Muppet Show

Hey, Stadler, when does the show start? Well,

it's up to those folks out there. You mean our

fate is in their hands? That's right. Well, hello

out there. It certainly is a beautiful day outside.

Yes, a lovely day. Be ashamed to waste it watching

Muppets. Well, you could be doing something else.

Anything else. Go someplace. Leave. Take us with

you. We'll drive. We're too young to die. We

are? Not really. Brought to you by the Geekcast

Radio Network. Optimus Solo TFG1 Mike, hello.

Hello. And making his Telecast debut... The Slacker.

The Slacker, Glade Packer. Hello, sir. Morning.

Such a nice introduction. We're all three on

different time zones, and the earliest one is

for Glade, so we would say we feel bad for him,

but we really don't. No, not at all. And today,

the four of us are going to be talking about...

It's time to put on makeup. It's time to dress

up right. It's time to raise the curtain on the

Muppet Show tonight. Why do we always come here?

I guess we'll never know. It's like a kind of

torture to have to watch the show. It's time.

to get things started on the most sensational,

inspirational, celebrational moment. That's right,

folks. We are talking about The Muppet Show.

And for a little background information on the

show, it debuted in 1976, ran until 1981, which

was a great year. It was on CBS. It was a 30

-minute show, 120 total episodes and five total

seasons. Let's start with Mike on what do you

remember about The Muppet Show from your childhood?

Manon, manon. Anyway. That very first episode

with that skit, as a kid, it freaked me the hell

out, and I don't know why. I remember catching

this in so many reruns, because obviously 1980

is the best year ever, which is when I was born.

And I remember watching this as a kid in reruns

and stuff, and it had already gone off the air,

but they had re -aired a whole bunch of episodes.

The ones I mainly remember, the one I most remember,

actually, is the Christopher Reeve episode. Just

having him on there was just so awesome. I like

Pigs in Space. I love The Chef. Just a whole

bunch of really, really great memories. I love

the camaraderie. What? I said we're not talking

about characters yet. I'm just kidding. No, I'm

saying Pigs in Space was a segment. The Chef

thing was a segment. Okay. I'm talking about

the actual segments, not the characters. But

yeah, it was just an overall great, great fun

show. It's probably my favorite Muppet -type

show. And that theme song, you can't get... Because

that theme song was so cool. I agree. Steve,

what are your memories from the Muppet show?

I know it was on before you were born, but...

I used to watch this show so much, even though

it was on reruns when I caught it. And... I just

loved every aspect of it. Every character in

this show is memorable in some way. Yeah. And

they're all differentiating between styles, looks,

voices. And you've pretty much got pretty much

the same few people doing the voices for all

of these. Oh, yeah. Which is crazy. And it's

just... None of them really sound alike, but

they... It's just crazy. The show is so awesome

to watch. I mean, it's like Saturday Night Live

for kids. Yeah, like we mentioned a couple times,

it's like the Saturday Night Live version for

kids or for puppets or whatever. And that's something

that I remember, too, is just the format of the

show is what I liked. I loved the format with

Kermit as kind of like the emcee and introducing

different stuff. I loved the guest stars that

you would have on every episode. It was just

great comedy. For kids, it was easy to keep your

attention because they were always going to a

new skit. The longest skit was only probably

five minutes at the most. They might come back

to it throughout the episode, which is something

I like. They might introduce a little segment

in the beginning and then come back to it halfway

through and then end with it. They were always

changing things up. Like you said, I think they...

They found a good group of characters that could

appeal to a wide variety of people, depending

on what your interests were. Yeah, I just remember

watching this a ton. Me and my sister watch this

in reruns all the time. And I want to mention

it now because we're not really talking about

it at all today, but the other thing I remember

is when it came back as Muppets Tonight in the

90s. I don't know if any of you guys remember

that show. I just thought it was re -syndicated

episodes of Muppet Show. I didn't know. No, when

it came back as Muppets Tonight from 96 to 98,

it was only two seasons, but they had some new

characters. They had a guy named Clifford was

the emcee instead of Kermit. Yeah, I watched

this. And I don't know, it was just... I liked

both of them. I just wanted to get the Muppets

Tonight mention out there since we're really

only talking about the Muppet Show. Glade, what

do you remember about the Muppet Show? I know

this was on way before you were born. Yeah, just

by six years. Well, let's see, 11 beginning.

But yeah, I think I actually grew up watching

the Muppets Tonight, I mean. And the only thing

I can really remember from that is my sister

saying, yeah, this isn't as funny as the Muppet

Show. Okay. Yeah, I watched it recently, and,

well, I'll get into those thoughts later. Yeah,

so. Good memories, though. Only memories. Only

memories. We should insert a song here. Well,

let's just get right into the who's who, then,

and talk a little bit about the actual Muppet

characters. Mike, who are your favorite Muppet

characters, or which ones did you dislike? What

are your thoughts on the characters? I like pretty

much all of them, honestly. I mean, I like them

each for different reasons. I think the only

one that I really got annoyed with was Gonzo

sometimes, although I do still like him. And

then Beaker is just hilarious. I couldn't stand

Gonzo's chickens. Camilla? Yeah, that's too weird.

So you like, how about a favorite? Favorite would

probably be Animal. It has to be Animal. I mean,

I love Kermit and Fozzie, and I love all of them,

but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be

a tie between Animal and Statler and Waldorf.

Okay. How about you, Steve? There are a ton of

characters I love from this show. Kermit being

one of them. I like The Swedish Chef. I like

Waldorf and Statler. Beaker's definitely memorable,

just because all he does is, like, me, me, me,

me, me. Which is hilarious. The Menomina guy,

which is awesome. But overall, for favorite characters,

I'd have to say I don't have just one. I'd have

to probably narrow it down to Kermit and Waldorf

and Statler just because I like the banter between

those old guys sitting in the balcony watching

this whole thing take place. And they're just

making fun of everything. And it's just hilarious

because they're being the biggest smartasses

without really saying anything bad, but they're

just hating on everything going on and having

their own little inside joke. I'd have to say

I like Kermit because, well, he's pretty much

the main guy of the whole thing. Yeah, and it

was a perfect type of role for Kermit because

he's always the type that always, even on Sesame

Street, would kind of freak out or spaz out.

