The Muppet Show - Season Three (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)"My six-year-old loves the jokes, and runs around the house singing the songs!"
In line at Best Buy, that's what the mom behind me was saying this morning, still half in disbelief that she was buying yet another season of these 30-year-old TV programs. And to me, that one sentence sums it all up. "The Muppet Show" offers comedy that appeals to all ages -- most episodes include MuppetLabs, Pigs in Space, Swedish Chef or other recurring skits -- as well as wonderful old ditties and show tunes that are themselves often staged with a sly sense of humor.
This third season is perhaps the best of all. Digitally remastered like those on the earlier Season One and Season Two sets, these 24 shows from 1978-1979 are the Muppets at their peak. Hosts include a broad range of personalities, from rocker Alice Cooper to Irish comedian Spike Milligan.
And good news for music lovers: unlike Season Two, this set includes its song lyrics in its captioning!
Here's the complete line-up:
EPISODE 1: Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge. Nothing dated here except the blow-dried hair of Kristofferson, who can't keep a straight face as he serenades Miss Piggy with "Help Me Make It Through the Night." Coolidge sings "We're All Alone." When Sam the Eagle adds commentary to Rowlf's "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go," his insights include "This shows us that there was indeed a time when frogs went 'woo.'" Fozzie and Rowlf do a rousing version of "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me)."
EPISODE 2: Leo Sayer. Has Kermit got a new girlfriend? Piggy thinks so, after starlet pig Annie Sue shows up. Meanwhile, the very-70s Sayer boogies down with a human-sized peacock as he sings "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing." Other songs: "The Show Must Go On," "When I Need You."
EPISODE 3: Roy Clark. With silk shirts and very wide lapels, the country star declares he feels like he's "back on the farm." Ah, the 70s. Songs include the bouncy "Sally Was a Good Ol' Girl" and the oh-so-serious "Yesterday When I Was Young." In skits, the Swedish Chef gets attacked by a pile of living dough, while the Pigs in Space helplessly bounce up and down after Dr. Strangepork fixes the Swinetrek with toaster parts.
EPISODE 4: Gilda Radner. Terrific! A 7-foot-tall talking carrot (with an attitude!) joins Radner in a medley of "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" and other selections from "The Pirates of Penzance." Stuck to Beaker with MuppetLabs super glue, Radner attempts "Tap Your Troubles Away" from "Mack & Mabel." Muppet numbers include a terrific version of "Lullaby of Broadway." Confusing the word "Muppets" with "muffins," Emily Litella opens the show.
EPISODE 5: Pearl Bailey. The host does a great job with "In the Good Old Summertime" and a medley of show tunes including "Hello, Dolly!," "Anything You Can Do" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses." In skits, Dr. Honeydew invents Edible Paperclips, while the Pigs in Space turn into food when their Swinetrek passes through a field of Snacko Waves.
EPISODE 6: Jean Stapleton. Annie Sue leads the pigs in the rowdy 1917 Brazilian classic "Tico-Tico no Fubá" ("tico tico tico clock!") and joins Rowlf for the 19th-century ditty "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow." Best known as Edith from "All in the Family," the host sings "I'm Just Wild About Harry," joins Fozzie for Irving Berlin's 1914 standard, "Play a Simple Melody" and shocks Sam with the news that the Swedish Chef doesn't speak real Swedish.
EPISODE 7: Alice Cooper. Cheesy effects, silly makeup and bad lip-synching mar the host's supposedly serious productions of "Welcome to My Nightmare," "You and Me" and "School's Out." The worst show of the season.
EPISODE 8: Loretta Lynn. One of the few Muppet Shows that doesn't take place in the regular theater, this country-music show is set in a train station. Songs include "You're Lookin' at Country" (Loretta with Lubbock Lou and his Jughuggers) and "Sentimental Journey" (Gonzo).
EPISODE 9: Liberace. Chaos reigns when Gonzo tries to get his tap-dancing chickens into a Liberace spectacular. Also included: a Swedish Chef sketch that turns into an episode of Pigs in Space.
EPISODE 10: Marisa Berenson. The Swedish Chef makes the wedding cake as Miss Piggy and Kermit head to the altar. Of course things don't work out. A 1960s model turned actress ("Cabaret," "Barry Lyndon"), Berenson sings two songs.
EPISODE 11: Raquel Welch. Miss Piggy and Welch don identical low-cut gowns to perform "I Am Woman." Also features a good Swedish Chef skit about chicken in a basket.
EPISODE 12: James Coco. Not that memorable. The highlight: Coco sings Randy Newman's "Short People" with a group of tiny Muppets.
