Clip edits/alterations in the Playhouse compilation videos

[minor muppetz]

Lately, I've been thinking about instances in the Playhouse video compilations where clips were significantly edited or even altered in some way. Especially after watching some on YouTube and noticing. There's four that I used to rent all the time, and then hadn't seen in many years. After seeing the episodes where the clips originated, especially years after last seeing the videos, I noticed bits that seemed to be cut, and then saw some of them on YouTube years later and saw that I was remembering correctly. I thought I'd post about them here.

Obviously, I'm not counting the removal of on-stage introductions (I think only a few such introductions appear in the videos, though there are some instances where the clips include the part with the curtain raising) or Statler and Waldorf comments. Many segments from the show had scene transitions before and/or after, so I assume the first/last second of such segments were cut when put on the compilations (unless the Jim Henson Company had copies which didn't have these transitions), though it is hard to really tell if a clip is a second short or not (especially when transitions are used for many of the clips).

Keep in mind the edits I mention for Rock Music with the Muppets and Muppet Moments are going by memory. I could be remembering wrong (especially since many of those come from episodes I first saw years after I last saw either of those videos).

The Muppet Revue

• Bear on Patrol - the ending with Fozzie turning into a chicken is cut, and the ending music is therefore played sooner as the sketch transitions to the linking footage.
• Muppet News: exploding reporters - In the episode it originated in (with Madeline Kahn), audio of The Newsman announcing "Here is a Muppet news flash!" was heard before transitioning to the segment. In this video, that line is dubbed into the footage (the same clip appears in It's the Muppets: Meet the Muppets, where "Here is a Muppet News Flash!" isn't heard at all).
• Wonderpig - Most of the clip is actually edited. The video just shows the ending of the sketch.

The Kermit and Piggy Story

• In the clip with Miss Piggy and the robot Kermit, it cuts the beginning, with Piggy talking to the actual Kermit. I find it interesting it starts with her seeing the robot first, as the laugh track played there, when the audience didn't see the real Kermit, but I guess it helps that before the clip Kermit talks about what was going on.
• The Weddign Sketch - All scenes with Marissa Berensen in the wings are cut.

Children's Songs and Stories

• I'm Five - The very ending is altered. It cuts Robin singing a line of "They Call the Wind Maria", but they cut the footage before the end and redub that audio over Robin singing. I can understand if they couldn't clear the rights (or if they didn't want to spend money on one line of a song, though there are other instances in the videos where one line of a song was used), but they probably should have just cut the whole ending, ending when Robin ended the song.

Rock Music with the Muppets

• Who Put the Bomp - I seem to recall this starting after the first verse.
• You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - I feel like the dancing at the very end is cut.

Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff

• Gonzo's line at the end of his scene with John Cleese is cut.
• I Feel Pretty - the very beginning, when the woman sings "Tonight, tonight".
• At the end of Gonzo wrestling a break, a backstage line from Gonzo is dubbed into the very end.
• You Do Something to Me - This probably shouldn't count, but the opening pan-around of the set is cut (though I think the opening music is still heard).
• Gonzo eats a tire - The ending, after Statler and Waldorf make their comments, is cut, and audio of the audience booing is dubbed into the next clip. In fact when I first saw this I thought they were meant to be the same segment. I thought that Gonzo suddenly hanging by his nose, in different clothing and a different set, was somehow a side effect from eating the tire.
• The clip from The Muppet Movie is shortened, focusing primarily on Gonzo and especially cutting out the scenes with Doc Hopper and Max (though Doc Hopper's car can still be seen). Kermit's line "Take off, Fozzie!" is dubbed to a different part.
• The middle of Gonzo's waterskiing act from The Muppets Take Manhattan is cut, leaving out "Margaret", and also cuts an audience member's comment that "it don't sound like Tony Bennet".
• Gonzo's opening dialogue and Rowlf's closing dialogue from the sketch where Gonzo conducts and battles a clam.

