Today on the Countdown to Christmas, I present an appearance of the Muppets on The Ed Sullivan Show from December 22nd, 1968.
Here, lead reindeer Dasher is concerned that he and the other reindeer won't be able to deliver Christmas presents around the world because there's no snow in the North Pole just three days before Christmas. The other reindeer, however, don't take the threat seriously and instead make jokes and sing Christmas carols. In the end, the reindeer decide to dance a "snow dance" to make it snow. The usual Muppet humor permeates the entire sketch.
The Muppets had performed this same sketch back in 1965 on The Kraft Music Hall hosted by Perry Como in black and white, but I prefer this later color performance better. The Sullivan version is embedded below; you can check out the Como version here and make your own decision.
Today is a program I've wanted to share for several years but never got around to it. Unfortunately, I'm now sharing it under sad circumstances.
Bob McGrath, an original human cast member of Sesame Street who stayed with the show for literelly decades, died this weekend at the age of 90. Bob was always my favorite human on the series, and I will miss him very much.
He appears in this program, A Special Sesame Street Christmas, with other human cast members such as Sonia Monzano, Northern Calloway, and others, along with appearances by Big Bird, Oscar, and Barkely the dog. This special was produced by and aired on CBS, and is not to be confused with Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, the special produced by Children's Television Workshop and aired on PBS. Oddly enough, not only did these specials air the same year (1978), they aired within mere days of each other.
Enjoy! You can also see the special at Dailymotion here.
Hello! We are now more than halfway through the Countdown to Halloween! Time to crank things up and get to the good stuff!
And today is definitely the good stuff! Today I feature an episode of The Muppet Show with guest star Alice Cooper. It wouldn't be Halloween without the father of goth rock, and why not throw the Muppets into the mix? Most Generation X kids like myself learned who Cooper was thanks to this episode.
Enjoy! And look below the episode for a clip with Cooper discussing the making of the episode!
I come back from a much too long hiatus to bring you a Valentine's Day episode of the beloved 80s Saturday morning cartoon Muppet Babies. The Babies share with each other their ideas for a great Valentine's Day. Cute lil' hilarity ensues.
Enjoy! I hope you don't mind the first five minutes, which are ads for other Muppet-related videos. Maybe you'll want to seek them out!
Also, last year I was a guest on the Advent Calendar House podcast with host Mike Westfall and guest Joey O, discussing the Muppet Show pilot The Muppets Valentine's Show from 1974. You can listen to the podcast here.
I couldn't let the death of legendary Muppeteer Caroll Spinney go by without mention here. As anyone who knows me personally or follows this blog with any regularity knows, I am as huge a Muppet fan as anyone, and Spinney was one of the all-time greats. Even moreso than Bert and Ernie, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch were Sesame Street. The characters were the perfect yin and yang of Muppet personalities on the show, and their existence defined Sesame Street for three generations.
The great thing about the Muppets is that the characters will live on long after their creators and performers will, but a little bit of them will always be lost in translation without them.
Rest in peace, Caroll. Say hi to Mr. Hooper for us.
Continuing my acknowledgment of the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street this past weekend, here is the very first episode to air on November 10, 1969 in its entirety. Matt Robinson stars as Gordon, introducing new neighbor Sally, and in turn viewers, to the street. In addition to Gordon, we meet Susan, Bob, Mr. Hooper, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch (he's orange!), and Bert and Ernie. The rest is history.
Sunday November 10th marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of Sesame Street. Not only is it one of the most impactful TV series on my life, but one of the most impactful in the history of television. No other series has the biggest sense of mission than Sesame Street has. For half a century, the show has provided education and entertainment for millions of children in the US and around the world.
In celebration of this great milestone for this great program, here are some of my favorite moments from the series.
I received a pretty decent response regarding this week's earlier post about the CBS Saturday Morning Preview Special from 1983, so I'm going to that well again for today's article.
This time, I present CBS's preview special from the very next year, 1984. In this one, Joyce DeWitt is a reporter covering the animation process at a studio headed by Ted Knight (gotta love the 80s). Knight and DeWitt go through drawing, painting, voice acting, and all the other components of what makes a great cartoon--using the latest offerings from CBS's 1984 Saturday morning lineup as examples, of course.
Like the 1983 special I featured, I distinctly remember watching this special with glee, anxiously awaiting what CBS had in store for me that season. And the network didn't disappoint--this was the season that the highly revered and loved Muppet Babies cartoon debuted!
Enjoy! And stay tuned, for next week, the biggest event of the year for the blog begins--the Countdown to Halloween! See you there!
I have a great way for you to celebrate this lovely day--by listening to me and two other fine folks discuss an obscure Muppets special!
