Favorite Season of the Muppet Show

mupcollector1

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when Seasons 4 and 5 came out? I only have 123
4 and 5 didn't come out officially just let. I think some members have taped off of TV recordings when the episodes reran either on Nickelodeon, Ossney (forgot the channel's name) Channel, or the UK Disney Channel.
 

mupcollector1

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I can't decide between seasons 3-5 the quality was really consistent through all these seasons.
It seemed like the characters basically finalized in the final two seasons. Though I think season 3 is when everything was falling into place, and the characters finally evolved. Plus also I think that the Muppet crew filmed one half of The Muppet Show, then The Muppet Movie and then the rest of season 3.

What's very interesting was Season 1 didn't do so well in the ratings from my understanding and had a cult following back then, but when Season 2 came out the show sky-rocket towards success. 230 Million viewers I think? And this was internationally and syndication. I remember hearing that the reason why The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight didn't survive ratings was because they weren't syndicated. That would also explain why the latest Muppet movie beat their box office record because like The Muppet Show, it went international and syndicated. Funny thing is I knew someone who originally was from Egypt and he told me he used to watch The Muppet Show growing up in Egypt.
 

Mo Frackle

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4 and 5 didn't come out officially just let. I think some members have taped off of TV recordings when the episodes reran either on Nickelodeon, Ossney (forgot the channel's name) Channel, or the UK Disney Channel.
And again, all episodes are on youtube.
 

Mo Frackle

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It seemed like the characters basically finalized in the final two seasons. Though I think season 3 is when everything was falling into place, and the characters finally evolved. Plus also I think that the Muppet crew filmed one half of The Muppet Show, then The Muppet Movie and then the rest of season 3.

What's very interesting was Season 1 didn't do so well in the ratings from my understanding and had a cult following back then, but when Season 2 came out the show sky-rocket towards success. 230 Million viewers I think? And this was internationally and syndication. I remember hearing that the reason why The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight didn't survive ratings was because they weren't syndicated. That would also explain why the latest Muppet movie beat their box office record because like The Muppet Show, it went international and syndicated. Funny thing is I knew someone who originally was from Egypt and he told me he used to watch The Muppet Show growing up in Egypt.
Syndication would have helped JHH and MT, yes. But also, both shows were placed in crummy timeslots (specifically the ever-popular "Friday Night Deathslot").

As for Season 1 not doing well, that's understandable. The Muppets still weren't quite household names (outside of Sesame Street, and maybe Rowlf the Dog).

And I'm not sure how people felt about primetime "puppet show" back then. But once the Muppets established themselves, they got bigger. More well-known guest stars would ask to be on the show.
 

mupcollector1

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And I'm not sure how people felt about primetime "puppet show" back then. But once the Muppets established themselves, they got bigger. More well-known guest stars would ask to be on the show.
I can certainly say that Jim was probably the first to present adult puppetry to the mainstream. At the time of The Muppet Show's first season, there was a rather risky puppet movie that was, let's say it went beyond NC-17. I won't name it but I just wanted to point out that it wasn't a success and kind of a Muppet rip off, plus it wasn't really well done. And the funny thing about the 1970s was Ralph Bakshi was making adult animated features yet there wasn't anything for adults in animation except for The Flintstones and the Jetsons and reruns of Looney Tunes, Tex Avery, Woody Woodpecker and all the other theater shorts. Though puppetry was never considered except when Jim did it. Jim struggled to get The Muppet Show on the air, all the networks turned him down, and SNL wasn't going so well with the audience at the time. But thank Goodness that Lord Lew Grade stepped into the picture and made The Muppet Show a reality. Though the irony of it was the networks that turned The Muppet Show down took the syndication afterwords. :smile:
 

cjd874

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What's very interesting was Season 1 didn't do so well in the ratings from my understanding and had a cult following back then, but when Season 2 came out the show sky-rocket towards success. 230 Million viewers I think? And this was internationally and syndication. I remember hearing that the reason why The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight didn't survive ratings was because they weren't syndicated. That would also explain why the latest Muppet movie beat their box office record because like The Muppet Show, it went international and syndicated. Funny thing is I knew someone who originally was from Egypt and he told me he used to watch The Muppet Show growing up in Egypt.
Not only syndication, but once Rudolf Nureyev performed on the show, the Muppet Show became the new TV hot spot for famous musicians, actors, and comedians alike. In fact, after Rudolf's appearance (and possibly Elton John's as well), the Muppet producers, or whoever finds the guest stars, didn't have to ask as many people because now everyone wanted to appear on the MS. Once you get an international ballet star on your show, the show is in the bag, so to speak.
 

Mo Frackle

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I can certainly say that Jim was probably the first to present adult puppetry to the mainstream. At the time of The Muppet Show's first season, there was a rather risky puppet movie that was, let's say it went beyond NC-17. I won't name it but I just wanted to point out that it wasn't a success and kind of a Muppet rip off, plus it wasn't really well done. And the funny thing about the 1970s was Ralph Bakshi was making adult animated features yet there wasn't anything for adults in animation except for The Flintstones and the Jetsons and reruns of Looney Tunes, Tex Avery, Woody Woodpecker and all the other theater shorts. Though puppetry was never considered except when Jim did it. Jim struggled to get The Muppet Show on the air, all the networks turned him down, and SNL wasn't going so well with the audience at the time. But thank Goodness that Lord Lew Grade stepped into the picture and made The Muppet Show a reality. Though the irony of it was the networks that turned The Muppet Show down took the syndication afterwords. :smile:
Well, yes, Henson did bring about adult puppetry. But even in 1976, there were probably still people who had their minds set on "puppets are kids entertainment". While the Muppets had done more "adult things" prior to TMS, it wasn't until TMS really took off that a lot of people began to recognize what Henson had done.
 

mupcollector1

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Well, yes, Henson did bring about adult puppetry. But even in 1976, there were probably still people who had their minds set on "puppets are kids entertainment". While the Muppets had done more "adult things" prior to TMS, it wasn't until TMS really took off that a lot of people began to recognize what Henson had done.
Totally but you know what's kind of said is that today lots of people still think puppets are for kids. And I think if The Muppets came back with a new Muppet show like Muppets Tonight, has a bit of an edge, risky, irreverent humor The Muppets have always had since the Sam & Friends days. That classic ireverent humor, slapstick and bad puns and of course the weirdness of monsters, explosions and Koosebanians, just pure craziness...And it being in the right time slot, syndicated, The Muppets would totally be back mainstream. And I think it would be cool if Brian Henson and Frank Oz came back to The Muppets and did directing, writing as well as performing. That would be really awesome. :smile:
 

Auberoun

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I read an interview at one time with Frank Oz, and he had said that they wouldn't be able to do a "new" Muppet Show without Jim because he was really the glue that held everything together. He went on to say that "he (Jim) was so vital that to attempt a reboot of The Muppet Show and make it relevant to today's audience just wouldn't work because TMS was a culmination of everything coming together perfectly. It was just the right talent, time and place that made it so special. You can't remake TMS anymore than you can I love Lucy".
 
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