Country Music with the Muppets

• Barnyard Boogie - Not sure if I should count this, but the first two shots are cut. When I first saw this recently, I wondered how they were able to start it without showing the curtains raising... But then I watched it several times and then watched the clip as shown on TMS, and noticed this alteration.
• Hat - The opening shot of three whatnots is cut.

Muppet Moments

• I Go to Rio - The ending with Kermit coming on-stage to see what the audience thought (and how Statler and Waldorf rated the number).
• Sing - I recall this video starts the clip with Lena Horne singing, cutting out her mention of the song being from Sesame Street.
• Two of a Kind and Jubilee Time are edited together, leaving out the rest of the medley.

Do any of the three Playhouse videos I have not seen have any edits or alterations to the clips that were included?

 

[mupcollector1]

I didn't notice much of the edits from the Playhouse Videos but definitely Meet The Muppets and More Muppets Please, and even clips shown in the documentary "The World of Jim Henson" where there's laugh tracks heard at the end of the Posion to Posion Sam & Friends episode and the final scene from The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show. But on one of the 90s Muppet Show compilations I remember the clip with Gonzo talking to Kermit about how he was going to ask Camila out for a date. And Kermit says "Camila, Camila the Chicken". It was this weird dub edit over footage where Kermit says something else. I didn't get why that edit happened. For some reason and it's probably a different situation, there was a season 2 episode where Kermit introduces Gonzo where he was about to quote the works of Shakespeare while having his nose hanging on this fuzzy scarf a hundred feet in the air. It seems as if it was a post-rerecording dub as if a line had to be changed or a microphone wasn't working. I notice The Simpsons dub and change lines all the time. Anyway back to the original topic, perhaps those edits were done perhaps for time or to edit out mentions of other sketches that won't be seen on the compilation or something like that. I personally love the Playhouse releases more then the 90s compilations. It seems with those ones and The Very Best of The Muppet Show UK compilations the guest stars are edited out. I wonder why that is?

 

[minor muppetz]

But on one of the 90s Muppet Show compilations I remember the clip with Gonzo talking to Kermit about how he was going to ask Camila out for a date. And Kermit says "Camila, Camila the Chicken". It was this weird dub edit over footage where Kermit says something else. I didn't get why that edit happened.

The two It's the Muppets videos (and The Very Best of the Muppet Show videos) avoided showing any guest star clips, and the clip in question briefly showed Leslie Uggam on camera, so it was likely altered to avoid showing her. It's also weird, in that episode, the backstage scene was followed by the scene with Gonzo giving Camilla flowers, but the video inserts a clip in-between.

In the same compilation ("Meet the Muppets") the Swedish Chef: Chocolate Moose sketch is edited to remove Kermit objecting to the closing pun. Oddly, as far as I remember, the scene with Kermit meeting Mickey Moose immediately follows this clip. They could have reversed the two clips.

For some reason, some of the clips are shown with different introductions by Kermit. I wonder why this was done. In fact in "Meet the Muppets", the last clip (Octopuses Garden) is shown with the introduction from the closing number for the Cheryl Ladd episode, but some of the dialogue is replaced with dialogue from Kermit's introduction to "Octopuses Garden".

 

[mupcollector1]

For some reason, some of the clips are shown with different introductions by Kermit. I wonder why this was done. In fact in "Meet the Muppets", the last clip (Octopuses Garden) is shown with the introduction from the closing number for the Cheryl Ladd episode, but some of the dialogue is replaced with dialogue from Kermit's introduction to "Octopuses Garden".

Yeah, that's rings a bell. I remember on one of the videos which was introducing Octopuses Garden where the dub was horrible, yeah a dub from another scene over another clip quite senseless. It was this awkward edit I think Kermit says or it sounds like he says "Last one is a doozy." and then the number is shown and I'm like....what did Kermit say? Yeah, now I says I would just avoid those videos but back in the 90s growing up what could I do, the playhouse videos were all out of print and only at Blockbuster, the reruns stopped on Nickelodeon and where shown on another channel which my cable service didn't have, the Time Line videos didn't come out yet and years before the DVD box sets. The only closest thing was Monster Laughs with Vincent Price that had quite a few edits. Still, I was quite glad at the time to own something that was close to a full Muppet Show episode. I remember Kermit says in the middle of the two episodes "Hi Ho Kermit the Frog here, this isn't the end it's only half time, there's another great episode of The Muppet Show coming up so keep watching." It was kind of funny to here him say that almost like how announcers would announce the next show over the credits. lol I was lucky to have owned a formal rental of Rowlf's Rhapsodies. I would watch that over and over and over. I love the running gag with bomb and at the end it's Rowlf, Gonzo and Scooter trying to get rid of the bomb. "gesundheit". And how Rowlf was just getting really annoyed by Gonzo and Scooter not leaving him alone. I still have my video but I want to get another one because since it was a formal rental from an out of business video rental store, they cut up the cover and glued it to this hard cover plastic video case. One thing I remembered about the playhouse compilations was there was this thing on the front that you can open up. I think I'm going to try to get the playhouse videos next month online, I really miss these and they played a huge role in my childhood.

 

[minor muppetz]

I was lucky to have owned a formal rental of Rowlf's Rhapsodies. I would watch that over and over and over. I love the running gag with bomb and at the end it's Rowlf, Gonzo and Scooter trying to get rid of the bomb. "gesundheit". And how Rowlf was just getting really annoyed by Gonzo and Scooter not leaving him alone.

Ever since I was a kid renting some of these videos Rowlf's Rhapsodies was the one I most wanted to see, and it's currently one of only three I haven't seen. This is the first I heard about a bomb running gag.

I've read that Miss Piggy made an appearance in linking footage. What is her scene like? As far as I know she's not in any of the clips, so I know she's not there to request any of her numbers. Considering this is one of the few to feature Jim, Frank, Dave and Richard, it's a shame more of their characters weren't used in the linking footage. According to Muppet Wiki it's the only one to not have Kermit at all, despite being on the cover (though I think he's brielfy glimpsed in an audience shot in the Ramblin' Guy segment). Of course he's not in the linking footage because Rowlf's the host, but they still could have worked him in. I've read that Fozzie and Piggy interracted in Fozzie's Muppet Scrapbook, so Kermit could have briefly talked to Rowlf.

One thing I wonder, since Rowlf's Rhapsodies is the only one to feature a Wayne and Wanda number, was Sam the Eagle's introduction included? I can't imagine a Wayne and Wanda number appearing without Sam's introduction, but very few on-stage introductions were included in these videos.

 

[mupcollector1]

Ever since I was a kid renting some of these videos Rowlf's Rhapsodies was the one I most wanted to see, and it's currently one of only three I haven't seen. This is the first I heard about a bomb running gag.

I've read that Miss Piggy made an appearance in linking footage. What is her scene like? As far as I know she's not in any of the clips, so I know she's not there to request any of her numbers. Considering this is one of the few to feature Jim, Frank, Dave and Richard, it's a shame more of their characters weren't used in the linking footage. According to Muppet Wiki it's the only one to not have Kermit at all, despite being on the cover (though I think he's brielfy glimpsed in an audience shot in the Ramblin' Guy segment). Of course he's not in the linking footage because Rowlf's the host, but they still could have worked him in. I've read that Fozzie and Piggy interracted in Fozzie's Muppet Scrapbook, so Kermit could have briefly talked to Rowlf.

One thing I wonder, since Rowlf's Rhapsodies is the only one to feature a Wayne and Wanda number, was Sam the Eagle's introduction included? I can't imagine a Wayne and Wanda number appearing without Sam's introduction, but very few on-stage introductions were included in these videos.

