Most disappointing episode of The Muppet Show

[MJTaylor]

For me, the most disappointing episode was the one with Librace. Not that I have anything against Librace but IMO there was too much of him and not enough of the Muppets. Espcially in the second act.
Mind you, I loved the Leo Sayer show. The best part for me was when Miss Piggy tried to do that poem and ended up sneezing instead. LOL!

 

[minor muppetz]

I haven't seen either of the episodes that Gorgon Heap mentioned yet, but I would like to comment on something. After I first saw (non-compilation) episodes of The Muppet Show, I often speculated about the orders of sketches from the three guest stars featured in Rock Music with the Muppets who appeared in two or more clips, and I had hoped that the order presented on the video for one of those guest stars was revearesed compared to the episode they originated in. But since the opening and closing numbers featured on the video featured guest stars, I was hoping that those opening and closing numbers were the opening and closing numbers in their respective epsiodes, and I figured that the Leo Sayer would have been the only one whose numbers could have been revearsed. Imagine my surprise when I first saw an episode guide for The Muppet Show, and not only were Leo's numbers revearsed, but Call Me was the closing number for the Debbie Harry episode (I knew that in most of the compilations that I saw, the closing numbers weren't originally closing numbers, but I figured that all opening numbers originated as opening numbers). The Alice Cooper episode is still the only one of those three that I haven't seen.

 

[Winslow Leach]

The Alice Cooper episode is still the only one of those three that I haven't seen.

In terms of music, I think the Alice Cooper episode builds nicely. The opening number, "Welcome to My Nightmare" sets the tone for the show. In the middle, we get the ballad "You and Me," and the show closes with Alice doing "School's Out."

 

[dabauckham]

In terms of music, I think the Alice Cooper episode builds nicely. The opening number, "Welcome to My Nightmare" sets the tone for the show. In the middle, we get the ballad "You and Me," and the show closes with Alice doing "School's Out."

I agree - I've seen and very much enjoy this episode. I feel like they did a great job working Alice's dramatic flair into the quirky sensibilities of the show. They were definitely wise to end with "School's Out"; with it's human-size monsters and mass explosions, it was definitely the most dramatic moment in the episode. And it was still very, very campy.

I have seen neither the Leo Sayer nor Joan Baez shows, so I can't really comment. At what point/in what season was the Baez show produced? If it was, as Gorgon Heap stated, the nadir of TMS writing, were the shows surrounding it inferior in any way, or was it just one lone episode that happened to not be so great? Just curious to hear what others have to say. There are still quite a few episodes that I haven't seen.

 

[Winslow Leach]

I agree - I've seen and very much enjoy this episode. I feel like they did a great job working Alice's dramatic flair into the quirky sensibilities of the show. They were definitely wise to end with "School's Out"; with it's human-size monsters and mass explosions, it was definitely the most dramatic moment in the episode. And it was still very, very campy.

I have seen neither the Leo Sayer nor Joan Baez shows, so I can't really comment. At what point/in what season was the Baez show produced? If it was, as Gorgon Heap stated, the nadir of TMS writing, were the shows surrounding it inferior in any way, or was it just one lone episode that happened to not be so great? Just curious to hear what others have to say. There are still quite a few episodes that I haven't seen.

The Alice Cooper show is one of my favorites!

The Joan Baez episode aired in Season 5 of TMS, which was the last season produced. A lot of the shows had themes built around them: Brooke Shields starred in a Muppet version of Alice in Wonderland, the Debbie Harry ep. had a camping out theme, the Carol Burnett show was a dance marathon, Marty Feldman's was Arabian Nights, and Glenda Jackson's was set on a pirate ship. However, there are some standout eps in season 5, IMHO: Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Loretta Swit, Shirley Bassey, James Coburn, Johnny Cash, Gene Kelly, Tony Randall (who turns Miss Piggy to stone) and Roger Moore.

 

[Gorgon Heap]

The episode itself was a nadir. IMO it was a poor attempt to re-create the Loretta Swit episode.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[minor muppetz]

In terms of music, I think the Alice Cooper episode builds nicely. The opening number, "Welcome to My Nightmare" sets the tone for the show. In the middle, we get the ballad "You and Me," and the show closes with Alice doing "School's Out."

I meant it was the only of those three that I have seen. Stupid spelling mistake...

 

[Winslow Leach]

I meant it was the only of those three that I have seen. Stupid spelling mistake...

Ah! Gotcha!

 

[dabauckham]

The Joan Baez episode aired in Season 5 of TMS, which was the last season produced. A lot of the shows had themes built around them: Brooke Shields starred in a Muppet version of Alice in Wonderland, the Debbie Harry ep. had a camping out theme, the Carol Burnett show was a dance marathon, Marty Feldman's was Arabian Nights, and Glenda Jackson's was set on a pirate ship. However, there are some standout eps in season 5, IMHO: Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Loretta Swit, Shirley Bassey, James Coburn, Johnny Cash, Gene Kelly, Tony Randall (who turns Miss Piggy to stone) and Roger Moore.

Interesting... I wonder if the whole "theme-based" season 5 thing was the writers feeling like they had to try something different...

 

[minor muppetz]

Interesting... I wonder if the whole "theme-based" season 5 thing was the writers feeling like they had to try something different...

I don't know if the writers were running out of ideas and figured that theme-based episodes would help them out with ideas, but all but two MuppeTelevision segments from The Jim Henson Hour were based around themes.