The Muppet Show: Season 1

Now that I have the season one DVD set I can give you low down on this sensational collection. I won't go much into the episodes themselves since there are plenty of episode lists for you already. Suffice it to say there are some gems on this DVD. Also the extras are delightful. The episodes look very clean and the audio is well balanced. I don't recall whether or not the show was remastered for this DVD set, but I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. It really looks like you are watching the shows for the time in all their pristine glory. This being the first season you will notice a few differences to the later seasons like how Fozzy Bear and Miss Piggy look and how Janice and some other characters sound. I kinda like seeing the earlier processes and how they evolve later on. Also there seems to be more of an irreverent charm in these episodes as well (then again I think the Muppets have always been like that). If you ever watched the Muppets you know that while you get some great comedy and wit most of the time there are those moments that seem dry. Considering these eps were done in the mid-70's that dryness might show up even more with dated material. Trust me, there is still PLENTY of fun content even if you feel the variety show format is old. The episodes are great and I'm very happy to own them, but the extras you get really stand out as something really special and entertaining too. My personal favorite is the pitch reel Jim Henson used to sell the show to the TV executives. It's a riot! It shows just how clever and daring the show can be.The reel even takes jabs at the very execs Henson is trying to win over. Classic!! The pilot episode is another treat as well. The pacing of the pilot is a lot like Cartoon Network's ROBOT CHICKEN with very fast cuts between gags. I like the differences between the pilot and actual show like Kermit having a cameo appearance instead of being the host and how Sam the Eagle had a bigger and more laid back role in the show. The other extras are great as well. There is a "gag" reel that seems more like commercial spots for early episodes, but their are fun to watch anyway. The Fun Facts is essentially a subtitle track (with an occasional splash of Kermit on the screen) you can have play on the episodes that give you TONS of information about the show, the current episode, and more. The Fun Facts are as informative and interesting as the best director or cast commentaries you can come up with from any DVD anywhere. It's that good. The DVD set itself is put in an interesting DVD case that supposedly simulates Kermit's muppet skin. I don't think it's actual felt but it's a really neat design none the less. The 4 DVDs are kinda squished together within what would normally be a 2 DVD case by having two DVDs overlap each other. It's a neat design, however getting at disk 2 or 4 means you have to take out disk 1 or 3 to get to them. Small price to pay for a space-saving design. Here's the deal. If you're a fan of The Muppet Show this DVD set is essential. You get a lot of good content for the price. The quality of this DVD set is excellent. It definitely beats out those "Best of The Muppets" DVDs we have had to endure all this time (incomplete, lacking extras, etc). You like the Muppets? GET THIS DVD. You'll thank me for it.

It is a muppet show,a great show.

This is a really great dvd set! I have enjoyed re-visiting these classic episodes of such an amazing and creative series. I certainly loved the Muppets from my childhood, but I have enjoyed them even more from an adult perspective. The musical segments are particularly entertaining. The first season is a bit more experimental than later seasons, and some of the characters, like Fozzie and Miss Piggy, develop over the course of this season. The guest stars on this set are a veritable 'who's-that?' of 70's talent... there is an option for pop-up messages which give information about the guests, and behind-the-scenes information for each segment. The guest stars in later episodes might be a bit more recognizable to modern audiences. This set is notable for featuring (mostly) un-edited episodes, including some alternate segments recorded for other countries. Some of this content has never been available on home video, or on American syndicated versions of the show. Also, this set features some notable extras. Aside from the 25 original episodes, there is the original pilot episode (if you read the comments for each episode, you will note that they made two pilots, and one became the first syndicated episode). Included in the extras is a very entertaining 'pitch reel' created by Henson and Oz to sell the show to CBS. These extras provide more insight into the history and development of the show. EDIT: I only realized after I bought the set that a few musical sequences were cut from this release: noticeably missing were a few songs from the Vincent Price episode, and also Jim Nabors' episode was missing the opening number. The set is advertised as containing the 'un-edited full episodes' but, this is not the case, since they couldn't get musical clearance for all of the songs featured. I wish this were more clearly noted in the descriptions for the set, or somewhere on the notes for the dvd's. The entire series has previously been released on dvd from Time-Life media (and I believe those were actually un-edited, with all of the musical numbers included). The Time-Life set has introductions by Brian Henson for each episode, which are ok, but it doesn't include the pilot, alternate segments, or other extras of this season one collector's set. The quality of the dvd's is pretty good for a 1970's television show. A couple of the earliest episodes look a little worse than the rest, with some ghosting of the images created by the bright colors on the original video, due to the processes used at the time. Also, you may notice some minor video artifacts, more noticeable on bigger tv's, caused by the mpeg-2 video compression since they put several hours of content on each dvd. But, overall, the image quality is good, and the remastered sound is also quite good. I whole-heartedly recommend this set to people from my generation wanting to re-visit their favorite childhood shows, or parents looking for an entertaining show that they can share with their children as an alternative to current lackluster children's programming. You may be surprised how good the Muppet Show actually was, but, I suspect you already know. Enjoy!

