"It's time to play the music." - The Muppet Show theme
The Best of the Muppet Show with Elton John, Julie Andrews, and Gene Kelly DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Jim Henson created his first Muppet characters in 1955. They appeared on numerous television programs during the ensuing years, both local and national. An early version of Kermit, reportedly made from an old felt coat that once belonged to Henson's mother, first appeared on Steve Allen's show in 1957. In 1969 the Muppets gained even greater popularity on the PBS series Sesame Street. But they did not become a cultural phenomenon until 1976, when The Muppet Show premiered.
While it was created and performed by Americans, The Muppet Show was actually produced in England and syndicated around the world. The show garnered tremendous ratings, and toy stores soon became jammed with all sorts of Muppet merchandise.
Kermit the Frog served as the show's host and stage manager. Each week a special guest star would joint the Muppet stock company to put on a variety show filled with music, dancing, and silly comedy sketches. The cast of Muppets included Miss Piggy, the not-quite demure leading pig, cornball vaudevillian Fozzie Bear, piano-playing dog Rowlf, gopher (as in "go for coffee", not "Eek! There's a gopher in my garden!") Scooter, and loveable loser Gonzo, who was sort of like a cross between a bird and a bottle opener. The Muppet Show focused both on the variety bits and the backstage antics of the company and guest stars.
Three episodes are included in this collection. The first episode's special guest is Elton John, who performs "Crocodile Rock" with a chorus of crocodiles, "Bennie and the Jets" with Scooter, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" in concert with the Muppet band, and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" as a duet with Miss Piggy. Between songs, the Swedish Chef tries to coax eggs out of a ping pong ball laying chicken, Sam the Eagle is forced to eat his hat, and "Veterinarian's Hospital" (a recurring soap opera parody) deals with a feverish hound (yes, a "hot dog"). One stand out sketch in this episode is "Pigs in Space" (a recurring...well, figure it out), in which Link Heartthrob, Dr. Strangepork, and Miss Piggy deal with the most boring spaceflight ever. (We join them only 20 minutes into the flight!) There is also an old fashioned "Music Hall" number featuring Kermit and Fozzie.
The second episode's guests are Julie Andrews and a sad-eyed cow. Andrews performs the goatherd song from The Sound of Music (which she admirably makes sound fresh), a song about whistling in the face of fear, and one of her own compositions, "When You Were a Tadpole." The episode also includes a news sketch, a performance by a jug band, a speech by Sam the Eagle, and "Muppet Labs" with Dr. Honeydew and his much abused assistant/guinea pig Beaker. Gonzo also performs one of his stunts, this time playing the bagpipes while balanced on a wooden flagpole. As usual the stunt goes horribly wrong when the flagpole is attacked by a beaver.
The strongest episode stars Gene Kelly. The premise of the episode is that Gene, who has stopped by to watch the show, does not realize that he is actually scheduled to be the host. The show starts off with a surreal musical number in which the "Endangered Species Chorus" (a group of baby seals and penguins) sing "Jambalaya" in the Arctic. Kermit tricks Gene into teaching him some dance moves, and the two perform a number together. It is a real treat to see the two dancing together - with no camera tricks. After a visit to "Veterinarian's Hospital," a trio of dogs perform "Fit as a Fiddle" from Singing in the Rain. Miss Piggy corners Gene and convinces him to sing "You, Wonderful You" to her, but by the end Gene is stuck singing to Gonzo. In another funny episode of "Pigs in Space," the crew misses out on learning the meaning and purpose of life because they do not want to miss their dinner of swill stroganoff. When Gene tells Kermit that he does not like to perform "Singing in the Rain" anymore, Kermit is forced to send the jug band, Lubbock Lou and his Jug Huggers, onto the recreated Singing. street set to perform "Cool Water" in a downpour. As the show comes to a close, Rowlf tries to get Gene to perform the song by playing the intro vamp over and over again, but Gene teases him by singing a medley of his other movie songs instead. Finally he acquiesces and performs a wistful version of the song.
Another reason why the Gene Kelly episode is the most successful is that he seems to have an easy rapport with the Muppets. Elton John barely interacts with them, while Julie Andrews falls somewhere in the middle.
What really holds the shows together are the strong characters that have been created for each of the Muppets. Their personalities are so well thought out that they seem real to us. Gonzo is such a loveable loser that we cannot help but feel sorry for him even as we laugh at him. Miss Piggy's glossy hubris combined with her quick temper made her a fan favorite. Her personality forms a perfect counterpoint to Kermit's. His humble, unassuming manner also helps to ground the show. Even the background characters are dead on. In the Julie Andrews episode, Sam the Eagle delivers a speech in which he rails against conservationists trying to protect endangered species. This caricature of a pompous politician is still alarmingly relevant today.
These three episodes are included on a single DVD which is housed in a white keepcase. The opening menu allows the viewer to play all episodes or to choose individual episodes. Choosing an individual episode leads to a needlessly complicated scene selection screen.