Last month, I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in an episode of the Advent Calendar House podcast, which discusses classic Christmas TV specials and movies, with occasional forays into other holidays. This time, Valentine's Day is a foray!
Podcast host Mike Westfall and guest Joey O and I discuss 1974's The Muppet Valentine Show, a special that doubled as a pilot for The Muppet Show. The special is quite different from the celebrational, Muppetational program we all know and love. You can check out the special on YouTube here, and listen to the podcast below!
Enjoy! And thanks once again to Mike for allowing me on the show. Thanks Mike! Happy Back to the Future Day!
Wrapping up the week is this sweet Christmas-themed episode of the classic Muppet series Fraggle Rock.
In "The Bells of Fraggle Rock," the Fraggles are busy preparing to celebrate their Christmas-like holiday, the Festival of the Bells, but Gobo is skeptical of the celebration. He goes off on his own to see if there is any credence to the event, and learns a valuable lesson along the way. Meanwhile, in the human world, Doc and Sprocket explore winter holidays from many cultures.
It's officially December! We've reached the end of the first work week of the holiday season. How have you spent it? Diving into Christmas TV specials, as I have? Cranking up the Christmas tunes? Hanging up the mistletoe and holly? Hopefully your answer is all of the above. It'll be January before you know it!
This weekend I present the 1979 Christmas special John Denver & The Muppets: A Christmas Together, which aired on ABC-TV on December 5th of that year. I've had the soundtrack in mp3 form for several years, but I don't think I've seen this special since I was a very young child, if I've ever seen it at all! I'll give it a go with my family and see if it jogs my memory.
Enjoy! Have a great weekend! Do Christmasy things! Drink eggnog! Hang your stocking! Put up your Christmas tree! Sing "Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth" with your best buddy after arguing which one of you is Bing and which one is Bowie!
With October 31st mere days away, I'm running out of both time and material. So today I just want to give you a few small treats that I think you will enjoy that may not necessarily warrant a blog post unto themselves. Consider these items Halloween hors d’oeuvres to tide you over until the full course of
Halloween night. Let’s get to it!
By the way, I had to Google how to spell “hors d’oeuvres.”
See how much I love you fine folks?
First up: the Muppets’ own Dr. Bunson Honeydew and Beaker go
ghost hunting—with hilarious results!
Next, here is an adorable video about how to greet deaf or hard-of-hearing trick-or-treaters this season!
Here is the recording of the great Vincent Price's voiceover for Michael Jackson's Thirller without the music, plus with extra text that didn't make it into the single. You really get to hear how amazing Price's work is on the song--not that you couldn't tell that with the music. This is further evidence that Vincent Price was the ultimate pro!
You've never heard the theme from Alfred Hitchcock Presents until you've heard it played on the banjo!
Here is a fun TV promo for the much beloved 80s horror series Tales From The Darkside!
Speaking of TV promos, I can't let a Countdown to Halloween season go by without mentioning It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown at least once!
Finally, here is by far the most bizarre and graphic clip I have for you today. This is John Carpenter's The Thing as recreated with characters from the foreign children's program Pingu the penguin. Even if you're not familiar with Pingu--and you probably aren't--you should find this both disturbing and hysterical! VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED!
I've featured "scary" material from Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and The Muppet Show several times before, and today is another one of those times. Only one of the two clips I have for you this year is actually connected to the Children's Television Workshop, but who's keeping track?
First up from Sesame Street: there are mysterious moans coming from an old deserted house--is it haunted? Billy Joe Jive, super crime fighting ace, and his partner Smart Susie Sunset are on the case!
Next, from Jim Henson's pre-Sesame Street series Sam and Friends, a parody of Edward R. Murrow's celebrity interview series Person to Person, slyly named Poison to Poison. The interview subject is an Alfred Hitchcock spoof. Enjoy!
I finished the Jim Henson biography I mentioned in my last post this weekend, and I'm thankful to have picked it up. It's a well-written exploration of Henson's amazing story, and I highly recommend you give it a read.
Aside from the Wilkins coffee adds I showcased previously, Henson's other early claim to fame is the local program Sam and Friends. This was a five-minute program that aired on NBC affiliate WRC-TV in the Washington, DC market and was very popular with children and adults alike. The majority of skits performed involved the many Muppet characters of the program lip synching to novelty or pop records that were favorites of Henson's. The Muppet staff consisted of only two performers: Jim and his future wife Jane. It was on this program that Kermit originated, but he wasn't a frog at the time. Kermit was only an abstract being, as were most of the characters on the show, with the exception of the titular Sam, who was "human."
The show aired from the mid-1950s through early '60s, when the Muppets started to branch out into more commercials and guest appearances on national programs such as The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, among others.
