lasted for only that one season on *Saturday Night Live* due to conflicts with that show's writers and producers, Henson and his team learned a great deal from being involved with the production. They gained institutional knowledge about adapting and quickly creating a television program within a seven-day period. He also gained valuable friendships with multiple celebrities through his work on *Saturday Night Live*. They were later able to use these skills and relationships on *The Muppet Show*.

*The Muppet Show* first aired in September 1976. By Christmas 1976, the series in the UK saw around 14 million viewers tuning in on Sunday evenings. In January 1977, over 100 countries had either acquired the series or were making offers, which had resulted in over £6 million in overseas sales.

## Overview

### Opening sequence

"The Muppet Show Theme" (written by Henson and Sam Pottle in 1976) is the show's theme song.

At the end of the song, Gonzo the Great appeared onstage to play the final note, with various comical results. Each episode ended with an extended instrumental performance of "The Muppet Show Theme" by the Muppet orchestra before Statler and Waldorf gave the last laugh of the night, followed by Zoot playing an off-key final note on his saxophone. Some last-laugh sequences featured other Muppets on the balcony. For example, in one episode, the Muppets of *Sesame Street* appeared behind Statler and Waldorf, who told them, "How should we know how to get to Sesame Street? We don't even know how to get out of this stupid theater box!"

Every season, the TV version of the song was presented with re-worked lyrics. While the opening sequence evolved visually over the course of the show's five seasons, the musical composition remained essentially the same. Throughout the years, the song has become a staple of the franchise.

### Muppet Theater

The Muppet Theater is the setting for *The Muppet Show*, a grand old vaudeville house that has seen better days. In episode 106, Kermit identifies the name of the theatre as The Benny Vandergast Memorial Theater, although other episodes merely identify it as "the Muppet Theater". It is also identified as simply "Muppet Theater" in *It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie*. It is then that the theatre becomes registered as a historical landmark, and it cannot be shut down. In the film, theatre is shown to be in New York City.

According to *The Phantom of the Muppet Theater*, the theatre was built by a stage actor named John Stone in 1802. At some point, a production of *Hamlet* ran in the theatre, with Stone playing the title role. An alternate exterior is also shown in the book.

Locations seen in the Muppet Theater include backstage right (which includes Kermit's desk), the dressing rooms, the attic (featured in four compilation videos released in 1985), the canteen, the prop room, the stage, Statler and Waldorf's box, the auditorium, reception, the recording studio, the stage door lobby, and the back alley. Some of these sets were later re-used as the Happiness Hotel in *The Great Muppet Caper*. A replica of the theatre serves as the setting for the Muppet\*Vision 3D attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Scooter's uncle J.P. Grosse owns the theatre, and rents it to the Muppets. In a deleted scene from *It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie*, Kermit reveals that J.P. has died and left the theatre to the Muppets in his will. This would have taken place some time after 1996, as J.P. can be seen (and referred to as such by the head of the KMUP network) in episode 107 of *Muppets Tonight*, the 1990s reworking of *The Muppet Show*.

In the film *The Muppets*, a badly deteriorated version of the Muppet Theater is located next to Muppet Studios in Los Angeles. The Muppets reunite in hopes of raising enough money to buy the theatre from oil magnate Tex Richman before he can demolish it and start drilling for oil on the site.

### Characters and performers

Many of the characters who appeared on *The Muppet Show* have appeared in previous and subsequent Muppet productions.

### Guest stars

No guest star ever appeared twice on *The Muppet Show*, although John Denver appeared both on the show and in two specials (*John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together* and *John Denver & the Muppets: Rocky Mountain Holiday*), while Dudley Moore reappeared in the special, *The Muppets Go to the Movies*. Additionally, several guest stars from the series had cameos in one of the first three Muppet theatrical films. Originally, the producers had to call on their personal contacts to appeal to them to appear, especially considering that doing so required an overseas trip to Britain. However, the situation changed when the renowned ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev offered to appear; his performance on this unusual TV program produced so much favourable publicity that the series became one of the most sought after for various celebrities to appear in.

