Wocka! Wocka! Wocka! The boldly innovative variety show's sensational third season earned television's prestigious Peabody Award as well as an Emmy® Award nomination for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Program. Featuring a sensational lineup of truly hilarious guest stars including Sylvester Stallone, Gilda Radner, Raquel Welch and Liberace Season Three is loaded with more Muppetational moments than any show in primetime history. Experience all 24 episodes from Season Three digitally re-mastered and restored in this special 4-disc DVD set. With hours of cool bonus features, including an all new behind the scenes documentary, original Muppet commercials and much much more, The Muppet Show: The Complete Third Season is unbeatable entertainment for the whole family. This four-disc set includes all 24 episodes of "The Muppet Show" from the terrific 1978 to 1979 television season, digitally re-mastered like those on the earlier Season One and Season Two DVD sets. As with those years, this season's guest stars are a mix of Hollywood legends and period celebrities, but this time the list draws from a broader range of stars, from rocker Alice Cooper to Irish comedian Spike Milligan. Every episode has at least some great moments.

My favorite show is the one with Leslie Uggams, not for anything she does but rather for the guest appearance of Big Bird from Sesame Street. In one scene, when Miss Piggy angrily informs the celebrity-challenged Bird that "I am the singing star of this show!" Big Bird breaks out laughing. "A singing pig? Oh, that's very funny!" Replies Piggy, preparing a karate chop: "Kiss your feathers goodbye, bird!" Later, it's love at first sight for Gonzo when Big Bird wanders onstage. "Wow! Perfection incarnate!" the chicken lover exclaims as he spots the giant feathered fellow. "Statuesque, yet still poultry in every sense!" Another episode veers away from the standard variety-show format. The Lynn Redgrave show is a 25-minute Muppet production of "Robin Hood," with Kermit as Robin, Redgrave as Maid Marian, Fozzie as Little John and Gonzo as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

EPISODE 1: Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge. Songs include "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (Kristofferson and Miss Piggy), "We're All Alone" (Coolidge) and "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (Rowlf, with Sam the Eagle adding the  colorful commentary). Muppet numbers include "My Wild Irish Rose," "New York State of Mind" and "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me)." EPISODE 2: Leo Sayer. When young starlet pig Annie Sue arrives on the scene, she quickly becomes a rival to Miss Piggy. Kermit even kisses her! Meanwhile, Leo Sayer sings "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing," "The Show Must Go On" and of course, "When I Need You." EPISODE 3: Roy Clark. The country star wears some mighty wide lapels, but that doesn't interfere with two great skits. In Pigs in Space, when Dr. Strangepork fixes the Swinetrek's control panel with wires from a toaster the three pigs helplessly begin to pop up and down. Meanwhile, a pile of living dough attacks the Swedish Chef with a rolling pin. EPISODE 4: Gilda Radner. A classic! Radner sings "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" and other selections from "The Pirates of Penzance" with a 7-foot-tall talking carrot, and "Tap Your Troubles Away" from "Mack & Mabel" while stuck to Beaker with MuppetLabs super glue.

EPISODE 5: Pearl Bailey. The Pigs in Space crew turns into food when the Swinetrek passes through a field of Snacko Waves. Dr. Honeydew's MuppetLabs invents Edible Paperclips. Songs include "In the Good Old Summertime" and a medley of show tunes including "Hello, Dolly!, "Anything You Can Do" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses." EPISODE 6: Jean Stapleton. The actress best-known as Edith from "All in the Family" doesn't add much to this episode. Instead, the theme of the show is the return of Muppet Annie Sue. EPISODE 7: Alice Cooper. The rock star offers the Muppets contracts with the devil: anything they want in exchange for their souls. Gonzo is all for it. Songs include "Welcome to My Nightmare," "You and Me" and "School's Out." EPISODE 8: Loretta Lynn. One of the few episodes that doesn't take place in the classic theater, this country-music show is set on a train. Songs include "You're Lookin' at Country" (Loretta with Lubbock Lou and his Jughuggers) and "Sentimental Journey" (Gonzo). EPISODE 9: Liberace. Chaos reigns when Gonzo tries to get his tap-dancing chickens into a Liberace spectacular. Also included: a Swedish Chef sketch that turns into an episode of Pigs in Space. EPISODE 10: Marisa Berenson. The Swedish Chef makes the wedding cake as Miss Piggy and Kermit head to the altar. Of course things don't work out. The host, a 1960s model turned actress ("Cabaret," "Barry Lyndon"), sings two songs. EPISODE 11: Raquel Welch. Miss Piggy and Welch don identical low-cut gowns to perform "I Am Woman." Also features a good Swedish Chef skit about chicken in a basket.