So since he's running the whole thing, you can

kind of get the stress level, and it helps him

spaz out even more. I agree with you. Uncle Waldorf

and Statler are so much of a nice touch to this

show, and it's nice when you're making fun of

yourself. I like so many characters. I'm just

going to talk about the one I dislike. I've never

been able to... I just can't stand Miss Piggy.

I've never liked Miss Piggy. I have to agree.

I don't know. If there was one character I could

do without, I mean, I know she's necessary because

you need the female character, and I know you

got the little romance between her and Kermit,

but I cannot stand the look. I can't stand the

sound. I don't like Miss Piggy. I don't know.

What about you, Glade? Oh, man, too many, too

many. Yeah, Kermit, definitely. I remember when

I was younger, I used to love Dr. Teeth, and

I don't know why. Well, he is the Monomenon guy.

No, he's not. No, he's not. He isn't? I thought

he was. Dr. Teeth is the piano guy with golden

tooth who sings the money, money, money stuff.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, Monomenon's a little different.

He's got... purple face and orange hair. He's

almost like an animal -looking guy. Dr. Teeth

is completely different, but he's got that cool

-sounding voice to him. Probably why. Well, you

had Dr. Teeth and Zoot and Janice and Floyd Pepper

as the band. Oh, that's right. I have to say

Floyd, especially when they were doing that one

segment, the sax and violence. That was awesome.

Oh, I didn't mention Scooter either. No, you

didn't. Scooter's never been one of my favorites

either. I don't know why. He's alright, but he's...

In this one, I noticed he's not very funny. The

running gag with his uncle owning the stage and

whatnot, yeah, it's pretty funny, but when he

tries to be funny, it doesn't pull off very well,

in my opinion. And for those of you that are

wondering why we're not talking about Skeeter,

because Skeeter didn't exist. Skeeter was an

exclusive new character to the Muppet Babies.

Right. So he must have died before he got old.

Oh, go ahead, Glade. Oh, I'm sorry. I basically

like them all. Maybe Miss Piggy not. Yeah, just

like you, not so much. No offense, but especially

when Richard Hunt voiced him or whatever. Yeah,

it's always been a guy, which is always kind

of weird to me. But Richard Hunt was just...

I like Richard Hunt. I didn't like anybody that

voiced Miss Piggy, though. I didn't like anybody's

Miss Piggy voice. I liked the people that voiced

them. Some of the other characters I thought

we should mention just real quick. Robin Kermit's

little nephew, or whatever you want to call it.

Rizzo the rat. Lou Zealand, the guy that threw

the fish. Yes. We didn't mention, but everybody

knows Bunsen, Honeydew, and Rolf the Dog. And

then I want to get your guys' thoughts on Sam

the Eagle. Did anybody like him or dislike him?

I love Sam. Sam is awesome. Sam is awesome for

one thing that we'll talk about later, and all

I have to say is American woman. He's so plain.

It's almost like you have Spock in this role.

And it's almost like he reminded you of that

parental figure or that grandma or grandpa or

that teacher or something that was always so

strict and by the book and just wouldn't let

anybody have any fun. He reminds me of that.

But he had fun, though, too. Yeah, but he was

so straight. My favorite bit is when he always

introduces Wayne and Wanda, the quote -unquote

morality of the show, and they always do stuff

that wasn't exactly morale. Like, moral, I mean.

Yeah. No, I like Sam. He's a unique character

amongst all the other Muppets, and I think it's

a needed... It's almost like he's the parent

of the group or something like that. All right,

well, let's get into maybe some of the actual

voice actors since Glade brought up Richard Hunt.

Should be no surprise for those of you that listened

to the last couple episodes, Jerry Nelson is

the god of Muppets, basically. I mean, I know

Jim Henson and Frank Oz are a lot of the creative

force, but as far as voices go, it's all about

Jerry Nelson. And I wanted to bring up a fact

that I haven't brought up in the previous ones.

He voiced 142 characters on Sesame Street. He

voiced 99... at least on The Muppet Show. That's

insane. Yeah, it is. He was Robin the Frog, he

was Lou Zealand, he was Floyd Pepper, Camilla

the Chicken, and then a ton of the guest bit

characters that we won't mention. But he's just

a great guy. I've watched him in a couple of

the special features on the DVDs, and he's...

Just seems like a really awesome guy. Very intelligent

and very good with his voices. Even when he does

his little interviews on the special features,

he starts going into all these different voices,

and I love it when people do that. Oh, the other

guy he voiced that I didn't mention in the character

part was Crazy Harry. I don't know if you guys

know who I'm talking about. Mike, I think, does.

Yeah. The guy that would run around and blow

shit up. Yeah. That's a great character. Dave

Goels, we mentioned a little bit last episode.

He voiced Zoot. He voiced Gonzo, Bunsen, and

again, a bunch of side characters. He did the

second most voices. Jim Henson did the third

most voices. He had Kermit. He had Uncle Waldorf,

the Swedish chef, Rolf, Dr. Teeth, and of course,

some side voices. Richard Hunt. For a time, did

Miss Piggy, did Janice, did Uncle Statler, did

Scooter, did Beaker, and a bunch of others. Frank

Oz, Fozzie, Sam the Eagle, the main voice for

Miss Piggy, Animal, the Swedish Pig, and the

two little characters that were with the Menomina

guy. The Snows. Yeah, the Snows. Steve Whitmire

was Rizzo the Rat. I don't think we need to mention

too many of the other voice actors. And you guys

have a favorite voice out of the characters at

all? Like a favorite individual sounding voice

from one of the characters, Steve? I would have

to say I like the Monominat guy just because

I like that deep, goofy voice. I love Kermit

the Frog's voice. Statler and Waldorf are memorable

because they sound like old people, so it's funny

in that. Beaker, just because he does the me

-me thing, which is hilarious. I do think, like

Glade said, that I prefer Frank Oz's piggy voice,

even though I still am not a huge fan of piggy,

and I like Frank Oz's take on Sam the Eagle.

