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The Muppet Show

The Muppet Show is a television program featuring a cast of Muppets (diverse hand operated puppets, typically with huge eyes and large moving mouths) produced by Jim Henson and his team from 1976 to 1981. Despite its creative inspiration being American, Jim Henson was unable to get the show produced in North America, but instead persuaded Lord Lew Grade at ATV in Great Britain to produce it. In the United States, it ran in non network syndication, usually on Saturday nights; in Britain it aired on the ITV network.

The television show depicted a vaudeville-style song-and-dance variety show, as well as the backstage antics involved in putting the show on. Most of the shows revolved around the timid and gentle Kermit the Frog (performed by Henson) trying to keep control of the varied, outrageous, kinetic Muppet characters, as well as keep the human guest stars happy and secure. The show was well known for outrageous, highly physical (slapstick), sometimes absurdist comedy, and particularly for using its puppet characters to create uniquely humorous parodies. Many major celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in film. Each show featured a human guest star, as diverse as Twiggy, Julie Andrews, Steve Martin, Mummenschanz, and Alice Cooper. (Episode Guide)

Though they appear in various earlier forms (see Jim Henson), the Muppets gained widespread popularity on the landmark PBS live-action/puppet series Sesame Street. The Muppet Show became the cornerstone of Jim Henson's enormously popular ongoing productions.

Other "Jim Henson's Muppets" creations featured in the films The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and the Sesame Street-based Follow That Bird, as well as in a large variety of films, made-for-TV movies, direct-to-video children's releases, and television specials.

Major show writers included Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns.

Long term Muppet performers included are:

Select episodes can be found on VHS and DVD. Bits of the show also pop-up in movies sometimes (An American Werewolf in London and Rocky III). The rights to the episodes and characters used in The Muppet Show, and subsequent film outings, were bought in February 2004 by The Walt Disney Company.

Contents

1 Spin-offs

2 List of Muppet characters

3 Recurring skits

4 List of guest stars

5 Related topics

Spin-offs

The Muppet Show characters went on to star in The Muppet Movie, which was the first film to feature puppets interacting with humans in real-world locations, and later films such as The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan. Also, the format was revived as Muppets Tonight in 1996. The first 10 episodes aired on ABC while the rest aired on The Disney Channel.

List of Muppet characters

Kermit the Frog, director and host
Miss Piggy, a glamorous diva pig
Fozzie Bear, a (questionably talented) stand-up comic bear
Scooter, the gofer (not a real gopher, a backstage "go-for"), nephew of the theatre's owner.
Gonzo aka The Great Gonzo, Gonzo the Great, stuntman and daredevil
The Swedish Chef, a Swedish Chef
Rowlf the dog, piano player
Dr. Julius Strangepork the science officer in Pigs in Space
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, scientist and inventor, and his capable guinea pig/assistant, Beaker
Camilla, a chicken (Gonzo's love)
Sam the (American) Eagle, American patriot
Dr. Teeth, band leader and keyboard player for Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem
Zoot, saxophone player
Janice, guitarist
Animal, the drummer
Sgt. Floyd Pepper, bass guitarist
Lew Zealand , boomerang fish thrower, and obsessed with fish generally
Statler & Waldorf, two old men who come to every show and heckle the performances
Annie Sue , Miss Piggy's rival
The Muppet newscaster
Foo-Foo, Miss Piggy's dog
Sweetums, 9-foot-tall monster
Link Hogthrob, star of Pigs in Space, Captain of the USS Swinetrek. Also stars in "Bear Patrol."
Beauregard , the stage hand
Crazy Harry, madman who likes explosives
Robin, Kermit's nephew
Uncle Deadly , sinister and a little scary
Flying Zucchini Brothers , acrobats with a disasterous finish
Pops , the door greeter
Marvin Suggs , the Muppaphone man
George , the janitor

Recurring skits

At the Dance - Laugh-In style one liners from the characters as they ballroom dance
Muppet Labs - the latest invention from Dr. Bunsen Honeydew with his assistant, Beaker, getting the worst of its inevitable malfunction.
Muppet News Flash - a news announcer gives a newsbrief only to typically have something fall on his head
Pigs In Space - parody of science fiction shows like Star Trek, but also old 40's sci-fi serials. The space craft is called USS Swinetrek.
Swedish Chef - Cooking show parody
Vend-a-face - A vending machine that offers unique services that usually mean agonizing contortions of the muppets dumb enough to feed the machine.
Veterinarian's Hospital - parody of soap opera General Hospital and other medical dramas which consists of Dr. Bob (Rowlf) cracking jokes in the operating room with Nurses Piggy and Janice; each instalment ends with Dr. Bob and his nurses looking around in puzzlement as a disembodied voice tells viewers to tune in next time.
Wayne and Wanda - Every song this duo attempted ends in disaster
Bear on Patrol - Fozzie is a unlucky police officer and Link Hogthrob is his stupid superior who always get into the silliest situations with the criminals brought in.

List of guest stars

No guest star ever appeared twice on the Muppet Show.

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