Author Topic: Well, that was different. Lousy, but different (Read 8002 times)

zachhoran · « **Reply #15 on:** August 06, 2005, 07:38:03 AM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 5 2005, 10:19 PM\'][quote name=\'Thad Dixon\' date=\'Aug 5 2005, 03:58 PM\']IIRC, there was no ToC in Tom's first season on Squares; the second season was the first one in which they had a ToC. Do you suppose that might be when you saw him?[/quote]
I'm not exactly sure of when it was myself (we have members who were there), but yes, Steve Whitmire was clearly visible amidst all the hoopla when Squares crowned their champion.

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The first TofC Squares had was in October 1999. THe week of shows had some of the cast of the then-current movie "Crazy in Alabama". If you want to call this week a TofC is debatable. It was essentially two contestants from the previous season competeing each day(first season had no returning champs), there were no semi-finals or finals. The only concession made was that the prizes in the bonus round were a smidge higher.

davemackey · « **Reply #16 on:** August 06, 2005, 07:47:30 AM »

The exact airdate of the show in question was May 2, 2003. And here is photographic proof from The Perfesser. Steve (Whitmire, not Beverly) is in the picture at the right over the contestant's shoulder, but you can't see Kermit.

vtown7 · « **Reply #17 on:** August 06, 2005, 08:49:04 AM »

I realize now where I made my mistake; I meant to say fifth season (first 'season' of H2). My bad!

It's like I've erased the first four seasons from my memory... who was the centre square again?

Ryan

uncamark · « **Reply #18 on:** August 08, 2005, 03:45:37 PM »

[quote name=\'vtown7\' date=\'Aug 6 2005, 07:49 AM\']I realize now where I made my mistake; I meant to say fifth season (first 'season' of H2). My bad!

It's like I've erased the first four seasons from my memory... who was the centre square again?

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Well, who was she, Bob Eubanks?

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #19 on:** August 08, 2005, 04:34:02 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 8 2005, 03:45 PM\']Well, who was she, Bob Eubanks?
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You remind me of comedian George Wallace's explanation of how he got booked on Squares: "Because I'm makin' Whoopi!"

michaellinn · « **Reply #20 on:** August 08, 2005, 10:48:18 PM »

I just ordered "The Muppet Show" Season 1 DVD set online. Really looking forward to seeing the show again. Here is a review of this set:

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/muppetshow-season1.html

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #21 on:** August 09, 2005, 08:25:54 PM »

[quote name=\'michaellinn\' date=\'Aug 8 2005, 10:48 PM\']http://www.ultimatedisney.com/muppetshow-season1.html[/quote]
Interesting review, and helpful in a lot of ways, but the author sounds like a young person writing about the ancient history of 1976, and seems to suggest that no one today knows who Connie Stevens, Harvey Korman, Lena Horne or Ben Vereen are. He also seems a bit sketchy as to the concept of syndication, referring to the distribution of the show as "CBS and local stations".

It is a little surprising that the set isn't absolutely, totally complete, but a handful of missing musical numbers (five out of the entire season) isn't too big a disappointment.

You'll all have to excuse me now, I have a DVD set to get through. At long last, it's time to play the music. It's time to light the lights.

rugrats1 · « **Reply #22 on:** August 09, 2005, 08:45:41 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 9 2005, 07:25 PM\'][The reviewer] seems a bit sketchy as to the concept of syndication, referring to the distribution of the show as "CBS and local stations". [/quote]

He probably confused the CBS O&Os (which co-produced "The Muppet Show" with Henson and ITC) with the network itself; or, he might've confused this series with the later animated series, "Muppet Babies", which was on CBS (and later syndicated as reruns). As far as I know, the CBS network never carried "The Muppet Show".

aaron sica · « **Reply #23 on:** August 09, 2005, 09:34:25 PM »

[quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Aug 9 2005, 08:45 PM\']
He probably confused the CBS O&Os (which co-produced "The Muppet Show" with Henson and ITC) with the network itself; or, he might've confused this series with the later animated series, "Muppet Babies", which was on CBS (and later syndicated as reruns). As far as I know, the CBS network never carried "The Muppet Show".

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It never did.....Although WCBS (a CBS O&O of course) carried the show, as did WCAU (then CBS) in Philly....

michaellinn · « **Reply #24 on:** August 09, 2005, 09:44:06 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 9 2005, 07:25 PM\'][quote name=\'michaellinn\' date=\'Aug 8 2005, 10:48 PM\']http://www.ultimatedisney.com/muppetshow-season1.html[/quote]
Interesting review, and helpful in a lot of ways, but the author sounds like a young person writing about the ancient history of 1976, and seems to suggest that no one today knows who Connie Stevens, Harvey Korman, Lena Horne or Ben Vereen are. He also seems a bit sketchy as to the concept of syndication, referring to the distribution of the show as "CBS and local stations".