Miss Piggy requested Petula Clark singing "The Boy From Ipanema" with the Bossman (I'm not sure who did his voice). She wore this really nice black feather outfit I remember. Yeah Kermit wasn't on there. I've got to see Fozzie's Muppet Scrapbook again, I had the video breifly years ago, I ordered it on eBay I think but there was something messed up with the tape where about 5 minutes isn't on there. And it wasn't a copy, it was an official manufactured tape. It was weird, I'm not sure whatever happen to it. It was when eBay was starting out. I think that was the only one I couldn't find in the video rental stores and I went to as many as I could find in my state at the time so I can remember most of them except that one. I loved the new footage, Frank was in quite a few performing Fozzie and Animal was at the end of I think Muppet Moments where he messes up the attic. Muppet Revue, Muppet Moments and Muppet Treasures are very similar because all three are Kermit and Fozzie in The Muppet Show attic and it is full of the actual props and some characters from The Muppet Show from a Fish in a bird cage, one of the Java Muppets ("Fozzie, that old vaccum cleaner hoose was one upon a time a big star." "Oh sorry, I didn't know, I..I always though that you guys should have had your own series. *GULP*!) to a Muppophone hiding from Marvin Suggs. 2 of them was Kermit and Fozzie just hanging around the attic finding stuff and one of them was Kermit getting ready to throw everything away and Fozzie keeps finding thing from the powderpuff almost eatten by Zero Mostel to the killer spaghetti who once attacked Swedish Chef. Kermit: Killer Spaghetti Strikes Again. Anyway, my favorite moment in that one is where Kermit notices that nothing got thrown away except this broken bottle. Kermit and Fozzie fight for the bottle. I don't want to spoil the ending if you haven't seen it but it's really funny.

The Kermit and Miss Piggy Story was another great one. Kermit takes Miss Piggy out to diner and at the end of each clip and through out, dishes are pilling up and she keeps ordering. At the same time Kermit and Miss Piggy would recall a present memory, the next they are arguing and shouting at each other as they usually do which to me is what Kermit and Miss Piggy's situation is all about, conflict. lol

I don't remember much of Children's songs and stories with The Muppets except Scooter hosts it. I don't remember who hosted it. Rock Music was great, a very rare chance to see Dr. Teeth and Beaker work together and Beaker endlessly trying to promote his single LP of his performance of Feelings. Country Music was the other Rowlf one and it could be the final time Rowlf reunites with his Dog Cow partner Baskerville (performed by Frank Oz or Richard Hunt). I think it's Frank but I remember there was a Dog performed by Richard who keeps running in bugging Rowlf "Excuse Me, Excuse Me, Excuse Me! I Have A Question!" and usually it's a clip of the Jugband. There's quite a few Johnny Cash songs on there and most of the plot from the episode where the main Muppets were turned into Chickens....Cluckidious I think it was. I love the moment where I think Kermit said "Gonzo, that's not a chicken. That's a roster" and Gonzo's reply way "YUCK!" lol

 

[minor muppetz]

I don't remember much of Children's songs and stories with The Muppets except Scooter hosts it. I don't remember who hosted it. Rock Music was great, a very rare chance to see Dr. Teeth and Beaker work together and Beaker endlessly trying to promote his single LP of his performance of Feelings. Country Music was the other Rowlf one and it could be the final time Rowlf reunites with his Dog Cow partner Baskerville (performed by Frank Oz or Richard Hunt). I think it's Frank but I remember there was a Dog performed by Richard who keeps running in bugging Rowlf "Excuse Me, Excuse Me, Excuse Me! I Have A Question!"

Children's Songs and Stories and Country Music are currently on YouTube. Those and The Muppet Revue are currently the only ones on YouTube (The Kermit and Piggy Story and Muppet Weird Stuff have both been on YouTube in the past).

In Country Music, Richard Hunt plays that "I've got a question!" dog, but while he plays a few other roles, most of the supporting roles are performed by Frank Oz (which is odd since it was 1985 and none of his major characters appear in the linking footage). And I can't tell who performed Rowlf's assistant Louise (my guess is either Dave Goelz or Louise Gold, the latter a long-shot as I don't think it was made in England).