Another one I like is The Sweetest Chef, just

because that's a fun one to imitate. We used

to always do that as kids. We'd just be talking,

and we'd go, or just come up with something and

just be talking about whatever we're talking

about. I like doing Kermit the Frog. That one's

kind of a fun one. Yeah. Mike, any favorite voices

out of any of the characters? For me, it's got

to go to Jim Henson and Richard Hunt, specifically

for Stadler and Waldorf, because I love those

guys. Those guys are the funny versions of Siskel

and Ebert. Unless you're watching a Siskel and

Ebert outtakes. That was kind of funny. I loved

all the different voices because, as Kevin said,

no voice on the show actually sounded the same

whatsoever. I'll say that there was one that

I noticed, and that was Jim Henson early on in

the show. Especially the character of Nigel,

who was kind of like the MC. I don't know how

long he lasted or if he was just on the beginning

seasons, but him and Kermit sound a lot alike.

But yeah, most of the time you couldn't necessarily

tell. You didn't know Kermit was the same voice

as Uncle Waldorf and stuff like that. Glade,

any favorite voice? Oh, man. Probably Dr. Teeth.

He had a different kind of thing going for him.

Oh, let's see. Yeah, he had a good voice. Again,

that was Jim Henson, so it was like, wow. Yeah,

I'd have to say probably Jim Henson or maybe

Frank Oz. Oh, man. It's actually really hard

to pick which guy because they are all awesome.

Yeah. Well, we already mentioned that Miss Piggy,

at least for me and possibly for Glade, were

our kind of voices we didn't like necessarily.

Is there any other voices that you guys didn't

care for? Not really. I don't really have any

that I disliked. I just have specific characters

that were just more so annoying. Yeah, any besides

Miss Piggy? I think I'd have to go with Mike

on this one. Gonzo. Gonzo, just because he's

basically like another Daffy Duck, another Donald

Duck. I mean, he's just another one of those

type characters that, you know. I didn't necessarily

care for Janice either. Yeah, it was kind of

a, I don't know, I didn't like the look. Yeah.

But overall, I mean... She's like stone with

her eyes closed. I mean, I know Dr. Teeth looks

really stoned, but... Sound? No, that'd be Floyd.

But yeah, it's still... I don't really care for

that design out of all the ones that I've seen

in the show. Yeah. Well, and the thing is, like,

when you have... As many characters as this show

has, it's got to be hard to make them all. I

mean, this show had over 230 characters in just

five seasons. So, I mean, it's got to be hard

to come up with your voices, especially if you

think that most of these voice actors are also

doing the voices on Sesame Street, who has over

700 characters. It's like, how many voices can

one individual come up with? But I think they

did an excellent job. I think the only thing,

like, I don't know if this ever happened was,

but if you ever had Kermit and Fozzie and Bert

and Ernie in the same room, you'd be doing triple

takes all day long. Yeah, that'd be an interesting

dynamic, unfortunately, that we're never going

to get to see. Yeah. So I think that does it

for the who's who as far as the main characters

and the Muppet characters and the voice actors.

I want to take a minute, though, to touch on

maybe some of the guest stars that we remember

the most. I know Mike mentioned... Christopher

Reeve. Christopher Reeve. I remember... Trying

to mention a few of them. I mean, they had so

many people, but like John Denver, Elton John,

Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor. There was a ton of

guest stars. Are there any that stick out the

most for you other than Christopher Reeve, Mike?

I mean, now that you're pulling some names out

of the hat there, you know, Bill Cosby, I do

remember seeing that episode. I forget what the

guy's name is off the top of my head. I just

linked to it in the chat, the drum battle. The

guy that did that. I mean, there's just so many.

And one of the reasons why I absolutely loved

the guest stars, as we've kind of said before,

this is kind of like a Saturday Night Live with

Muppets, but the guest stars sometimes feel really

out of place. And it's kind of funny because

it works. They feel out of place with... Like,

say someone's in their dressing room and all

of a sudden Gonzo bursts in. Or, well, more specifically,

say there's like... You know off the top of your

head a couple of the female ones that guested,

Kevin? You had Candice Bergen. All right. Any

of the female ones that guested that were sweet

on Kermit, you knew this biggie was going to

burst into their dressing room and give them

a karate chop. Well, let me real quick give just

a rundown of some of the ones, the main ones

that I know of. You had Julie Andrews from Sound

of Music and stuff like that. You had Harry Belafonte,

Milton Berle. Carol Burnett, George Burns, C

-3PO and R2 -D2 were guests one time. Johnny

Cash, Carol Channing, Chewbacca was once. John

Cleese, Big Bird and Cookie Monster guested once,

and The Count. Let's see. Dom DeLuise, Phyllis

Diller, John Denver, Mark Hamill. Let's see who

else we have. Florence Henderson, the mom from

the Brady Bunch. Yeah, Bob Hope, Elton John,

Gene Kelly. I mean, you have a ton of people.

I'm just going through the list a little bit

further. Steve Martin, Ethel Merman, Liza Minnelli,

Roger Moore from James Bond. Let's see. Vincent

Price, Tony Randall. Christopher Reeve, like

you said, Buddy Rich was the drummer, Kenny Rogers,

Linda Ronstadt, Peter Sellers, Brooke Shields,

Paul Simon, Sylvester Stallone, and Ben Vereen.

I mean, you had a ton of people. Yeah, there

was a ton of guest stars, and they made each

show very, very different. I mean, if you watch,

like, three or four of these episodes back to

back you're not going to see the same thing in

each show it's extremely unique episodes and

i kind of love how they it just added another

element when you had a different guest star each

time and i kind of loved how they interacted

with the muppets yeah um steve you have a favorite

guest star that you remember or or just what

your thoughts of as far as the guest stars role

in the show um I don't specifically remember

any because it's been a while since I've seen

one with the actual guests in it besides some

of the snippets on YouTube. But I do remember

at one time seeing one with Mark Hamill, which

I thought was cool. I do remember. I agree with

Mike in this sense. They do seem out of place.

