The Best of The Muppets

[Luke]

David, try phoning Granada up and ask to be put through to the tape library. Am sure there are people there who would look it up for you but they often don't get passed on public emails and things.

 

[minor muppetz]

How come I haven't heard of this compilation until now? How popular was it? Does anybody know what clips were included? Is it still owned by ITV?

 

[anathema]

From what I understand this compilation special included a clip from the Ethel Merman show. The interesting thing about that is that's the same date that ATV began airing the last three shows of Season One. So that would suggest that ATV aired *two* episodes of TMS that weekend.

Specifically, the Ethel Merman show aired on ATV on April 9th '77 (the last two were Connie Stevens on the 16th and Vincent Price on the 23rd), so as you say, they must have aired two programmes that night - assuming that the information on the back of this photo is accurate; plans may have changed after it was issued.

Unfortunately I don't have the listings magazine for that particular week so I can't confirm what actually happened.


There is, incidentally, no reason whatsoever why Granada - or any other current broadcaster, for that matter - would possess a set of 30-year-old PasBs for a defunct TV station with whom they have and had no connection. They certainly don't own the master tapes for TMS - AFAIK Henson bought those back in the early 80s when ATV reinvented itself as Central - and I'd expect this show, if it still exists at all, to have gone the same way, so asking Disney or Henson themselves might be more viable.

Your best bet - other than buying up old TV Times issues from eBay - would be to try and get in touch with a public library which still has newspaper archives for the relevant period and area. This isn't quite as good as a PasB - it only shows what was *intended* to be shown rather than what actually went out - but it's almost certainly accurate enough; only a major news event or a last-minute strike would have knocked the schedule up the spout


(As an aside, I have an almost complete set of tx dates for ATV - Dudley Moore being the sole exception as the big ITV strike of '79 ended that week and so no listings magazines were produced - and a reasonable smattering of dates for other regions. Most regions did their own thing in the first year, and not everywhere got to see all 24 shows, but apart from Granada they all more or less fell in line with the ATV network feed from Season 2 onwards.)

 

[Luke]

Sorry, was going by previous post for the Granada thing. I was just going to say that the BFI Mediateque at South Bank might be able to help aquire some Henson stuff as their archive of past stuff is increasing. Also they have a reading library so they, or British library might have tv listings. Certainly British library would have the national newspapers for that day.

 

[anathema]

Sorry, was going by previous post for the Granada thing. I was just going to say that the BFI Mediateque at South Bank might be able to help aquire some Henson stuff as their archive of past stuff is increasing. Also they have a reading library so they, or British library might have tv listings. Certainly British library would have the national newspapers for that day.

Yeah, but I suspect you'd need a regional newspaper in order to get ATV's listings (or at least the appropriate regional edition of one of the nationals - The British Library may well only have the London edition). That said, it's worth noting that London finished airing Season One on April 2nd...

 

[David French]

The suggestions that I have been given are all very fine but...ummm...people *might* just want to double check my profile.

 

[MuppetDanny]

Long shots but these websites may have infomation David :

http://www.acecandy.com/atvforums/ - ATV fan fourm
http://www.networkdvd.net/ - DVD Label who owns the rigths to ATV/Lew Grade Shows
http://www.sub-tv.co.uk/index.asp ATV Fan site

Hope these help

 

[David French]

Thanks for that Danny.

I posted some queries on the ATV forum and got a rather detailed response from member Lee Bannister. I may post some of the other things he said in a new thread, but with regards to the Season One compilation...

Lee had never heard of this special and suggested that we get in contact with Hensons who might know the answer or at least point me in the right direction. I've recently discovered that the clip of the TMS opening for the Best of the Muppets, which Danny linked to in this thread, comes from the ATV 1977 Christmas tape. As such, there are two possibilities - either that is the intro for the compilation special or that was especially filmed for the Christmas tape. Incidentally, the first five or so minutes of that tape can be found on YouTube but I don't recommend anyone under the age of 18 watch it as it contains full nudity.

Danny - that other clip you have comes from another Christmas tape; in this case the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) one (also on YouTube).