Here are several fun clips from Sam and Friends. It gives you a good idea of the humble beginnings from which the Muppets started, but you can already see the magic and whimsy of Henson shine through. Enjoy!
I'm currently reading Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones, and it's a fascinating look at Henson's life and his impact on pop culture as well as his family and coworkers. Henson has always been one of my creative heroes, so I love reading about his creation of the Muppets and other fantastic work before his untimely death in 1990.
One of the areas he worked in that helped him become a creative force in entertainment was the TV commercials he produced, most notably for local Washington DC coffee company Wilkins. In Henson's commercials for the product, he featured two opposite characters: the energetic--and sadistic--Wilkins, advocate for Wilkins coffee, and Wontkins, a stick-in-the-mud grump who refused to try Wilkins. His refusals inspired Wilkins to punish Wontkins for his folly by shooting, exploding, bludgeoning, and otherwise abusing poor Wontkins.
As crazy as they sounded, they were meant in good fun, and the commercials became wildly popular in the DC area, so much so that advertisers in other parts of the country recruited the characters to shill their products as well. Henson, with the partnership of his wife Jane, became a force to be reckoned with in advertising, assuming enough capital to finance his other projects and eventually create the dream factory that was Henson Associates.
Here are over 15 minutes of Wilkins and Wontkins commercials so you can witness early Jim Henson in action. Enjoy!
The Muppets are in the spotlight in pop culture again due to the launch of their new primetime series (which I haven't seen yet, unfortunately). However, there are moments from their history that are appropriate for Halloween viewing. I have a few of these moments below.
First, two spooky ghosts do an interesting take on the Beatles tune "I'm Looking Through You" from the original Muppet Show.
Also from the Muppet Show, a Muppet News Flash reporting the spontaneous morphing of inanimate objects into monsters!
This next clip really proves how creepy and weird the Muppets can get when they want to!
From Sesame Street, we learn that the Count is a union buster against his bats.
Finally, while not an actual Muppets project, the Jim Henson Company produces PBS's Sid the Science Kid, featuring CGI preschoolers learning various science lessons. Here, they sing a song about the decay of various organic items, including autumn leaves and a jack o' lantern.
I haven't done a List O' Links in awhile, so it's high time I did so. Click away!
I love Sesame Street, and I love learning more about the series and seeing things about it I haven't seen before. This takes the cake: Sesame Street characters playing hockey against the Chicago Blackhawks! This soundless home movie reel is dated circa 1970, but I think it may actually be from much later in the decade. Either way, it's fun to watch!
While I type away right now, San Diego Comic Con 2015 is in full swing! It's practically always Comic Con here at the blog, but in honor of SDCC, here is a defense of the existence of the awesome Cartoon Network series Teen Titans GO! The article describes it as a "necessary evil," but I think the show is wonderful. It's my favorite product DC Entertainment is making--with the exception of The Flash TV series.
Summer is most famous for its hot, sunshine-filled days, but there are plenty of people who enjoy the rain. If you're one of them--and I do appreciate a good rainy day here and there--this site is for you: Rainy Mood. For those days you're feeling serene and introspective, this site provides the sounds of a soothing storm. Rain--it's not just for sadness!
Here's a chance to step back in time to October 1978 and see what was on the tube back then according to TV Guide magazine!
It's been a really long time since I've done a Random Images of Awesomeness post (over two years in fact), and since I've amassed quite a collection of rad images since then, it's high time I displayed some accordingly. Without further comment, here are some pleasing images for the eyes. Artist credits are given when known. Enjoy!
Jaws by Scott Lava
Masters of the Universe by JP Valderrama
Wonder Woman by Kris Anka
For more cool images, follow my Tumblr site here. Thanks!
This weekend, be a kid again by virtually traveling back in time to Saturday, August 3, 1985 and enjoy almost a half hour of commercials and cartoon credits from that very morning as they aired on CBS television. Featuring the Get Along Gang, Muppet Babies, Dungeons & Dragons, and more!
Gadzooks! Christmas is less than a week away and I've barely posted anything! I'd better get hoppin', and I'll do that with the help of a frog. And a pig. And a bear. And a weirdo.
A Muppet Family Christmas first aired on ABC during Christmastime 1987, and features Fozzie taking his Muppet friends to his grandmother's house for an old-fashioned family Christmas. Problem is, Grandma rented to the house to Doc, the human star of Fraggle Rock. Soon enough, the special becomes a Christmas Muppetpalooza--which I'm always up for.
Perhaps the most bittersweet moment of the special is the cameo of the late Jim Henson himself at the very end. No one could have guessed that two and a half year's later, he'd be gone.
But don't let that ruin the mood of this joyous, heartwarming special. Enjoy!