 

[mupcollector1]

Isn't Louise Muppy or Rufus? I totally forgot Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff, I loved Richard Hunt as the unseen Brooklyn landlord "YO BUZZARD BEAK, WHERE'S MY RENT MONEY?" lol It's funny how Gonzo is trying to hide the fact that is mansion is in truth a trailer in a trailer park. It's really cool to see Jim perform Shakey Sanchez again. He was a great designed Muppet, and it's kind of a shame that he got recycled. A lot of The Muppet Show Muppets got recycled for Mopatop Shop in the UK which I found kind of weird. I think I started a thread awhile back relating to this a bit. I'd love to see some of the weird Frackles again like Boppity (One of my all time favorite designed Muppets).

 

[minor muppetz]

Isn't Louise Muppy or Rufus?

No, Louise is the chicken who assists Rowlf in the video, though Rufus appears at the end to request Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

Both Muppet Moments and Meet the Muppets edit the ending of "I Go to Rio", where Kermit comes on-stage to see what Statler and Waldorf (and the audience) thought of the number. Of course out-of-context it doesn't make sense to include that ending.

In More Muppets, Please, I've Never Harmed an Onion has a few more seconds than the Nickelodeon broadcasts and the DVD release (which doesn't have a commercial break fade-in/fade-out) have. In that compilation Rowlf is seen walking to the piano before nodding and starting to play, but in all releases of the Ruth Buzzi episode I've seen, it just starts with Rowlf nodding at the audience.

The Muppet Revue and More Muppets, Please! both have the backstage scene before Bein' Green, and both edit the beginning of the backstage scene (as it wouldn't make sense to have the part with Link leaving the stage). The copy in More Muppets, Please! edited it a little further, and the Nickelodeon broadcast edited it a little more further. In The Muppet Revue a transition begins to the scene, with Kermit still talking over the start of the clip, showing Kermit freaking out (from Beaker suddenly showing up and disappearing), at first I thought Kermit was just mouthing for no reason, before I noticed that Kermit did talk over that part of the clip. When I saw More Muppets, Please! I thought it was weird that it left out Kermit's "mouthing" and also that Fozzie said Kermit's name less times before getting his attention. I eventually realized that the backstage scene must have been longer, but when I saw the Peter Sellers episode on Nickelodeon, I was disappointed that it was cut further (though at the time I didn't think editing was an option for Nickelodeon), with Fozzie yelling Kermit's name only once.

 

[mupcollector1]

Yeah that's strange about the Nickelodeon edits. I've never noticed the edits on there much probably because that's how I was introduced to The Muppet Show when growing up in the 1990s. I wonder how much stuff they cut out of there. Nick was crazy about editing a lot of things in general, Looney Tunes, The Alvin Show opening, and of course some of the best shows they had there was always some sort of conflict between them and their shows' creators. John K got fired from Ren & Stimpy after a season and a half, Invader Zim got canceled over a gag image involving the robot gir, Angry Beavers had 3 episodes that never got animated or aired which included the what was suppose to be the final episode where Dagget and Norbert satirize Nickelodeon and the Hollywood Business system, and Rocko's Modern Life was having difficulty with commercials from toy companies saying "We can't sell toys to college aged audiences" so Nick asked Joe Murray to make the format more for children so they won't loose income from Toy Commercial Companys which was completely different from the original pitch which was "an edgy cartoon which adults can watch with their kids, almost like Ren & Stimpy but less extreme".

Anyway I know with Looney Tunes there's certain gags that were let's say a product of it's time and some violent gags that are forbidden on mainstream TV now a days. But I can't see why Nickelodeon at the time wanted to edit The Muppet Show, probably gags they didn't think were appropriate for their network or editing down time, who knows. I think there was notes on Muppet Wiki for particular episodes of certain gags that were cut out. I'm just thankful that most of the DVDs are uncut. Did you say there was some DVDs that had stuff edited out? I would think it was mostly the VHS combinations. And season 1 which had songs edited out due to not being able to get licence for certain songs.