Rating: 
Summary: The good, the bad, and the stuffed...
Review: Yeesh, what a letdown. After spending a few years tryin' to catch the Mark Hamill episode of 'The Muppet Show' on 'Nick at Nite', I finally got my chance to see it with the release of this DVD. And horror of horrors, it ended up bein' the worst show of the three on this platter! His overdone attempts at acting, and silly song-and-dance 'tryout' routine made me cringe with embarrassment. But especially unbearable was his joining up with The Gargling Gargoyle Angus McGonickle as they gargled Gershwin in two-part harmony! Geez Mark, did'ja really hafta throw your dignity away so brazenly? Add C-3PO, R2-D2, and Chewie's sad attempts at dancing along with the big closing number, and I'd just as soon watch the 'Star Wars Holiday Special' three times in a row than endure this episode ever again!Fortunately, the Paul Simon show more than made up for the previous travesty. I rather enjoyed his olde tyme rendition of 'Scarborough Fair', complete with a muppet-laden Renaissance Faire backdrop. Miss Piggy's increasingly annoying utterance of "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" at the end of each verse, however, was becoming very reminiscent of Fran "The Nanny" Drescher. In other words, it got so annoying that I was ready to pierce my eardrums with a rusty knitting needle so I wouldn't have to experience this auditory #ell ever again! Or any other noise for that matter... Compared to the other two eppies, the Raquel Welch show was in-between: it wasn't all that great, but it wasn't too bad, either. I was surprised by how little of a presence Ms. Welch made here-- at least when compared to the scene-hogging antics of Hamill and (especially) Paul Simon in their guest shots. She had a couple song/dance numbers, and a little backstage serenade for Fozzy... and that was about it. Fortunately, I got my Swedish Chef fix as he explained how to make a "Chickin in de baskit", with the help of one of Gonzo's hens and a Nerf basketball net. Ya know, forget about all the other Muppets; howzabout a DVD featuring the Swedish Chef's best sketches? That'd be so freakin' cool. I mean, the guy's got human hands for goodness sakes! That ALONE should be enough for him to get his own 'Best of' DVD. Hey, d'ya think he could throw those utensils around like that with the mitts his fellow flannelites possess?! #ELL NO!!! Finally, there's the bonus pieces, featuring Miss Piggy acting like one of those spoiled actresses who pontificate on and complain about everything, a few notable Muppets doing screen tests for the part of Yoda on "Empire Strikes Back", and some other thing I don't really remember. It's rather obvious these were made some time after Henson's death-not only are Kermit and Miss Piggy's voices different, these pieces just don't have the same feel or sense of fun that the Henson-era Muppets had. It's sorta like all those failed attempts to revive 'The Twilight Zone' after the passing of Rod Serling; it just doesn't work out nearly as well without the show's creator as it did with him. Finally, there's the DVD's picture and sound quality. I found the sound just fine, but the picture clarity wasn't quite in tip-top shape. When I took a look at the background I could perceive a slight wavering, and very faint flickering. This leads me to believe the DVD's manufacturers transferred the episodes off of a high-quality video tape of the show rather than the original source film. More'n likely they'll do a little better in the image quality department when they put the Muppet Show out on full-season DVD box sets. These three-eppie platters were just a test run... 'Late
Rating:
Summary: The good, the bad, and the stuffed...
Review: Yeesh, what a letdown. After spending a few years tryin' to catch the Mark Hamill episode of `The Muppet Show' on `Nick at Nite', I finally got my chance to see it with the release of this DVD. And horror of horrors, it ended up bein' the worst show of the three on this platter! His overdone attempts at acting, and silly song-and-dance `tryout' routine made me cringe with embarrassment. But especially unbearable was his joining up with The Gargling Gargoyle Angus McGonickle as they gargled Gershwin in two-part harmony! Geez Mark, did'ja really hafta throw your dignity away so brazenly? Add C-3PO, R2-D2, and Chewie's sad attempts at dancing along with the big closing number, and I'd just as soon watch the `Star Wars Holiday Special' three times in a row than endure this episode ever again!
Fortunately, the Paul Simon show more than made up for the previous travesty. I rather enjoyed his olde tyme rendition of `Scarborough Fair', complete with a muppet-laden Renaissance Faire backdrop. Miss Piggy's increasingly annoying utterance of "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" at the end of each verse, however, was becoming very reminiscent of Fran "The Nanny" Drescher. In other words, it got so annoying that I was ready to pierce my eardrums with a rusty knitting needle so I wouldn't have to experience this auditory #ell ever again! Or any other noise for that matter...
Compared to the other two eppies, the Raquel Welch show was in-between: it wasn't all that great, but it wasn't too bad, either. I was surprised by how little of a presence Ms. Welch made here-- at least when compared to the scene-hogging antics of Hamill and (especially) Paul Simon in their guest shots. She had a couple song/dance numbers, and a little backstage serenade for Fozzy... and that was about it. Fortunately, I got my Swedish Chef fix as he explained how to make a "chickie in de baskit", with the help of one of Gonzo's hens and a Nerf basketball net. Ya know, forget about all the other Muppets; howzabout a DVD featuring the Swedish Chef's best sketches? That'd be so freakin' cool. I mean, the guy's got human hands for goodness sakes! That ALONE should be enough for him to get his own `Best of' DVD. Hey, d'ya think he could throw those utensils around like that with the mitts his fellow flannelites possess?! #ELL NO!!!
Finally, there's the bonus pieces, featuring Miss Piggy acting like one of those spoiled actresses who pontificate on and complain about everything, a few notable Muppets doing screen tests for the part of Yoda on "Empire Strikes Back", and some other thing I don't really remember. It's rather obvious these were made some time after Henson's death-not only are Kermit and Miss Piggy's voices different, these pieces just don't have the same feel or sense of fun that the Henson-era Muppets had. It's sorta like all those failed attempts to revive `The Twilight Zone' after the passing of Rod Serling; it just doesn't work out nearly as well without the show's creator as it did with him.
Finally, there's the DVD's picture and sound quality. I found the sound just fine, but the picture clarity wasn't quite in tip-top shape. When I took a look at the background I could perceive a slight wavering, and very faint flickering. This leads me to believe the DVD's manufacturers transferred the episodes off of a high-quality video tape of the show rather than the original source film. More'n likely they'll do a little better in the image quality department when they put the Muppet Show out on full-season DVD box sets. These three-eppie platters were just a test run...
`Late
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