It was 50 years ago today that The Muppet Show debuted on ITV in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it aired in first run syndication on local stations. While the Muppets had appeared in various projects before The Muppet Show and have appeared in various projects since, it may well remain what the Muppets are best known for. What is more, it introduced new Muppets who remain important to the franchise to this day.
As is well known, the Muppets were the creation of Jim Henson. They first appeared on Sam and Friends, a locally produced puppet-sketch comedy show that aired on WRC in Washington, DC and later in syndication. Among the characters was Kermit, a lizard-like creature who would later be established as a frog. From Sam and Friends, the Muppets went onto appear on such shows as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Hollywood Palace, The Mike Douglas Show, and Dinah!. Rowlf the Dog was even a regular on The Jimmy Dean Show. The Muppets, including Kermit, appeared on the children's show Sesame Street from its beginning in 1969. The Muppets appeared in their own TV specials, including Hey, Cinderella! in 1969 and The Frog Prince in 1971. During the 1975-1976 season, the Muppets appeared on the first season of Saturday Night Live, where they performed decidedly more adult material than would be seen on Sesame Street. Among the Muppet segments was the Land of Gorch, which featured alien creatures who could be crude and boorish. Ultimately, Jim Henson and the Muppets left Saturday Night Live due to disagreements with the show's writers.
.Despite having appeared on shows made for adults and general audiences, from The Ed Sullivan Show to The Tonight Show, Jim Henson worried that the Muppets were being typecast as children's fare due to their appearances on Sesame Street. This is one of the reasons they had appeared on Saturday Night Live. It was also the reason Jim Henson began developing the idea of a show that would be made more adults than for children.
It was in April 1973 that Jim Henson met with Michael Eisner, then in charge of programming at ABC, about a holiday special featuring the Muppets. This resulted in The Muppets Valentine Show, which aired on ABC on January 30, 1974 and served as a pilot for The Muppet Show. ABC passed on a regularly scheduled Muppets series at the time, feeling it would not be a hit. Jim Henson then produced a second special that also served as a pilot, The Muppets: Sex and Violence, which aired on ABC on March 19, 1975. The Muppets: Sex and Violence was historic for introducing new Muppets who would become part of The Muppet Show. These included Sam Eagle, Dr. Teeth, hecklers Statler and Woldorf, and The Swedish Chef (a prototype of which had appeared under the name Järnvägskorsning in the Sixties). Miss Piggy was also a part of The Muppets: Sex and Violence, although it was her second appearance. She first appeared in 1974 in the TV special Herb Alpert and the TJB.
Unfortunately, ABC once again passed on a regularly scheduled show featuring the Muppets. Jim Henson then produced a 25 minute pitch reel, written by him and George Schlatter of Laugh-In fame, for CBS. CBS did not pick up a regularly scheduled show featuring the Muppets, though Jim Henson shopped the pitch reel around to other television venues. Fortunately Lew Grade of the British broadcaster ATV made an offer to Jim Henson to produce a regular series. The show would be produced at the ATV Elstree Studios and would air on ITV. It was Lew Grade who proposed that The Muppet Show could be sold to first run syndication in the United States, much as many previous ATV shows had been. After years of Jim Henson trying to get a regularly scheduled show featuring the Muppets off the ground, The Muppet Show finally debuted on IV on September 5, 1976.
While featuring puppets, The Muppet Show was essentially an old fashioned variety show. It featured both comedy sketches and musical performances. It was performed in the Muppet Theatre, which was a grand old theatre of the sort common in the days of vaudeville. Kermit the Frog acted as both the show's host and its showrunner, with plots taking place both backstage and elsewhere in the theatre.
The Muppet Show included both long running Muppets, such as Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, and Gonzo the Great (who first appeared as a background character in the 1970 special The Great Santa Claus Switch), and more recent characters such as Miss Piggy, Dr. Teeth, Statler and Woldorf, and The Swedish Chef. It also introduced some new Muppets, including comedian and Kermit's sidekick Fozzie Bear, Scooter, nephew of the theatre's owner and backstage stage manager and go-fer, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, Beauregard the janitor, Rizzo the Rat, and yet others. The Muppet Show always began with a cold opening that introduced that week's guest star.
Like other variety shows, The Muppet Show featured several recurring sketches. Among the earliest was "At the Dance," in which Muppets delivered rapid-fire one-liners as they danced in a ballroom. "Bear on Patrol" featured Fozzie Bear as a hapless police officer, with his chief played by Link Hogtrob (best known for the sketch "Pigs in Space"). "Muppet Labs" featured Dr. Bunson Honeydew and Beaker attempted experiments that always went wrong. The aforementioned "Pigs in Space" parodied space operas and sci-fi shows from Flash Gordon to Star Trek, and featured Miss Piggy and Link Hogthrob. "The Swedish Chef" parodied cooking shows, while "Veterinarian's Hospital" parodied medical dramas and soap operas. There were several other recurring sketches throughout the show's run.
As a variety show, The Muppet Show featured a guest star in every episode. Joel Grey was the guest star in the very first episode. The first season would see such guest stars as Rita Moreno, Jim Nabors, Ruth Buzzi, Paul Williams, Peter Ustinov, and Ben Vereen. Once the show became a success, many performers were keen on appearing on The Muppet Show, so that it attracted stars and musical performers one wouldn't usually see on a television variety show. These included Peter Sellers, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Sylvester Stallone, Dudley Moore, Arlo Guthrie, and Debbie Harry. The Muppet Show was also notable for featuring guest stars whose careers went back to the Golden Age of Hollywood and the Golden Age of Radio. Among these were Lena Horne, Vincent Price, George Burns, Milton Berle, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Roy Rogers, and Dale Evans, and Gene Kelly. Among the many other guest stars on the show were Harvey Korman, Ben Vereen, Connie Stevens, Madeline Kahn, Julie Andrews, James Coburn, and yet others. Amazingly enough, no guest star ever appeared on The Muppet Show twice.
The Muppet Show lasted for five seasons and 120 episodes. When it ended, it was not due to its ratings, as it was still extremely popular. Instead, the decision was made to prevent the show from running too long, and so that Jim Henson and the Muppets could concentrate on making movies. While The Muppet Show ended its run, it was hardly the last television viewers would see of the Muppets or even the Muppet Theatre. During the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 seasons, the Muppets had their own show again, Muppets Tonight, on which they were running their own TV channel. In 2001, during MuppetFest The Muppet Show Live took place at the Hollywood Palace in Los Angeles. This year saw a reunion special for The Muppet Show, guest starring Sabrina Carpenter, in which the Muppets returned to the Muppet Theatre.
The Muppet Show would have a lasting impact on the Muppets. Characters who had appeared earlier, but were not yet major players, rose to prominence on The Muppet Show, including Miss Piggy and Gonzo. Other characters were introduced on the show who would play a major role in subsequent Muppet projects, including Fozzie Bear and Scooter. It also brought the Muppets to its largest audience up to that point. That exposure allowed them to expand into movies, starting with The Muppet Movie in 1979.
What is not often noted about The Muppet Show is that it was a bit of a last hurrah for variety shows in the United States. It was perhaps the last truly successful variety show to air on American television. The Muppet Show also proved that puppet comedy could draw an adult audience. Such puppet shows as Spitting Image in the UK, Les Guignols in France, 2DTV in the UK, and yet other adult-oriented puppet shows may owe their existence to The Muppet Show. The series is available on DVD and can be streamed on Disney+. Chances are good people will still be watching The Muppet Show fifty years from now.
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