The Muppet Show Season 5 Episode 22 - Buddy Rich

[Phillip]

The Muppet Show Season 5 Episode 22 - Buddy Rich
US/New York Premiere: Saturday May 16, 1981
Disney+ Premiere: Friday February 19, 2021

There's a problem with the lights the night world-famous drummer Buddy Rich guest stars on the Muppet Show and plays the theatre - and he literally plays the theatre! Fortunately, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew has a newly invented portable generator - a "miracle of micro electronics" - that runs on Beaker Power!

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This is the first time this episode has been commercially released or streamed since its original broadcast.

If you saw "The Muppet Show" with Buddy Rich on Disney+ please like this post and share your thoughts below.

 

[Muppet Master]

This is actually one of 3 episodes that I've never seen prior to the Disney+ release (the other two being the Johnny Cash and Wally Boag ones). And wow this was a phenomenal half-hour. The Muppet Show is at its best when there's an overarching plot that affects the stage-show as a whole and that's what happened here. Loved how the lights kept going on and off throughout the sketches and numbers. My favorite part would have to be Bunsen using a Beaker-powered generator to bring back power. On top of that, Buddy Rich was a fun guest star, his drum battle with Animal was definitely a highlight.

It looks like the UK spot was cut from this one and (at least in my opinion) it helped the flow of the episode. While this isn't always the case, there are many instances where the UK spot either brings the show's energy to a halt or isn't in-sync with the narrative. In this case, a bunch of Whatnots singing on a double-decker bus would have made zero sense given that it would be right between the Vet's Hospital sketch and backstage scene where the power is still off.

Overall, I'd give this one a 9/10. Very strong episode that I should've watched much earlier.

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm actually surprised by how much Buddy appears in this. It feels like he gets more screen time compared to other guest stars. He's practically in the whole first half.

Was that a special Beaker puppet built for this, or did they alter one of the spare ones from the Mac Davis episode (many of those seem to be a bit off in the mouth placement) to have eyes that could light up?