The Muppet Show: Season One

Included are all 24 episodes, completely restored and remastered, plus two never-before-seen episodes, bonus features, and something you were never meant to see: Jim Henson's original "pitch reel" that propelled the Muppets' blend of original songs, sketch comedy and guest stars into a primetime hit for all ages! Join Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, the Swedish Chef and more, in the complete first season of this groundbreaking twist on the classic Variety Show. It's time to raise the curtain on THE MUPPET SHOW! Come discover for yourself the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational pleasures of THE MUPPET SHOW: SEASON ONE!

Phyllis Diller bats out shameless one-liners ("I sang 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,' and it fell on me"), and Vincent Price toys with his own horror film image by playing a ghoul who turns into a maudlin orchestra conductor at midnight. A reliance on too many disposable verbal jokes and redundant, so-so material for sketch fodder ultimately gives way to more creative premises and the development of key relationships between characters. Rita Moreno proves quite game in a funny piece, set in a French cafe, in which her dance with a man-size Muppet turns from romantic to table-smashing violent. Season One finds the show pretty much in the basic shape longtime fans will remember: A musical introduction followed by backstage chaos, another musical number, a sketch, a scene with the guest star, and so on. Well, perhaps not everything: Today's younger viewers might have a hard time placing some of The Muppet Show's then-guest stars, such as Florence Henderson or Ruth Buzzi. A half-hour episode can fly by pretty quickly, but it's interesting to note that the series hadn't quite found its familiar tone through much of the first year. By the final half-dozen episodes in the first season, The Muppet Show is truly cooking. Harvey Korman plays bumbling ringmaster Maurice the Magnificent, easily the worst animal trainer in history. Joel Grey does a cabaret-style act for a roomful of Muppets and is later outraged when Kermit's introduction of the actor proves so thorough there is nothing left for the latter to say. Season highlights include Kermit's confession to guest Juliet Prowse that he always wanted to be a dancer, and Prowse's comparison of the little green superstar to Robert Redford. whatever, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and the rest of the Muppets' harried, well-meaning family of entertainers. The charm, the zaniness, the corny jokes, the showbiz cliches--every element of The Muppet Show holds up 30 years after Jim Henson's legendary variety series' debut season. --Tom Keogh

Stills from The Muppet Show (click for larger image) The divine Miss Piggy Kermit and Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear and Kermit Sing along! Everyone's a critic But then, the Show's real celebrities are perennial icons Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo the...