EPISODE 13: Helen Reddy. Miss Piggy sings "Stayin' Alive." Reddy and Kermit perform "You and Me Against the World." Reddy and Sopwith the Camel do "We'll Sing in the Sunshine."
EPISODE 14: Harry Belafonte. Of course there's "Day-O" (with a pig chorus), but Belafonte also performs a wonderful African song, "Turn the World Around," accompanied by Muppets wearing African masks.
EPISODE 15: Lesley Ann Warren. The Great Gonzo rides his motorcycle up a ramp into Statler and Waldorf's theater box. Warren performs a "Beasty and the Beaut" ballet with Doglion. Miss Piggy takes over the Swinetrek.
EPISODE 16: Danny Kaye. Some strange sights: The Swedish Chef with a human partner (Kaye, who refers to the chef as "Tom") and Statler and Waldorf out of their box (disgusted with the show, they head out to the back alley).
EPISODE 17: Spike Milligan. Note my byline and you'll understand why I love this one. It includes a group performance of "It's a Small World" on a set that bears a remarkable resemblance to a certain Disney attraction.
EPISODE 18: Leslie Uggams. A great guest appearance from Big Bird from Sesame Street. In one skit, it's love at first sight for Gonzo when Big Bird wanders onstage. "Wow! Perfection incarnate!" the chicken lover exclaims as he spots the giant feathered fellow. "Statuesque, yet still poultry in every sense!" There's also a funny MuppetLabs skit about fireproof paper.
EPISODE 19: Elke Sommer. One of the weaker episodes, this is another one that just doesn't age well. The one-time sex symbol performs "Animal Crackers in My Soup" and, dressed as Cleopatra, "Row, Row, Row."
EPISODE 20: Sylvester Stallone. Again not my favorite, but there is one memorable skit: in a gladiator sketch, Stallone and a full-size lion perform "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off."
EPISODE 21: Roger Miller. Lots of music. Penguins on the Mayflower sing "Alabamy Bound," Miller joins some watermelons for "In the Summertime," Miller and a Whatnots trio do "Hat," Muppets in a pub perform "Down at the Old Bull and Bush," Rowlf plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" (and turns into a chicken) and Miller joins some Muppet chickens for a medley of "You Had a Do Wacka Do," "Dang Me," "My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died" and "You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd."
EPISODE 22: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. A herd of cows goes mad for Fozzie's cow jokes in this cowboy-themed episode (Fozzie: "You cows are an udder delight!). Prairie dogs sing "Blue Skies," Roy and Dale perform "Skyball Paint," "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and a medley of "Hazy Mountains," "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and "Happy Trails."
EPISODE 23: Lynn Redgrave. Veering away from the variety-show format, this episode is a 25-minute Muppet production of "Robin Hood," with Kermit as Robin, Redgrave as Maid Marian, Fozzie as Little John and Gonzo as the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Town Crier declares "Five o'clock and all's well! Except that Maid Marian has been kidnapped, the Sheriff's up to no good, that dog is stealing the cheese, Kermit's mad at Piggy, and it's really only 4:30."
EPISODE 24: Cheryl Ladd. Skits include Miss Piggy and Ladd trashing their dressing room as they sing "I Enjoy Being a Girl." In "Pigs in Space," Dr. Strangepork invents a pill that makes pigs invisible.
Bonus features include "The Muppets on Puppets," a 60-minute documentary from 1968. Jim Henson, Rowlf the Dog and Muppet design chief Don Sahlin demonstrate how to build and operate a hand puppet and review the various types of puppets as well as the history of the art and its use of special effects. The DVD set also includes a new featurette, "The Making of The Muppets."
As before, the menu screens are live-action. On one, Miss Piggy advises you to "only watch the scenes with me. Trust me, some of the other stuff is just plain weird!"
On the front of the box, Fozzie's fur is not only very orange (more so than indicated on the image above), it's fuzzy.

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Wocka! Wocka! Wocka! The innovative variety show s sensational third season earned television s prestigious Peabody Award as well as an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Program. Featuring a sensational lineup of hilarious guest stars including Sylvester Stallone, Gilda Radner, Raquel Welch and Liberace Season Three is loaded with more Muppetational moments than any show in primetime history. Experience all 24 episodes from Season Three digitally re-mastered and restored in this special 4-disc DVD set. With hours of bonus features, including an all-new behind the scenes documentary, original Muppet commercials and much more, The Muppet Show: The Complete Third Season is unbeatable entertainment for the whole family.

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