A lot of the time, which is hilarious because

they're kind of just looking around waiting for

what's going to happen and then these Muppets

start growing bananas around them. Yeah. And

I don't know, it's just awesome to see between

that and how jealous Miss Piggy gets. I don't

know, just the whole dynamic to it is unique.

Well, I kind of like how they would come in and

like... I loved, first of all, how it was basically

you got to see the whole backstage of the production.

I mean, I know they were supposed to be putting

on this show, but obviously we were getting to

see the backstage. We were getting to see the

stagehands and Kermit trying to arrange things.

And I kind of liked how the guest stars would

come in and get introduced to that experience

and how, like Mike said, they'd be in their dressing

room or they'd be... getting ready for their

number or whatnot. And it was just really interesting.

And for those of you that are interested in the

same type of thing with more modern guest stars,

Muppets Tonight, the 90s show, had a lot more

guest stars that maybe the younger crew would

be more familiar with. Yeah. So you might want

to check that out. Glade, what are your thoughts

on how the guest stars worked in the show? Some

of them worked, and some of them really did look

awkward. I'd have to say one of my favorites,

and this is purely for Batman, the animated series.

You think I'm going to say Mark Hamill? No, no,

no. I'm going to say Paul Williams. Yeah. Yeah,

that was awesome. The whole time they're making

fun of his height and he's like, yes, I'm the

tallest. And then the other, I don't know the

names, but Sweetums and the other one, I don't

remember. Oh, yeah. They come in and it's like,

oh, crap. Yeah, the guest stars you got in Muppets

Tonight, I'm just going to name a couple in case

people are wanting to go look at that. But you

had like Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Sandra

Bullock, Tony Bennett, Jason Alexander, Whoopi,

Martin Short, Rick Moranis. So you had a lot

more of like the 90s people in there. But I don't

know. I like just the fact that they brought

in these humans and it gave it more of that Saturday

Night Live feel with a guest. I don't know, I'm

a fan of the guest stars, even though Mike and

Glade pointed out some of them are a little,

I don't know, out of place, I guess is the best

way to put it, like Mike said. Well, the thing

about it being out of place is, you know, the

way I viewed the Muppets show specifically was,

you know, the Muppets are running this show that

they want to put on, they want to have all these

great guest stars, and Kermit is always really

nice to the guest stars and, you know, really

professional. and it's everybody else that's

really wacky, and the guest star isn't prepared

for that. They're expecting some sort of professional

experience, and oftentimes that's not what happens.

Yeah. Oh, man. But even with that, it seems like

it's just a great element to add to the show.

Mm -hmm. All right, well, let's see what's next.

The good. The bad. Ugly. That's right. It is

time for the good, the bad, and the ugly. And

I think the first thing we're going to talk about

as far as the show goes is the theme song because

we like to talk about those. Mike, your thoughts

on the theme song? This is one of the best television

theme songs ever. Ever. It just is. It's so unique

in the fact that, you know, they basically tell

you, you know, Kermit comes on through the little

O and opens the door and basically says, Welcome

to The Muppet Show, and here's the guest. And

then they do this whole musical montage, and

at the end you have Gonzo either with a horn

or trumpet or drums or something, or they'll

have people blowing the setup. It was, again,

like I said earlier, that... With the fact that

each episode was unique to itself and there were

no really, no episode was the same, you would

get a different experience through each one.

You get a different experience through each version

of the intro to the show, and it was just so

awesome. Steve? This theme is, it's like the

start of an awesome... I mean, just the theme

alone gets you pumped up for what's to come later.

Yeah, I was going to say the exact same thing.

It's so upbeat, and it just draws you right to

it, and you're like, wow. And then you see all

these Muppets running around and end of the experience,

and then when you finally get in there, you're

like, man, this show is definitely awesome. Well,

it shows off another thing that the Henson group

was good at as far as writing. their own music

and their songs. We saw this throughout the different

Muppet movies, which we'll mention later on,

but you always had these good songs through Sesame

Street, through Fraggle Rock had a lot of music,

and The Muppet Show had a good variety of music,

and I think it's just, I don't know who was in

charge of writing it all. I forget what his name

was, but they're just really good at the music

part. Glade, what do you think about the theme

song? Holy crap. It's awesome. It's awesome.

I'm not sure if you guys noticed this or not,

but some of the music notes... I can't point

you directly where, but I noticed that it sounds

a little like Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Hmm. Like, towards the end, if you listen carefully,

it has that kind of... It just sounds vaguely

familiar like that. So you're hallucinating.

It's too early in the mountains. No, this is

before this morning. Shut up. I want to get into

a few of the actual segments before we do something

to tell around the section here. Did anybody

have a favorite segment in the show as far as,

like, I know Pigs in Space or you had the Swedish

Chef segments. You had Fozzy doing his stand

-up act. That happened a lot. You had Waldorf

and Stallard doing their thing. Anybody have

a favorite segment? Steve, let's start with you.

Well, I mean, of course, everybody loves Waldorf

and Statler. I mean, that alone is one of the

nice parts about the show. The other thing I

like is, as we've mentioned already, just the

random host jumping in, and if somebody likes

Kermit, Nick's Piggy just beating the hell out

of them. Karate chop! And then they go down.

But, yeah, I like that. And then one of the other

things I like is the pigs in space. Because I

was into Star Trek at the time of watching this.

That was just something that I couldn't go without.

It is, I don't know, just something about it.

I think I would have liked it better, though,

if it wasn't the pigs. Yeah, if it were like.

frogs in space it would have been even better

but i love the names captain link hog throb and

dr julius strange fork but yeah i mean it's just

overall it's it's i don't know just cool as hell

to to just see yeah um a couple of the other

segments i didn't mention but the veterinarian's

hospital Yeah, that was always funny. General

Hospital, but with the vet. And then Muppet Labs

with Beaker and Bunsen. Mike, did you have a

favorite segment or just a favorite part of the

show in general? Pretty much all of them. Fozzie's

act was kind of sad because he just constantly

fails. But it did give Waldorf and Statler a

chance to make fun of him. I know. But Muppet

Labs, I love that. Now, Kevin off air last week

when we were doing Sesame Street crucified me

for not remembering Guy Smiley on Sesame Street.

