Playhouse Muppet Videos

[minor muppetz]

I have most of the original boxes, and I used the front and backs to when I transferred them to DVD.. most of the back photos DO represent the footage uses, although some use stills from The Muppet Movie to represent something. For instance "Rock Music" uses a pic of Floyd and Zoot from The Muppet Movie to represent the Electric Mayhem which was heavily featured in that video.

I was referring to whether the back covers have images from the linking footage, not the clips. I know that, of the back covers I've seen, most of them have images from the clips (though I'm sure they're not really clips but pictures taken during shooting of the segments).

Interestingly, the back cover of Muppet Moments includes an image of the Snerfs, who don't appear in the video, but "In a Little Spanish Town" does appear in Rowlf's Rhapsodies. I wonder if they made a mistake or if maybe that number was meant to appear in Muppet Moments but was moved to a different video (I'd like to see if there were any official files regarding what clips to include, what clips to drop, and so on). Muppet Moments also has a picture of birds not in the video (I used to think it was meant to represent the Take a Chance on Me number, but I think different birds were used).

And I used to think it was weird that the image of Mahna Mahna on the back cover of The Muppet Revue was him in front of a blue background instead of a pink one like in the Mahna Mahna number (it's sort of more like the original performance from The Ed Sullivan Show). Most (probably all) of the ones I rented I rented before The Muppet Revue, and I had always watched the coming attractions after the videos, and noticed the Mahna Mahna clip. At the time I knew of Bip Bipodotta from Sesame Street, naturally thought they were the same character (and didn't know thier names), and thought, "Hey It's that character from Sesame Street! On The Muppet Show!"). When I rented that video I saw him on the back and knew that number would be in it, but wondered why the background was a different color, assuming it would change colors in the number or something (The Snowth's weren't in the image, but I figured they'd show up or leave at some point). Then a couple of years later I rented Muppet Moments again, saw Mahna Mahna in Sax and Violence, and wondered why I didn't remember him in that video the first time (and it was then that I noticed the differences between the two and figured they must be different characters).

 

[minor muppetz]

Are The Kermit and Piggy Story, Children's Songs and Stories, and Country Music the only ones to not use the usual theme music at the beginning and end? I know Rock Music begins with an instrumental version of Tenderly, and I'm pretty sure the usual theme appears at the end though I can't remember 100%.

And Country Music with the Muppets begins with the first clip as opposed to introductory linking footage. Do any of the others begin with the first clip? I get the feeling that every guest star clip is preceeded by linking footage where a host character introduces or mentions the guest star (though in Rock Music, the third clip with Leo Sayer gets no introduction, but two clips with him had appeared earlier), considering that I wonder if Rock Music with the Muppets would have started with the first clip if the guest star wasn't in it.

 

[minor muppetz]

I was looking at the Odyssey Channel page at Muppet Wiki, and saw that it mentions that The Kermit and Piggy Story has aired on that channel (and I actually think I remember reading that it was on the channel at least once). I wonder what Odyssey cut from it's broadcast.

I find it a bit odd that the one video was broadcast on the channel while the others apparently weren't (or maybe they were and the wiki page doesn't note it). I did notice recently when seeing a blog that posted scans from the buyers book regarding The Jim Henson Company's sale of the Muppets to Disney that it listed these videos as "Best of The Muppet Show" and yet also listed The Kermit and Piggy Story separately while not listing the others.

 

[minor muppetz]

I found an image of the Muppet Moments inside cover. It says that Fozzie spent weeks waiting on Kermit's doorstep before he was granted an audition, and was a last-minute replacement for a chicken who flew the coop.

 

[mupcollector1]

I found an image of the Muppet Moments inside cover. It says that Fozzie spent weeks waiting on Kermit's doorstep before he was granted an audition, and was a last-minute replacement for a chicken who flew the coop.

HA HA HA, I love it. I wonder how the other Muppets got their auditions. I remember Kermit once said that he discovered Marvin Suggs in a train station in Ohio. "They weren't performing, they were just waiting."

 

[mupcollector1]

I'd love to see the playhouse videos come to DVD, I used to rent these titles at Blockbuster as a kid all the time and couldn't get my own copy because video stores always told me they were out of print. I'm so grateful for the internet to find out of print media. Does Disney own these titles now? Or are they owned by whoever owns Playhouse now a days?

 

[minor muppetz]

I'd love to see the playhouse videos come to DVD, I used to rent these titles at Blockbuster as a kid all the time and couldn't get my own copy because video stores always told me they were out of print. I'm so grateful for the internet to find out of print media. Does Disney own these titles now? Or are they owned by whoever owns Playhouse now a days?

Recently a big book of files regarding the Disney/Henson deal was sold on ebay and the person who bought it posted many images from it on a blog. According to that blog the Playhouse releases are currently owned by Disney.

 

[minor muppetz]

Having seen quite a few of the inside covers lately, I've noticed that they usually have rows of two guest star images. I'd like to see the inside cover for one that has an odd number of guest stars. I also wonder if the images are taken from the show or if they are different head shot images of the guests (having recently seen the inside cover for Muppet Moments, I've noticed the image of Pearl Bailey has her in a hat she didn't wear in her episode). There are a few videos that have clips where the guest stars wear wigs and/or fake facial hair (Rita Moreno, Vincent Price, Peter Sellers), I guess the guest star images are what they really look like (I wonder if casual fans unfamilair with the guest stars were confused by the difference).

 

[minor muppetz]

Children's Songs and Stories is on YouTube:

So is Country Music with the Muppets:

 

[minor muppetz]

I recently found this, a YouTube "closing to Children's Songs and Stories with the Muppets":

But the promo shown advertises the first seven videos, instead of the first four. It makes me wonder if later printings of the videos had longer promos (there are some videos I've rented and later owned which while still the same releases had different opening promos, two examples being Three Ninjas and Homeward Bound).

What's weird is that this is obviously somebody holding a camera at a computer screen, but of the two copies of Children's Songs and Stories that I've seen on YouTube, neither of them has the promo included.