 |
Okay, that last one maybe wasn't so iconically great, but it was one a lot of people sure remember, because it was all over Nickelodeon in the late' 80s. But not all Muppet-related things were so widely seen or have been preserved for the ages -- some for no particular reason, and some for very good reasons indeed. Here, in no particular order, are some of those various Muppet-tainments which you might have forgotten about.
9) Sam and Friends
Before The Muppet Show made Kermit, Miss Piggy and Gonzo household names, this show, which ran from 1955 to 1961 on Washington D.C.'s NBC affiliate station, introduced the very earliest Muppets -- none of whom get used anymore outside of Kermit, who wasn't yet a frog, but had the same basic personality we all know. The show mainly consisted of puppets singing along to recorded songs and comedy bits, though there was some original, seemingly drug-induced, beatnik-style material like the short sketch above. Of note: The Sam in the title isn't Sam the Eagle, as you might think. It was just a puppet that looked like a bald dude.
7 &8 ) The Muppet Valentine Show and The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence
Nearly 15 years after Sam and Friends went off the air (and about five years after the start of Sesame Street in 1969), Jim Henson and ABC began developing what would eventually become The Muppet Show. Two pilots, The Muppets Valentine Show and The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence aired in 1974 and 1975, respectively. The Valentine Show is pretty vastly different from what The Muppet Show would become; it plays sort of like a manic Muppets sitcom set in what looks like a hotel lobby and starring Wally, a sort of hipster dude who wants to write a script about love. Kermit tells a story and sings a song, but that's about it for the famous Muppets to come.
Sex and Violence is much closer to what The Muppet Show would turn into. It's still not a show about a show yet -- the parts between sketches take place in vague "conference room" -- but it's still a collection of fast-paced sketches broken up by host segments. The host, by the way, is a guy named Nigel, who looks like he could be Scooter's dad but acts and talks like a less-excitable Kermit. Kermit's there in some sketches. Sam the Eagle, Animal, Swedish Chef, and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem also show up. Statler and Waldorf have a sketch, but they're way out of character. I should note here that it's a lot harder to forget these two pilots, since they're available on The Muppet Show season one and two DVDs.
6) Rocky Mountain Holiday with John Denver and the Muppets
If you're like me, and you should be, you believe John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together is the finest holiday album ever recorded. But you may not recall their lesser follow-up collaboration, a 1983 TV special and soundtrack album about a camping trip in the mountains. There was little in way of a plot or even sketches (though Fozzy getting chased by a bear is pretty great) -- more just an excuse for Denver and the Muppets to sing songs about the outdoors and tell goofy campfire stories. But it's one of your only opportunities to see Gonzo in a flannel shirt and Kermit in a jacket-vest, so there's that.
Tags: Muppets
More links from around the web!