It is a little surprising that the set isn't absolutely, totally complete, but a handful of missing musical numbers (five out of the entire season) isn't too big a disappointment.

You'll all have to excuse me now, I have a DVD set to get through. At long last, it's time to play the music. It's time to light the lights.

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Matt, I agree with your thoughts. I'm a little disappointed that some of the eps are missing some small segments, especially Vincent Price's big musical number at the end of his episode, "You've Got a Friend." That's a classic Muppet moment, and it's a shame that it is not included in this DVD set. But most of the other missing segments aren't too big a deal. I watched the show every week when it was originally on. I was 12 back in 1976. It only seems like yesterday! Enjoy the Muppets, Matt. I know that I will--and am waiting patiently for my set to arrive in the mail.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #25 on:** August 09, 2005, 10:39:24 PM »

In my area, "The Muppet Show" was on Friday nights at 7:30pm opposite "The $25,000 Pyramid," so these DVDs will be new to me.

uncamark · « **Reply #26 on:** August 10, 2005, 12:25:02 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 9 2005, 07:25 PM\'][quote name=\'michaellinn\' date=\'Aug 8 2005, 10:48 PM\']http://www.ultimatedisney.com/muppetshow-season1.html[/quote]
Interesting review, and helpful in a lot of ways, but the author sounds like a young person writing about the ancient history of 1976, and seems to suggest that no one today knows who Connie Stevens, Harvey Korman, Lena Horne or Ben Vereen are. He also seems a bit sketchy as to the concept of syndication, referring to the distribution of the show as "CBS and local stations".

It is a little surprising that the set isn't absolutely, totally complete, but a handful of missing musical numbers (five out of the entire season) isn't too big a disappointment.

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Which means that the set may not have the longer British versions of the episodes, some of which have been shown on the TNT and Nick repeat runs. They're usually noticed by the fact that the credit crawl is British style, with the writers first and producer and director last and fewer tech credits--the Muppeteers are listed as "The Muppet People" and ATV house bandleader Jack Parnell is listed right below the Muppeteers (as "Jack Parnell and His Orchestra"), while he's buried in the middle of the U.S. version credits. There's also no "produced with the CBS-Owned Stations" credit on the British version--but after he acquired Grade's rights on the series, Henson still replaced the "ATV Colour Production for ITC World Wide Distribution" graphics after Statler and Waldorf's parting shots with a copyright notice showing Jim Henson Productions at the copyright owner instead of ITC.

ObGameShow: Bruce Forsyth was a "Muppet Show" guest star. Didn't he do well?

Brandon Brooks · « **Reply #27 on:** August 10, 2005, 01:26:22 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 10 2005, 11:25 AM\']ObGameShow: Bruce Forsyth was a "Muppet Show" guest star. Didn't he do well?

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It was nice to see him, and to see him was nice.

I wish I could've seen more Muppet Show when I was little. This may not be a bad DVD to pick up.

Brandon Brooks

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #28 on:** August 10, 2005, 02:17:27 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 10 2005, 12:25 PM\']Which means that the set may not have the longer British versions of the episodes, some of which have been shown on the TNT and Nick repeat runs. They're usually noticed by the fact that the credit crawl is British style, with the writers first and producer and director last and fewer tech credits--the Muppeteers are listed as "The Muppet People" and ATV house bandleader Jack Parnell is listed right below the Muppeteers (as "Jack Parnell and His Orchestra"), while he's buried in the middle of the U.S. version credits. [/quote]
All the episodes do include the British segments. In the episodes I've watched so far I've seen both credit rolls, so I'm not sure what the logic is behind those.

rugrats1 · « **Reply #29 on:** August 10, 2005, 08:01:17 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 10 2005, 11:25 AM\']There's also no "produced with the CBS-Owned Stations" credit on the British version--but after he acquired Grade's rights on the series, Henson still replaced the "ATV Colour Production for ITC World Wide Distribution" graphics after Statler and Waldorf's parting shots with a copyright notice showing Jim Henson Productions at the copyright owner instead of ITC.
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When I watched The Muppet Show when it first came on in 1976, Statler & Wardorf's final words were followed by the "ATV Colour" logo, then the ITC logo, then the animated ITC logo. When the show came back in 1977 (and all episodes afterward), S&W was followed by the Muppet band with no logo, then "From ITC Entertainment" on the last note, with no animated ITC logo at the close.

It was later on when the shows became available on cable and video that the ITC references were replaced with Henson's.