The Muppet Musicians of Bremen

Posted on Dec 29, 2015 in Henson, Specials, Television

The Muppet Musicians of Bremen

In early 1972, Jim Henson filmed another Muppet special in Toronto, The Muppet Musicians of Bremen, the third and final in the Tales from Muppetland series and in some ways the least of the “trilogy,” and similarly based on a Grimm’s fairy tale, albeit an overall lesser-known one. That isn’t to say that the special–which aired on April 26, 1972–doesn’t have its strong points. I actually remember enjoying it a great deal as a child, however, when I rewatched it for this site, I noticed how thin the story was in comparison to the previous outings. Whereas Hey Cinderella!  and The Frog Prince seem to effortlessly expand their tales to fit the nearly-hour-long format, Bremen often feels like it’s stretching to fill time.

The Muppets 1.09: Going, Going, Gonzo

Posted on Dec 28, 2015 in Henson, Shows, Television, The Muppets

Gonzo and Uncle Deadly listen to Kermit.

As much as I loved The Muppets‘ first episode, the show still started off with a few growing pains that revealed themselves more in ensuing episodes, mostly in regards to finding the right Muppety tonal balance. Initially, the show seemed so concerned with establishing itself as something closer in anarchic spirit to the earlier Muppets versus the kid-friendlier versions of the years since Jim Henson’s death that it neglected some of the warmth and heart that was also always intrinsic to the Muppets. And at the same time, that anarchy still felt as if it was being kept a bit in check, with nary a chicken or dancing penguin in sight and a sometimes-too-conventional framework.

While even more zaniness could still help things further, in the past few

Jim Henson on Dick Cavett

Posted on Dec 23, 2015 in Guest Appearances, Henson, Television

Dick Cavett and his Muppet double.

After years of making appearances on nighttime variety and talk shows, Jim Henson and Co. had one of their most prominent spotlights on the November 25, 1971 Thanksgiving Day special edition of The Dick Cavett Show, in which Cavett hosted Jim, the Muppets, and by extension, the other puppeteers, for the entire 90-minute program.

And what probably struck me more than anything else while watching this episode was just how broad an artistic universe Jim had already brought to life by this point. Most of the classic Muppet Show characters are still yet to be created but, having watched all of the various elements up to this point being gradually assembled chronologically, it’s quite remarkable to

Kermit Visits Flip Wilson

Posted on Dec 22, 2015 in Guest Appearances, Henson, Television

Kermit meets Diahann Carroll.

On November 11, 1971, the Muppets visited The Flip Wilson Show again. This time, however, rather than Carroll Spinney’s Sesame Street characters, Jim Henson and Frank Oz themselves appeared, Jim first playing Kermit and then the two of them taking on the roles of initially faceless Anything Muppets, which Flip helps transform into characters, like Gordon did on Sesame Street and Jim and his team did in The Muppets on Puppets.

But let’s begin with the Kermit scene, which is hands-down the best Muppets-on-Flip-Wilson sketch I’ve seen thus far, mostly because it combines two sometimes-underused elements of Kermit’s character, particularly in the post-Jim years–his mischievous streak and his sex

Sesame St S3: Bert & Ernie

Posted on Dec 17, 2015 in Henson, Sesame Street, Shows, Television

Today, we’re up to the Bert and Ernie sketches of Season 3, and as I’ve said before, the reason some of these might be familiar to you, even if you grew up later, is that they would repeat these throughout the ’80s, as well. In fact, there have been quite a few whose year surprised me. Whereas the street scenes demonstrate change, clips either within Bert and Ernie’s apartment or with only Muppets are generally timeless, because there aren’t any humans and therefore no aging or dated styles.

Our first clip today is a classic Ernie/Lefty scene that actually ends with Bert joining Ernie, which was rare, as Lefty and Bert were both performed by Frank Oz. Also, unusually, Lefty isn’t selling a letter this time around and Ernie actually buys what he’s offering, however, for another reason than one might expect:

Sesame St S3: Assorted Clips

Posted on Dec 15, 2015 in Henson, Sesame Street, Shows, Television

Bob introduces Kermit to a bullfrog.

Today, I watched an assortment of highlights from Sesame Street‘s third season, beginning with an amazing clip that has an even more amazing backstory which I only learned recently, while watching PBS’ In Their Own Words episode on Jim Henson. In most of the Kermit lecture sketches, Kermit would be teaching a lesson to the children at home. This might be the first time that Kermit himself was taught a lesson in one of these scenes! You can watch the clip here.

It starts off with Kermit preparing to give a lecture on “one of the most exciting, wonderful things in the entire world,” namely frogs. And then Bob enters, telling him he has a surprise but to carry on with his speech first.

Sesame St S3: Songs, Etc.

Posted on Dec 10, 2015 in Henson, Sesame Street, Shows, Television

Today, we’re looking at a bunch of mostly musical highlights from Sesame Street‘s third season, with a few other clips thrown in for good measure. As usual, I found the first batch of clips here on the Sesame Street: Old School Volume 1 DVD set, beginning with one of the most iconic songs in the entire run of the show, Cookie Monster’s classic “C is for Cookie,” which like Ernie’s “Rubber Duckie,” entered the pop culture zeitgeist, appearing on over 25 separate Sesame Street albums. What’s so wonderful about it is that, on one level, it teaches a very simple concept, which is right there in the title, but like Ernie’s song, it’s also a character-defining and character-driven number. We love Cookie and his cookie obsession which makes the song specific and memorable in a way that a purely educational number wouldn’t be. Joe Raposo’s deliberately simplistic lyrics and tune perfectly capture Cookie’s speech patterns and personality: