I'm drooling over the pictures right now.
I don't want to read the article till I play the DVD myself. But there's lots of good stuff there!
BTW, Ryan on TP points out that Amazon has changed the release date to Sep. 2:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AGQ2P/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/102-1592227-9191369
Not sure why the change was made. Maybe they thought Muppet fans couldn't afford to buy all 3 DVDs in one week. Or maybe they plan to fix that admittedly goofy cover.
I'm surprised (but happy) that the Big Bird clip and the prototype Cookie Monster clip are on here. I guess Henson worked it out with Sesame Workshop to allow this.
I'm not sure why those last two sketches are called "extra features," since they seem to be just more sketches, nothing special about them. What I would have liked to have seen for an extra feature is the appearance of the Muppets on the 1992 Ed Sullivan Christmas special, where they performed an all-cast version of "It Feels Like Christmas." No one seems to have a complete copy of this. Or if the rights were tied up with Disney, fine--but I wish Disney had put this on their MCC DVD, then.
Anyway, this is a MINOR quibble. I never thought in a million years I'd get to see this stuff released on DVD, so color me a thrilled Muppet fan.
Thanks for the update, Phil!