I didn't become a huge fan until this past year, actually. I had, of course, watched Sesame Street endlessly when I was little (I even remember watching Elmo in Grouchland when I was about 10). And, up to about 14 or 15, I would watch it in the afternoon when I was waiting for the local Simpsons block to start. (I tried watching it recently, but couldn't really get into it.)
But, with the exception of watching The Muppet Babies as a kid, seeing one or two episodes or sketches of The Muppet Show at school for some reason I can't remember (during music class no less), and giving a disastrous presentation on Jim Henson during 9th grade, I had no real experience with The Muppets. I had forgotten all about Fozzie, Gonzo, and basically everyone else whose name didn't end in Frog or Piggy, with only a vague memory of the Swedish Chef, (even with SS Muppet; I almost forgot about Rosita and Zoe, and I still have no real memory of Telly). However, I knew just from my experience of putting together my Henson presentation that I was just a dormant Muppet fan. So, when I found out there was a new Muppet movie in development, I was excited.
A couple months before The Muppets came out, the local Walmart, which I frequent while waiting for my shift to start at the Goodwill nearby, stocked up on season releases of TMS, and, for the longest time. I resisted buying them. But, after a month, a day after I got paid, I say only saw one copy of season one left, I assumed that was it, and thinking "This could be the last chance you have in years to get this set", I dropped the $60 for all three seasons. (I was wrong, since Walmart is still selling them, but hey, sometimes being wrong leads you to do the right decision!)
That night, after I got off work, I popped in season one, disk one, assuming "It'll be alright; it won't be the best thing I've ever seen, but it'll be alright." Well! Was I blown away! It was one of the best shows I've ever seen! The next few days, I would watch as many episodes I could before and after work, and after catching up on my daily shows (Attack of the Show, The Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson), and, when I finally got a few days off, I spent them going through the rest of the set. And, after getting The Muppets Blu-Ray, I spent the entirety of another few day break getting lost on Muppet Wiki.
A quick side-note: About a week after I got the set, I was dropped off for work one and a half hours early. Trying to waste as much time as possible at Walmart, I was looking at the laptops (since I had been saving up for one for a month or so). Seeing one (the kind I'm typing on right now) that was around the amount I had saved up, I did the math and realized that, including taxes, I was about $50 short. During the frenzy I was in to get my collected savings, the rest of my spending money, and the extra $50, I tweeted something along the lines of this: "Trying to get $50 bucks for a laptop! I guess spending that 60 for those Muppet Show DVDs wasn't the best idea. #Loverly...." .... "Actually, I take that back. That was the best 60 bucks I ever spent!"