There are some aspects of this show that some parents (not myself however) might find objection to when choosing a program for younger viewers. Although it certainly was intended for youngsters that were older than Sesame Street age, there were a few "violent" moments in this show. How about Rita Moreno beating up the drunk in the bar, the scary ineptitude of Dr. Bob (Ralph the Dog) in Veteranarian's Hospital, Harry the bomb specialist, Animal taking his girlfriend for a "trip", or Avery Schriver's duel with Jack (the giant muppet). There is even a song by Ralph the Dog called "You, Me, and Bob" where Bob drowns "leaving just you and me." For older children and especially adults (some who may have grown up with this show) the show is perfect entertainment. It is a variety show in the best tradition of the best variety shows ever. Song, dance, comedy, and even a few serious moments. It is the type of show where just when you think you've been entertained to the fullest, you find even more joy. The guest stars not only added value to this entertainment, but 70's and 80's nostalgic value as well. There are many reasons that this title earns 5 stars. The memorable characters like the wise cracking Statler and Waldorf, the brilliant writing, voice acting,and directing, and most of all, the expanded vision of Jim Henson who believed that fictional characters could be brought to life, and that thier personalities could, and can, influence us "real" people in such a way so as to bring joy to our lives (even if it is in 25 minute spurts.)

If you’ve never watched this please do! It’s sketch comedy with muppets! Brought back childhood memories!

Buena calidad

Parfait

Ich habe Monate und Jahre die erste deutsche Ausgabe bei amazon vorbestellt und immer wieder wurde der Erscheinungstermin verschoben. Vor kurzem habe ich auf "you tube" Ausschnitte in der englischen Originalfassung gesehen und war überrascht, wie ähnlich die Stimmen den deutschen Stimmen sind und wieviel ich doch verstehe. Ich habe dann die erste Box erworben und es war wirklich suuuper...jedem zu empfehlen, der die alten Muppet-Zeiten wieder aufleben lassen will. Einige Gesangsnummern sind aus heutiger Sicht vielleicht etwas antiquiert aber selbst in diesen Momenten überzeugt die Phantasie der Macher und das Können der Puppenspieler. Insofern kann die die bisherigen Boxen nur empfehlen. Hier sind die Stargäste der ersten drei Seasons: Season one Episode 1--Juliet Prowse Episode 2--Connie Stevens Episode 3--Joel Grey Episode 4--Ruth Buzzi Episode 5--Rita Moreno Episode 6--Jim Nabors Episode 7--Florence Henderson Episode 8--Paul Williams Episode 9--Charles Aznavour Episode 10--Harvey Korman Episode 11--Lena Horne Episode 12--Peter Ustinov Episode 13--Bruce Forsyth Episode 14--Sandy Duncan Episode 15--Candice Bergen Episode 16--Avery Schreiber Episode 17--Ben Vereen Episode 18--Phyllis Diller Episode 19--Vincent Price Episode 20--Valerie Harper Episode 21--Twiggy Episode 22--Ethel Merman Episode 23--Kaye Ballard Episode 24--Mummenschanz Season two EPISODE 1: Don Knotts. EPISODE 2: Zero Mostel EPISODE 3: Milton Berle EPISODE 4: Rich Little EPISODE 5: Judy Collins EPISODE 6: Nancy Walker EPISODE 7: Edgar Bergen EPISODE 8: Steve Martin EPISODE 9: Madeline Kahn EPISODE 10: George Burns EPISODE 11: Dom DeLuise EPISODE 12: Bernadette Peters EPISODE 13: Rudolf Nureyev EPISODE 14: Elton John EPISODE 15: Lou Rawls EPISODE 16: Cleo Laine EPISODE 17: Julie Andrews EPISODE 18: Jaye P. Morgan EPISODE 19: Peter Sellers EPISODE 20: Petula Clark EPISODE 21: Bob Hope EPISODE 22: Teresa Brewer EPISODE 23: John Cleese EPISODE 24: Cloris Leachman Season three * Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge * Leo Sayer * Roy Clark * Gilda Radner * Pearl Bailey * Jean Stapleton * Alice Cooper * Loretta Lynn * Liberace * Marisa Berenson * Raquel Welch * James Coco * Helen Reddy * Harry Belafonte * Lesley Ann Warren * Danny Kaye * Spike Milligan * Leslie Uggams * Elke Sommer * Sylvester Stallone * Roger Miller * Roy Rogers & Dale Evans * Lynn Redgrave * Cheryl Ladd

Grandiosi

Unlike other reviewers, who seem to be die hard fans and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of whether you will get the episodes in the right order etc, which is all good stuff to know if you want that kind of thing, all I remember is that when I was a child I used to sit in front of the television on a Sunday night desperate for the muppets to start. It was a lifesaver of a show set amongst things like The Money Programme and Songs of Praise. I loved it. It was funny, the characters were great, and my parents liked it because it had that classic quality of a great kids television show, in that the humour worked on many levels. My children are now of an age to enjoy the muppets and I ordered this with great trepidation thinking like many other things from my childhood, it might not live up to expectation. Thankfully it does. It really does. I still love it, and now my kids love it too. Our particular favourite sketch has got to be the classic Mnah, Mnah, which still had me falling about after all these years. It is still fresh, still original and still highly entertaining. The kids and I have a lasting fondness for the wonderful figure of Gonzo, who gets perpetually blown up, and as an adult I now realise that Kermit isn't as boring as I used to think he was! Great extras, lots of episodes to enjoy. A real treasure.