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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.
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.
And again, all episodes are on youtube.
Syndication would have helped JHH and MT, yes. But also, both shows were placed in crummy timeslots (specifically the ever-popular "Friday Night Deathslot").
Though some episodes from Season 4 and 5 did end up on the Time Life Best of The Muppet Show releases, and that's official, but not all of them though.
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.
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.
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.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.
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.