One of the reasons why I didn't remember him

is because I remember the Muppet news announcer

more, who was a variation of the Guy Smiley puppet.

And it just, the fact that the disaster that

he's describing is what actually happens to him

at the end of most of the news flashes is just

hilarious. I love it. Pigs in Space, that's pretty

cool. I just love how they introduced it. Time

for Pigs in Space! Any segments or parts that

you liked a lot, Glade? Oh, you forgot to mention

the Swedish Chef. Yeah, Swedish Chef is awesome.

You know, it's very, very difficult to pick just

one, if that's what you're asking. Or a couple.

Oh, in that case, I'd say a few of them. The

ones that really come to mind, because I just

barely watched the first season. Yeah, I'm a

procrastinator. Don't dig it in too much. You're

not worthy. I'm never worthy. So, Joel Grey.

When he was doing his German from the musical

Cabaret. That whole act where the Muppets interact

with them, I'd have to say that the guest acts

in general, most of them work. Some of them are

like, really? No. Stop. Yeah. I don't know. Some

of my favorite parts were just watching Kermit

trying to deal with all the chaos. Oh. I loved

watching him run around trying to get things

on schedule or whatnot. And wasn't there once

where he was like, He was either not there or

he was taking the night off, and it was, like,

somebody else's job to, like... Yep. I don't

know if it was Fozzie's job or somebody else.

Yeah, it was Fozzie or Scooter or somebody. And

it was their job to run the show, and it was

just kind of an interesting take to show what

Kermit put up with. Yeah. Any parts of this show

that you don't like, you know, whether it's,

you know, a segment, the way they did something,

or anything about the show that's bad, Mike?

I think sometimes for me, the guest stars, when

they would have the singing guest stars, that

segment was kind of slow for me. I think it depended

on who it was. Some of them were fine, and some

of them you're like, I don't really care about

this. Right, yeah, it's like fast forward. It's

like something that maybe your parents could

appreciate, but not you. Yeah, it's one of those

things that some of the singing guest stars,

it's kind of like me and some of the live -action

skits on Sesame Street. I just didn't care for

them. Well, and you've got to think some of the

kids might have absolutely no clue who some of

these people are. Well, true. Yeah, so it makes

it hard to relate to them. Yeah. But, I mean,

even now when I've gone back and watched The

Muppet Show, it's like... I just prefer the skits.

Yeah. Steve, anything that you didn't like or

anything that was slow or a little bit boring

for you for The Muppet Show? I don't know. I

would say overall I just liked the show. I mean,

there's not really much I didn't like when I

watched it. That's kind of how I feel, too. Glade,

anything you didn't like? Some of the puns, but

the thing about it is I remember one episode.

Ironically enough, I don't remember the title

of the episode, but I remember one of the episodes

they were like, that's a bad pun. So I'd say

that's kind of one of the down things, but they

at least acknowledge that some of the puns were

bad. So I can't say there's really too much bad

about the show. Well, let's compare it then to

the other Jim Henson creations. Let's compare

it to Fraggle Rock and Sesame Street. I have

to put this one on top. This is my favorite Jim

Henson thing. And if we're just talking about

TV shows, I mean, there might have been a few

of the Muppet movies that I really liked a lot.

But if we're just talking TV shows, I've got

to put Muppet Show first as far as my favorite.

What about you, Mike? For me, honestly, the order

is Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and Sesame Street.

I love Sesame Street, but I loved it for a different

reason. Sesame Street was educational, and I

don't have anything against Sesame Street at

all. I love that show. But as far as nowadays,

as far as pure comedy fun, Muppet Show is number

one. You trying to rhyme and stuff and be a poet?

Shut up. Steve? He's Dr. Seuss. Steve, which

ones do you like the best? I would have to say

The Muppet Show. Mostly because the characters

are more different. There's more of a variety

of them. And it was more comedic, which I'm definitely

more into humor than I am more serious conversation,

which drives people around me nuts because sometimes

I can't get serious. But yeah, as far as... The

shows are concerning, though. I definitely like

The Muppet Show better because you get all these

guests, you get more actual interaction. You

can get almost anything from it, whereas I think

Fraggle Rock's more of a targeted audience. And

that's probably why I can't really enjoy it today

as well as I did. Back then, where I can enjoy

the Muppet Show, even today, I can still sit

there and watch it, and it doesn't bore me in

the least. Just think how epic it would be if

Muppet Show had never stopped. Could you imagine

the guest hosts that they would have had up until

this point? I know, if Saturday Night Live could

make it this long, why couldn't the Muppet Show

make it this long? Yes, I agree that... It would

have been awesome if it continued today, but

I wouldn't want to see The Muppet Show go in

the way of popularity that The Simpsons has,

where it's just totally gone off kilter. Well,

it wouldn't as long as the right people were

involved, but obviously since Jim Henson's not

around, maybe it would have gone through some

things. But I'm sure Brian would have taken over.

I don't know. It just would have been cool to

see how many awesome guest host interactions

we would have had over 20, 30 years. Imagine

it today, though. Miley Cyrus. Lenny Gaga. Oh,

God. Can we move on now, please? Think about

all the people that have been on Sesame Street.

