DVD Review: The Muppet Show: Season One

08/01/05

One of the many reasons I play videogames is because most modern TV shows stink. Honestly, if it?s not a courtroom or crime-solving drama, it?s a so-called reality show. With such arguably unoriginal network shows, videogames are among the most entertaining after-work activities. Running the risk of sounding old, things were different in the 1970s. Sure, videogames were in their infancy, so they weren?t as much of a home-entertainment option, but TV shows also seemed more clever. You doubt me? Just watch The Muppet Show: Season One DVD, which Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release on August 9. The Muppet Show: Season One set is comprised of four DVDs that show what good television is all about. Variety shows today are limited to Saturday Night Live, which can be a bit too trendy, and Steve Harvey?s Big Time, which often equates to Jerry Springer minus the redneck drama. The Muppets? They?re classic. Even today, the first season gets just as many laughs as it did in 1976, when Jim Henson and his comedic cohorts first aired their series. The special guest stars have lost a bit of their impact in the past 29 years, but the one-liners and songs are simply a riot. Not each of the 24 episodes (six per disk) is a knockout. Jim Nabors and Ruth Buzzi (episodes six and two) are pretty solid, for example, while a young Sandy Duncan and young(er) Vincent Price (episodes 14 and 19) are serviceable but not outstanding. Likewise, although the series quickly establishes the skits that will appear in each episode, several just fail to hit the mark, a sign of the show still trying to find its legs. Since The Muppet Show aired in the pre-HD era, the shows are all presented in the standard 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and the sound only comes through in two speakers. The picture and audio have all been remastered, so the show definitely looks better than it did in 1976, but you should still go into this four-disk set with reasonable expectations. For those with their eyes on bonus features, The Muppet Show Season One DVD is relatively limited, although what?s there is surprisingly good. There are basically four bonus features, three of which are on disk four. The first feature actually appears on each disk: a popup video-like feature called Muppet Morsels, which provides key trivia elements during the course of each show. The second, a promo gag reel, is cute, but it?s slightly mislabeled, since it?s more of a collection of teasers for the following week?s show than it is a blooper reel. The third feature is the original Muppet Show pilot episode, two things from which really stand out. First is the show?s lack of any good laughs, let alone any defined character style. ?Disorganized? and ?poorly paced? are two phrases that come to mind, and to be honest, it?s somewhat surprising that the pilot earned a vote of confidence from studio execs. Of course, the flip side of that is the pilot?s second-most memorable facet: its evolution from this single pilot to the full-blown series. In the pilot, Kermit and Miss Piggy are unnamed extras, and the show is hosted by an orange-faced Fraggle-like character named Nigel. The skits are split up to spread them throughout the show, there is no guest star, and the show doesn?t really capture much of the sense that it takes place in a theater. The drastic changes from this pilot to the first ?official? episode are remarkable, and in every case they?re for the better. The characters are given more personality, the relationships between them are more fleshed-out, and the backstage theater concept is executed much more effectively. Yet in spite of this ability to watch the vision for the show change before your very eyes, the most memorable bonus feature is the original Muppet Show pitch reel, which Jim Henson assembled to coax producers into green-lighting his show. There?s no way a play-by-play description of the spiel can do it justice, but let?s just say it involves a lot of tongue-in-cheek, world-domination marketing lingo that probably incited as many chuckles from studio executives as it did thoughts of increased revenue. The Muppet Show Season One DVD collector?s set is a virtual time machine. It takes TV viewers back to a period when variety shows were just that: full of variety and originality. It takes viewers back to a time when TiVO didn?t exist but you were OK with that because you?d just as soon see the show live anyway. But more important, it takes viewers back to an era when writers weren?t necessarily working for Emmy Awards but for their desire to entertain viewers from ages nine to 99. The Muppet Show Season One is classic television. I highly recommend you check it out when it hits stores on August 9. -- Jonas Allen
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