The Muppet Show - Season 1
By Dave Marshack
With the TV show on DVD boom in full swing, studios have been digging
deeper into their vaults and have been more willing to spend the
kind of money that enables them to release many shows that most
assumed would be kept under lock and key when this trend first began.
Season 1 of The Muppet Show is one of those releases that most felt
would never see the light of day due to the huge amount of music
rights that would need to be negotiated. However, Buena Vista emptied
their pockets, coughed up the loot and now The Muppet Show can be
relived all over again.
The Show:
So many people have grown up with the Muppets, be it from actually
watching The Muppet Show, when it was originally aired in the late
70's/early 80's, repeats in syndication, Sesame Street, Muppet Babies,
Fraggle Rock or the various Muppet movies. You'd be hard pressed
to find someone who hasn't been affected by them in some capacity.
The Muppet Show has always been one of the crown jewels in the Muppet
release cannon. It was an homage to the variety shows that populated
the airwaves in the 60's and 70's, The Muppet Show is part song
and dance, part comedy and all amazing. Kermit The Frog, Fozzie
Bear, Miss Piggy (who's role in the show was noticeably smaller
at the beginning), Sam The Eagle, Statler, Waldorf, Dr. Teeth and
The Electric Mayhem are all here and are all as fun to watch as
you remembered.
This show can be appreciated on so many levels due to Jim Henson's
strict policy to not dumb the show down. Yes, of course children
will enjoy it, though they might miss some of the more obscure references
and puns that pepper the show's run. The scenes are presented intelligently
and with such care put into them, very few shows could be judged
on the same level as this one. It is difficult to summarize such
an outstanding show briefly, as although there are reoccurring bits
and gags, each and every show is completely different and plays
off of the strengths of that episode's guest star. As this is the
first season, many of the guests are either friends of the producers
of the show or fans of the Muppets themselves, so some of them are
not immediately recognizable almost 30 years later. However this
season does have a few guests that many will still remember (Candice
Bergen, Florence Henderson, Vincent Price and others) and as the
series went on, it became so hot that many of that era's A-list
celebrities came on board for later seasons.
Simply said, this show is practically perfect. A show that truly
anyone of any age can and probably will enjoy.
The DVD:
The packaging is a treat right off the bat as the outer case is
colored and patterned to match Kermit The Frog's torso. Taking this
idea one step further, this design has then been made fuzzy (or
'felt-y' might be a bit more accurate) to simulate what Kermit probably
feels like. Some stores have been carrying a version that is not
fuzzy though, in case you don't want to be tempted to pet your DVDs.
The picture quality of this DVD is spectacular considering the
age of the source material. The picture is sharp, the colors are
perfectly balanced and it is just remarkable how well all of this
footage has been restored for DVD. For a show this old, this DVD
sets the standard that other shows should be measured against. Also
brilliant is the sound quality. All of the musical numbers sound
pitch-perfect and surely the DVD format has allowed them to be heard
in ways that they never have before.
One thing to take note of is that there have been cuts made to
six of the episodes on the DVD set, be it for musical clearance
rights or other issues. Aside from an awkward cut in episode 9 (Charles
Aznavour) it is hardly noticeable unless you've done research online
or are so familiar with the show that you truly do remember it being
there. In no way is this statement supporting a studio’s decision
to cut footage and every effort should be made to present the source
material exactly as it was envisioned. However, these cuts just
are not invasive enough that they should deter anyone from picking
this set up, and you will see that the quality of both the shows
content and DVD features are more than enough to compensate.
As far as extras go, there are sadly no commentaries, however,
each episode is equipped with "Muppet Morsels" which are
a running commentary, subtitle styled, that plays over the episodes,
pointing out facts about what's happening on screen as well as random
Muppet Trivia. Full commentaries would have been nice (Frank Oz
is still with us after all), but most of the information a commentary
would dish out is in these Morsels. Also on board is the Promo Gag
Real, which consists of a handful of short, mini commercials used
to plug an upcoming episode of the show when it was on TV.
Next up is the Muppet Pitch Real a minute and a half or so long
pitch that was sent to network executives along with the pilot of
the show to help convince them to buy the show and air it (it is
genius). Lastly is one of the 2 known pilot episodes of The Muppet
Show. The one featured here is called "Sex And Violence"
and is most notable for the fact that Kermit The Frog is not the
host. It's an interesting look at the show’s creation and
showcases the birth of many characters and situations that cropped
up later when the show was officially picked up. The changes that
were made to the show make a lot of sense in hindsight as although
watching this pilot is very enjoyable, it doesn’t have the
punch of the final product.
Closing Thoughts:
As said throughout this review, there is simply no reason to not
pick this set up. Even if you are only vaguely a fan of the Muppets,
there is just so much here to enjoy. There are so few shows that
hold up over time the way The Muppet Show has. Sure some of the
guest stars are outdated (does anyone remember who Paul Williams
was?), but the show’s fresh and irreverent writing is just
as potent now as it was then. Factor in the care that this material
has been put together with along with an extremely reasonable retail
price and you have no excuse not to own this set. Long live the
Muppets.
|
