Your Thoughts: The Muppet Show Season 3

[DTWolf]

Episode order

I don't remember anyone else mentioning this, so I feel compelled to bring it up: the Leo Sayer episode (second on the disk) really ought to be first. This episode introduces Annie Sue Pig, rival-in-training to Miss Piggy. There is no question that this is the episode meant to be her first appearance.

However, the Kristofferson/Coolidge episode (first on the disk) has Piggy interacting--violently, of course--with Annie Sue as if she's already an established presence.

I'm guessing the DVDs follow the order the programs were first aired--and they were aired in the wrong order, either accidentally or because someone felt Kristofferson and Coolidge were a better way to open the season.

But if (like me) you're a stickler for continuity and seeing things in story order, you'll want to watch Leo Sayer first.

 

[Erine81981]

I don't remember anyone else mentioning this, so I feel compelled to bring it up: the Leo Sayer episode (second on the disk) really ought to be first. This episode introduces Annie Sue Pig, rival-in-training to Miss Piggy. There is no question that this is the episode meant to be her first appearance.

However, the Kristofferson/Coolidge episode (first on the disk) has Piggy interacting--violently, of course--with Annie Sue as if she's already an established presence.

I'm guessing the DVDs follow the order the programs were first aired--and they were aired in the wrong order, either accidentally or because someone felt Kristofferson and Coolidge were a better way to open the season.

But if (like me) you're a stickler for continuity and seeing things in story order, you'll want to watch Leo Sayer first.

If you remember Wolf. In the first season Scooter was already there in the first few episodes then they had an episode later on which introduces him too. But i was wondering the samething. I went to Muppet Wiki to see this and thought shouldn't Annie's first appearance episode be first on the disc or what? But then i thought since they did Scooter the same way that's why happened again.

 

[Son of Enik]

Muppets Rule!

I got my set yesterday and am thoroughly enjoying it! I remember each of these episodes as if I only saw them yesterday. Alice Cooper and Harry Beleafonte were always my 2 faves of all time, so I was glad to see them again.
As for the extras, great stuff! I had never seen the "Muppets on Puppets" program and the Purina commercials were hillarious!
I would personally like to see the old Wilkins Coffee commercials on the next set, or maybe The LaChoy Dragon...classics stuff.
All in all I think I'm enjoying this set more than the first two and am really looking forward to the next season!

 

[Super Scooter]

Well, I'm ready for season four.

My only complaint about the set, as with everyone else, is the box. I love the image of Fozzie's hat on the stool with the microphone (about the only image on the box that's really good). I wish they had used something a little more obscure like that on the cover the way they did with the first two sets. Perhaps a close-up of the picture on the side of the box where Fozzie has the banana in his ear (close-up of the hand and the banana and the ear, that is). Anyway, the box is the least of my concerns since the content is fantastic!

I just hope that they release Of Muppets and Men on the season five DVD even though there are clips of it in A Company of Players. Also, that 60 Minutes special would be cool for the next set (although it should have been on season three).

Now, my vote for the next video menues:

Season 4 live video menu hosts: Gonzo and Rizzo and Rowlf and Fozzie.

Season 5 live video menu hosts: Scooter and Kermit and Bunsen and Beaker.

Oh, just a note to anyone wondering... the repeated sketches, including the ones from season two, were on the episodes when they originally aired.

 

[RedPiggy]

Re: Annie Sue

Now, these are just my thoughts about it. I don't know if Annie had ever been fleshed out in terms of background sometime later.

I think Piggy already knew Annie (she's the only one, IIRC, to call her Annabelle), maybe they were from the same county. When Kermit "introduces" her, it could be that he's increasing her workload ... like maybe before she was the lowliest of interns (getting coffee and such) and now she's more like an understudy/background cast member. Piggy would resent Annie's presence and further rise up the ladder (so to speak), maybe because it took her longer to get that kind of attention? Not to mention all the touchy-feely stuff between Annie and Kermit.

 

[Super Scooter]

Yeah, Annie Sue was already a minor character during season two.

 

[DTWolf]

This is more complicated than I realized

I don't want to give this issue more space than it deserves, but . . .

According to Muppet Wiki (http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_301:_Kris_Kristofferson_&_Rita_Coolidge and http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_302:_Leo_Sayer --see the top right corners), the Leo Sayer episode really was filmed after the Kristofferson/Coolidge episode. (Although it seems that in the U.K., Leo Sayer was broadcast several months before K.K/R.C.)

It looks like the DVDs follow production order, not broadcast order, which is exactly what they ought to do.

And I'd forgotten Annie Sue was in Season 2--she seems to be just background and an "anything pig" more than a real character, though.

MAYBE I could convince myself that RedPiggy is right about Annie Sue being promoted, but I still think putting Leo Sayer first makes a LOT more sense of these episodes. So in the future, that's how I'm going to watch them. It's the official order for me, anyway.

 

[Super Scooter]

Another interesting note about production order, the time between the episode with Helen Reddy and the very next episode with Harry Belafonte is about six months. In that time, a lot of the main characters were rebuilt.

Wasn't there a strike or something during this season? I seem to recall reading about that somewhere. I also would assume that they filmed The Muppet Movie during that six month break. But it also raises another question. The episodes are presented in production order on the set, and in most guides as well (including Muppet Wiki). Yet, the last episode, with Cheryl Ladd, was filmed in May 1978, six months BEFORE the Harry Belafonte episode. I wonder why it's always listed as the last episode?

 

[RedPiggy]

I wondered about the Muppet Movie being filmed during season 3, myself, since I think Kermit tells Roy Rogers he's been in "one" film, and Fozzie does comedy in front of a herd of muppet cows ... and on the special features of my Muppet Movie DVD, Fozzie starts telling jokes to a bunch of real cows ... I think some of them are the exact same jokes.

 

[ploobis]

In the Purina Dog Chow commercials, I noticed that Jim Henson gave Baskerville a voice that kinda sounded like a goofy sounding Kermit voice. I love those commercials, I just felt like bringing that up.

I love the new Season 3 DVD set!