Move it on. All right, let's get into the next

part. Things that make you go. Hmm. All right,

that means it's time for things you didn't know

about The Muppet Show. The first thing you might

not have known about The Muppet Show is that

it was nominated for a total of 21, yes, 21 Primetime

Emmy Awards. It won four, including the 1978

award for Outstanding Comedy Variety or Music

Series. Also nominated for 11 BAFTA Awards during

its run, won two of those, and it was presented

with a Peabody Award in 1978. So people recognize

this be good stuff. Recognize. Second thing that

you might not know about the Muppet Show is many

of the characters were redesigned early in the

show's run. If you search out early episodes

or pictures, Miss Piggy's long hair and nose

were replaced with shorter curly hair and a shorter

nose. Gonzo's nose was resized, and Fozzie had

his wagging ears and drooping mouth removed because

Frank Oz felt they were unnecessary to bring

the character to life. So if you want to look

at some differences or look at these characters

not how you remember them, search out some of

the very early episodes of The Muppet Show. And

the early look of Miss Piggy was scary. I don't

know if you guys have seen that, but it's not

a good look. Third thing that you might not know,

Jim Henson wanted the show to end during the

peak of its popularity, and it actually did.

The final year featured the highest Nielsen ratings

of the entire show's run. So talk about a show

going out on top. Not many shows go out the year

after they are receiving their highest ratings.

And, I don't know, I guess I find this last one

interesting, but you might not know that Animal,

the Muppet drummer, was inspired by the drummer

from The Who, Keith Moon. Keith Moon. So, yes,

let me finish, asshole. Just kidding. Anything

trivia -wise that any of you guys want to share?

You know, as far as the beginnings of the Muppet

Show and the character designs, character designs

constantly change. I mean, you have to find what

works for the character. And like Kevin said,

Frank Oz felt that Fozzie's initial design didn't

work. So you had to change it. Well, and it helps

that they're the ones building them all anyway.

They're like, oh, let's try this. This is normally

the part of the show where we do the Where Are

They Now? And I know it's been different during

this whole Puppets -themed five episodes because

it's a whole different thing. It's not like live

-action actors or whatever. And we've talked

about a lot of people. We spent Sesame Street

talking about Jim Henson. And during Fraggle

Rock, we talked about most of the voice actors

in depth. The only person we really haven't talked

about so far is Frank Oz. because he wasn't on

the Fraggle Rock Show. So just a real quick thing

on Frank Oz. Basically, he, in the 90s and early

2000s, he kind of started transitioning away

from doing a lot of the characters that he'd

been doing for 30 years. A lot of the characters

have been recast to a guy named Eric Jacobson.

And basically... Just to give you a quote from

Frank Oz as far as why he's distancing himself

or why he decided to do that from the Muppets,

he said there was a lot of reasons. One was that

I was a dad. I have four kids. The reason was

that I was constantly asked to do stuff, and

also I had done this for 30 years, and I had

never wanted to be a puppeteer in the first place.

I wanted to be a journalist, and really what

I wanted to do was direct theater and direct

movies. So that's obviously the path he took.

He started doing a little bit more directing.

And another thing as far as a quote from Frank

Ozzie said, I've made a policy over the last

15 years of not having any pictures with my characters

and I at all in the same shot. That is because

as a director, I can walk on a film for 18 hours

a day for a year, work my ass off, and people

will see it and say, oh, that's nice. That was

a good film. Then they see one picture of me

and one of my characters and they go ape shit.

They'll freak out and say, you do the character.

The power of the Muppets and the popularity of

these characters is so iconic in people's lives

that I've had to distance myself from it publicly.

And he also refuses to do voices on request,

I guess, of the Muppet characters. Now, I don't

necessarily see this as him saying anything bad

about the Muppets or anything like that. It's

just like he said, he did it for so long. And

I think when Jim Henson kind of left and passed

on that... I don't know, they were such a good

team together that I can kind of see why he kind

of started fading away a little bit too. It's

kind of like Laurel without Hardy or something

like that, Siskel without Ebert. Ebert and Roper,

that so doesn't work. And this is the same thing,

and I know Ebert and Roper aren't as epic as

Oz and Henson, but it's one of those things where...

If someone in the partnership passes away or

leaves or does something, obviously you're not

going to be that much into it anymore. Yeah.

And Frank Oz, I mean, what an incredible, incredible

voice actor. I have him as one of the best all

time. I mean, if you think about it, not only...

The Fozzie the Bear and Miss Piggy and Sam the

Eagle from the Muppet show that we talked about,

but Bert and Cookie Monster and Grover from Sesame

Street, and then, of course, it would be stupid

if we didn't mention Yoda. I mean, the guy was

a genius, and I think his involvement in all

of these Jim Henson projects is one reason why

they were all so good. Oh, yeah. Any thoughts

on Frank Oz, Steve? Well, hell, he's done so

many Muppets. everything it's just crazy yeah

one of the one of the ones that i knew for sure

he did was yoda before this but yeah it's insane

to see how many he's actually done and he's actually

you know i didn't want to just brief over The

directing that he's done, but he's directed some

good stuff as well. He was a director on The

Stepford Wives, The Score, Bowfinger, The Indian

in the Cupboard, What About Bob, Dirty Rotten

Scoundrels, Little Shop of Horrors, The Dark

Crystal, and Muppets Take Manhattan. He was a

director on all of those. So, I mean, he was

a multi -talented individual. You know, not just

a voice actor, not just a director, you know,

as far as the creative process. He was a genius,

just like Jim Henson. Glade, any thoughts on

Frank Oz? I only know him from Yoda and the work

that he did on The Muppet Show. Actually, I'm

sorry, I cracked myself. The Muppet Movies. I

hate to say it, but I really don't have any thoughts

about the guy. But from what you said, I didn't

know that he tried to distance himself, but I

can understand he doesn't want to be typecast

or overrun with people who are like, dude, do

this voice, do this voice. Yeah, which I can

understand, and a lot of people don't want to

necessarily have to deal with that as far as

only being in the characters that they play.

They like to be a person as well. All right,

I think we're going to take a break, and we're

going to put some Muppet goodness into the commercial

break, so make sure you listen to all that, and

we will be right back after these messages. After

these messages, we'll be right back. Welcome

to my throne of future tales. The Beast Unleashed

podcast is over, not gone. You can hear more

of this great podcast discussing all the episodes

of Beast Wars and Beast Machines on geekcastradio

.com. We include voice actor and writer interviews

with stellar hosting by Steve, Mike, and Michael.

