"The Muppet Show" (1976)TV series 1976-1981

The Muppet Show is certainly one of the funniest and most consistently entertaining television shows ever broadcast. Even twenty-five years later, Jim Henson's genius and humanity shine through. Presented from the stage, backstage and even dressing rooms of the Muppet Theatre, the Muppet Show featured a regular company of performers who would try to present a variety show with the odds stacked firmly against them. At the centre of it all was Kermit the Frog, whose natural charm and calm in the face of madness were regularly tested to breaking point. Kermit's supporting cast included Miss Piggy (in my opinion, the weakest character), The Great Gonzo (a reckless daredevil who'll do anything dangerous or painful in the name of entertainment), Fozzie Bear (a hopeless stand-up comedian with sad eyes but a smiling face), Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (a hippie-style pit band whose most notable member was the insane drummer, Animal) and various other pigs, chickens, lobsters, frogs, freaks, misfits and lunatics. Every week a guest star would show up to be sabotaged, and the show's innocently anarchic style of humour meant that even when the scripts were lacking, the charm was not and there was always much to admire in the puppets themselves.

CLASSIC MUPPET MOMENTS...Leo Sayer singing 'When I Need You' with a bunch of woodland animals; Floyd Pepper's "I have a room for life at the home for the chronically groovy" speech; Animal's version of 'Wild Thing'; Kermit's classic and heart-rending 'It's Not Easy Being Green'; Crazy Harry helping Gonzo with his cannonball stunt; the ballroom dancing segments (under his hat, Zoot was bald!); John Cleese as Long John Silver with a moaning parrot; Dr Bunsen Honeydew's increasingly bizarre mistreatment of Beaker; the continuing hospital saga with Rowlf the pianist dog turning his paw to acting (and however many times you see it, the cast looking to see where the announcer's voice is coming from will always be funny); Animal drumming with Rita Moreno; Waldorf and Statler's heckling; Alice Cooper upsetting Sam the bald eagle; Sweetums; Lew Zealand's musical fish; the Muppaphone; James Coburn leading an oriental hoedown; Julie Andrews singing "high on a hill stood a lonely goatherd" with a goat; Angus McGonnagal the gargling Argyll gargoyle...and not forgetting 'Mahna Mahna'.

A classic from the top drawer of Muppetational mayhem.