Many episodes featured actors, such as Steve Martin, Harvey Korman, Rita Moreno and Dom DeLuise; some featured veteran performers like Ethel Merman, Don Knotts and Vincent Price; some featured well-known pop singers, including Elton John, Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt, and Leo Sayer. Sayer's show used his hit "The Show Must Go On": he changed the lyrics in the second verse slightly, from "I wish I could tear down the walls of this theatre" to "I wish I could tear down the walls of this Muppet theater". Some guest stars, such as Monty Python star John Cleese, co-wrote much of their own episode. The second to last episode, in 1981, featured then-James Bond actor Roger Moore. Mark Hamill appeared in one episode as both himself and Luke Skywalker, his role in the *Star Wars* film series.

A guest appearance by Peter Sellers—who chose not to appear as himself, instead appearing in a variety of costumes and accents—earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in Variety or Music. One episode featured staff writer, Chris Langham (who wrote some episodes of this show, starting in the third season) guest-starring due to Richard Pryor being unable to make the taping of the episode at the last minute.

An early tradition was to present the guest star with a Muppet likeness of themselves as a parting gift at the end of the show, but this only lasted for the first two episodes produced, featuring Connie Stevens and Juliet Prowse. The high cost and effort of creating these unique Muppets, scheduling conflicts, and potential legal issues contributed to the decline of this practice, although Muppet caricatures and parodies would continue to appear. The practice did however take place for actors Michael Caine and Tim Curry, who were the lead performers in *The Muppet Christmas Carol* and *Muppet Treasure Island*, respectively.

### Series releases

In 1994, Jim Henson Video released *The Muppet Show: Monster Laughs with Vincent Price*, featuring the episodes with Vincent Price and Alice Cooper. Both episodes were edited. In addition to replacing the first series opening and the ending logos with Zoot, the Vincent Price episode was edited to remove the songs "I'm Looking Through You" and "You've Got a Friend" (the latter of which would be cut again when released on the first series DVD) as well as a sketch with the talking houses, while the Alice Cooper episode removed Robin's performance of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

Time-Life and Jim Henson Home Entertainment began marketing "best of" volumes of *The Muppet Show* for mail-order in 2001, with six initial volumes with three episodes on each VHS and DVD. Unique to each episode was an introduction by Jim Henson's son, Brian. Nine more volumes were added for 2002, the Muppets' 25th anniversary. The collection was available for retail in 2002 via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Jim Henson Home Entertainment by which time Time-Life had released its tenth volume.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the first series on DVD in Region 1 on 9 August 2005. 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 series 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. However, episodes that used Disney music remained unaltered (for example, episode 14 of series 1 used "Never Smile at a Crocodile" from *Peter Pan*).

* "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 Huxtetter
* "You've Got A Friend" (Vincent Price episode) sung by Vincent Price, Uncle Deadly and a chorus of Muppet Monsters

The only uncut release of Season 1 on DVD so far is the German DVD release by Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment division from 2010 (which also contains English audio). However, the intro and end credit sequences on this release are in German. In addition, the Paul Williams episode is missing a scene following "All of Me" wherein Fozzie and Scooter first discuss the "Old Telephone Pole bit". This scene does appear (albeit slightly abridged) in the international release. The German version also lacks the song "In My Life" performed by Twiggy, instead substituting it with a performance of "Lean on Me" by German singer Mary Roos.

* The original pilot, *The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence*
* The original pitch reel of the show
* Muppet morsels viewing mode with pop-up facts
 Season Two (1977–1978)
* The original pilot, *The Muppets Valentine Show*
* The Muppets on the Muppets (interviews)
 Season Three (1978–1979)
* "A Company of Players" (documentary)
* "The Muppets on Puppets" (documentary)
* Purina Dog Food commercials with Rowlf