Head on over to iTunes or the net. Or else I

will send you my vehicles to extract your spark

and destroy you. Yes. In conclusion, I would

like to point out that it is time for a revolutionary

new look in primetime variety television, and

the combination of the Muppets and George Slaughter

can bring this to the world. Yes, for over 20

years, Jim Henson here and the dedicated group

of people that make up the Muppets have been

developing the art of television puppetry to

heights that were never before considered possible.

And, at the same time, George Slaughter here

has been developing and creating new forms in

television comedy that have changed the very

face of primetime television. From the same creative

minds that brought you Ralph of the Jimmy Dean

Show, Laugh -In, Sesame Street, The Cher Show,

Turn On. Oh, anyhow. These two giants of the

industry have fused their creative juices into

one great explosion of brilliant television programming.

And what is this fusion of creative juices called?

The Muppet Show. A show that will be loved and

adored by every Nielsen home in the country.

Small children will love the cute, cuddly characters.

Young people will love the fresh and innovative

comedy. College kids and intellectual eggheads

love the underlying symbolism of everything.

Freaky, long -haired, dirty, cynical hippies

will love our freaky, long -haired, dirty, cynical

Muppets because that is what show business is

all about. Yes, and when this show hits, the

careers of the men who made the decision to put

this show on the air will skyrocket. People like

Bob Wood, Lee Curlin, Perry Lafferty, Oscar Katz,

and even Tom Swofford will become stars in their

own right. The names of these men will become

household words like stove, sink, toilet. No,

no, no. Like patriotism, apple pie, and mother.

Friends, the United States of America needs The

Muppet Show, and you should buy this show. Now,

we're not pulling any punches here. I mean, there's

nothing subtle about this pitch. So buy the show

and put it on the air, and we'll all be famous.

The Muppets will be famous, and CBS will be famous

because we'll have a hit show on our hands, and

we'll all get temperamental and hard to work

with, but you won't care because we'll all make

a lot of money, and Slaughter and Henson will

be happy, and you will be happy, and Kermit's

mother will be happy. And God will look down

on us and smile on us and he will say, let them

have a 40 share! Jazz here, and I am so digging

the Geekcast Radio Network. Hey guys, this is

Optimus Solo from the Geekcast Radio Network,

and I was thinking the other day that maybe I've

been too hard on the folks over at IGN. I mean,

they had to put some effort into their Top 100

Animated Series of All Time list, right? I mean,

maybe it's just me that wants to punch a baby

when I read it. So in all fairness, I thought

we should gather some of the people who were

involved with this list and get their opinions.

So what do you guys think about the IGN list?

I didn't think it was physically possible, but

this both sucks and blows. Okay, uh, anyone else?

Dumb, dumb, dumb! Those dudes are so dumb! I'm

afraid to ask, but anyone else? Epic fail. Homer,

they put your show at the top of your list. You

gotta like their list, right? I stand by my disappointed

groan. So I guess we should do something about

it then. Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

I am, Brain. I think we should unveil the Geek

Cast Radio Network's Top 100 Animated Series

of All Time list. I second that emotion. And

I know that our list will be much better than

the IGN list. Do you know why? We watch a lot

of TV. That and the fact that we are teaming

up with This Week in Geek, the Pop Culture Network,

Chicken Pop Pod, and some other great geek sites.

By your powers combined. We will give you a list

geeks everywhere can be proud of. This is static.

When gear and I aren't fighting bang babies,

we like to listen to the geek cast radio network.

Too old for The Muppet Show, huh? Too mature

for The Swedish Show, Veterinarian Hospital,

and Pigs in Space? Too refined for A Divine Swine,

Wisecracking Deezers, The Great Gonzo, and Dr.

Julius Strange Pork? If so, then Nickelodeon

has something to tell you. The Invisible Cheeseburger

has lost his voice! And if you are too old, Nick

just wanted to let you know that The Muppet Show

is back on television right where you left it.

Weeknights at 7 .30, 6 .30 Central, only on Nickelodeon.

All righty then. So you may be wondering how

you can watch the show now. And like most of

the Jim Henson stuff, you have multiple options,

starting with the DVDs. Now, there was five seasons

of The Muppet Show, and currently three of them

are available on DVD. I actually own season one.

It's good stuff. It's got the original Muppet

Show pilot. episode, which is some interesting

stuff. It has fun facts and trivia that you can

have be played during each episode if you want,

kind of like a little caption type thing. It

has a little short gag reel that's kind of not

that great. But it does have the original Muppet

pitch reel, which you just heard during the commercial

break. It's just a good thing. The first season

is the Kermit one. As far as the box goes, it's

green with part of Kermit's neck -level things

hanging down. And it has... How many episodes

does this one have? It doesn't list. Everything

from Season 1, I don't know how many episodes

that is, though it doesn't say anywhere on here.

Season 2 is available. It has another pilot,

the Muppet Valentine special. It has some interviews

and a music video. And Season 3... Has a couple

different documentary pieces and some commercials

and whatnot. Now, as far as Seasons 4 and Seasons

5, they have not been released. There was a news

item posted on TV shows on DVD back in 2009 that

said Season 4 would be coming to us in 2010,

but that didn't happen. So I'm not 100 % sure

when. I'm sure we will get Season 4 and Season

5 eventually. I don't think that's the issue.

I just think it's a matter of time because season

one came out in 2005, season two in 2007, season

three in 2008. So I would expect pretty soon

that season four hits the market, or at least

I hope. I hope they don't stop after three seasons.

That would be terrible. Yeah, it would be. And

the only reason I stopped getting them after

season one is because I was wanting to wait to

see if there was going to be a complete series

set because I would have rather obviously got

that. So it is available on DVD. It's also available

on Netflix. You can get the season sets on Netflix,

or you can get individual shorter groupings of

episodes, like little themed. There are a few

other podcasts dedicated just to Muppets, whether

it be Sesame Street or The Muppet Show or whatnot.

So if you're really interested, I don't know

if they're good podcasts or not, but you can

check those out. Mike, you want to talk about

the feature a little bit as far as the YouTube

goes? Muppet Studios. Everybody go search Muppet

Studios on YouTube. And it is the official Muppets

channel. And they've done all kinds of awesome,

awesome videos. Even though the Muppets show,

Muppets Tonight, it's not really around anymore.

But they're still producing stuff. Everyone has

to watch Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody. That's so

amazing. Swedish Chef, Popcorn Shrimp is funny

as all hell. I love the ones where Animal's calling

his mama. That's funny. Because it's like they

were nominated for an award or something, and

he's like, Mama, Mama, we nominated for an award.

Yay! Or whatever. It's just so hilarious. So

everyone who's on YouTube, go over to YouTube

and search Muppet Studios and subscribe to their

channel because it's just so awesome. Yeah, and

so you have multiple things available. If you

want to see some new stuff that wasn't part of

The Muppet Show, some new footage, that YouTube

option is great. Otherwise, I mean, these season

sets on DVD are not that much, so if you just

want a little bit of a taste of it, you can pick

one up, or you could wait, like me, and see if

we're eventually going to get a complete series

set. So you have a couple different options,

and Netflix is easy, so you can get that as well.

Let's get into our rankings for this episode.

Let's start with Steve. What do you give the

Muppet Show 1 through 4? I would give it a 4.

Sound. Just because it's so great, and even though

I don't own it yet, as soon as I get money, I

will. Mike? 4. And another thing I wanted to

mention Kevin didn't mention about, I don't know

about the Fozzie season set, but the... It was

weird. When they release the season sets, sometimes

they'll do, like, customizable packaging. So

far it's been Kermit, Piggy, and Fozzie. Right,

but what I'm saying is, like, on the Kermit set,

you can feel his little collar things, but on

Piggy's set, her face, like, outside of her cheeks,

it's all fuzzy. On my Kermit set, you can't feel

anything. Wow. I didn't get one that you could

feel. I'm saying the lines that make his collar,

it has a different texture feel than to where

his actual face is. Right, some you could, mine

does not for some reason. And the Miss Piggy

one actually has some type of fur on there, some

type of really, really hard material on it. What

do you give this one? Definite four, but I'm

not going to feel out my cover. You feel up everything

else, so who's touching Miss Piggy? Yeah, I don't

like Miss Piggy, so I'll leave that one to Mike.

But I think it's going to be unanimous here.

We're all four giving it four. I guess it's fitting

that there was four of us on the show. But, yeah,

I'm definitely going to own the rest of this

on DVD eventually. It's just whether I have to

get it in individual seasons or if I get it on

a complete series set is yet to be seen. But

this is a great show, and everybody needs to

own it. Steve, last words on The Muppet Show.

If you don't have it or you haven't seen it,

you have to at least give this a shot. This show

is so awesome that sometimes I think people forget

about it, and there definitely needs to be some

kind of a resurgence of this show. Yes, bring

it back. Yes. That would be awesome. Like I said,

I'd love to see a current Muppet show with some

other guest stars. I don't want to see Lindsay

Lohan and Miley Cyrus or anything like that.

Hell no. I think there's some other guest stars

they could get, and that would be great. Mike,

any last words on the Muppet Show? I pretty much

agree with Steve. I'm glad it's living on in

infamy. I don't want it to come back because,

like you guys said, Miley Cyrus and all that

crap. Plus, I don't want to see Charlie Sheen

anywhere near this project. Oh, shut up. Charlie

Sheen's a genius. No, he's not. He'd come out

and he'd be like, winning. I love Charlie Sheen

right now. Worst celebrity ever. But you know

what? He's making a lot of money. Miss Piggy

would have a field day. Charlie Sheen is entertaining

as all hell. She'd be on his arm and he'd be

like, I'm winning. Blade, any last thoughts on

The Muppet Show? Watch this show. If there's

someone out there that hasn't seen this show

for some reason, first of all, slap yourself

in the face. And second of all, go find a way

to watch it immediately. It's that good. We're

not lying. Geeks everywhere agree. Do it. Do

it now. All right, everyone. Thank you for joining

us here on the telecast. If you want to leave

us feedback for the show, I'll give you a couple

ways to do that. First, go to the website, www

.geekcastradio .com. You can find all of the

different stuff. Just click on the telecast tab,

and you can comment on all of our episodes. You

can rate our show and leave us feedback in iTunes.

That's always appreciated, so please do that

now. You can be a part of the show if you want

to. Just call the voicemail line, 502 -526 -58.

And you can leave us your thoughts. Just tell

us which show you are leaving your thoughts for

and give us something to call you. Otherwise,

we'll make up a name for you. If you want to

keep up to date with all things Geekcast related,

the best way to do that is to become a fan of

us on Facebook by going to facebook .com slash

geekcastradionetwork. A couple things I want

to remind you. We've been getting a lot of entries,

actually, for the theme song contest. So if you

want to have a chance to win a prize, which I'm

not telling you what it is yet, Go to the geekcastradio

.com and click on the telecast tab and find the

theme song contest post, and you can see what

you have to do. But basically, at the end of

every show, we play a bunch of theme songs, and

you just have to put them in order. But to get

the rules and everything, go to geekcastradio

.com. And also, we've had a few more suggestions

for our Listener's Choice episode, which is episode

34. So if you want to weigh in on what you want

us to cover on episode 34, again, go to geekcastradio

.com and find the Listener's Choice post. So

that does it for now. We hope we succeeded in

entertaining you, informing you, and most importantly,

unleashing the geek in you on this episode of

the Telecast. And we hope that you will tune

in for our next episode when we start a brand

new theme. With a show called Guts. For now,

I'm your host, Optimus Solo, with... Steve Megatron

Phillips. Mike, Dave, Jim, and Bladger. Blade,

the Puckastinator, Puckastify, whatever. And

tune in in ten days for another episode of The

Telecast. Hey Waldorf, what's your favorite part

of the Muppet Show? Hmm, tough to say. Is it

the frog? No. The pig? Nah. The bear? Uh -uh.

Well, it must be the guest stars. Nope. Well,

heck, there's nothing left but the closing credits.

That's it. Show's over. Let's go home. Yeah.