EPISODE 12: James Coco. Not that memorable. The highlight: Coco sings Randy Newman's "Short People" with a wacky group of tiny Muppets. EPISODE 13: Helen Reddy. Miss Piggy belts out "Stayin' Alive." And Reddy and Kermit perform "You and Me Against the World." Reddy and Sopwith the Camel do "We'll Sing in the Sunshine." EPISODE 14: Harry Belafonte. Of course there's "Day-O" (with a full pig chorus), but Belafonte also performs a wonderful African song, "Turn the World Around," accompanied by Muppets wearing African masks. EPISODE 15: Lesley Ann Warren. The Great Gonzo rides his motorcycle up a ramp into Statler and Waldorf's theater box. Warren performs a "Beasty and the Beaut" ballet with Doglion. Miss Piggy takes over the Swinetrek. EPISODE 16: Danny Kaye. Some strange sights: The Swedish Chef with a human partner (Kaye, who refers to the chef as "Tom") and Statler and Waldorf out of their box (disgusted with the show, they head out to the back alley). EPISODE 17: Spike Milligan. Note my byline and you'll understand why I love this one. It includes a group performance of "It's a Small World" on a set that bears a remarkable resemblance to a certain Disney attraction. EPISODE 18: Leslie Uggams. My favorite episode of this season. The skits with Big Bird (see above) break me up, as does Gonzo and Camilla the chicken's first date (she has hay fever) and a funny MuppetLabs skit about fireproof paper. EPISODE 19: Elke Sommer. One of the weaker episodes, this one just doesn't age well. The one-time sex symbol performs "Animal Crackers in My Soup" and, dressed as Cleopatra, "Row, Row, Row."

EPISODE 20: Sylvester Stallone. Again not my favorite, but there is one memorable skit: in a gladiator sketch, Stallone and a full-size lion perform "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." EPISODE 21: Roger Miller. Lots of music. Penguins on the Mayflower sing "Alabamy Bound," Miller joins some watermelons for "In the Summertime," Miller and a Whatnots trio do "Hat," Muppets in a pub perform "Down at the Old Bull and Bush," Rowlf plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" (and turns into a chicken) and Miller joins some Muppet chickens for a medley of "You Had a Do Wacka Do," "Dang Me," "My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died" and "You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd."

EPISODE 22: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. A herd of cows goes mad for Fozzie's cow jokes in this cowboy-themed episode (Fozzie: "You cows are an udder delight!). Prairie dogs sing "Blue Skies," Roy and Dale perform "Skyball Paint," "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and a medley of "Hazy Mountains," "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and "Happy Trails." EPISODE 23: Lynn Redgrave. See above. In a version of the Muppet News Flash, the Town Crier declares "Five o'clock and all's well! Except that Maid Marian has been kidnapped, the Sheriff's up to no good, that dog is stealing the cheese, Kermit's mad at Piggy, and it's really only 4:30." EPISODE 24: Cheryl Ladd. Skits include Miss Piggy and Ladd trashing their dressing room as they sing "I Enjoy Being a Girl." In "Pigs in Space," Dr. Strangepork invents a pill that makes pigs invisible. Bonus features are highlighted by a 60-minute documentary from 1968 called "The Muppets on Puppets." Jim Henson, Rowlf the Dog and Muppet design chief Don Sahlin demonstrate how to build and operate a hand puppet and review the history of the art, the various kinds of puppets and the use of special effects. The DVD set also includes a brand new featurette, "The Making of The Muppets." As before, the packaging is also pretty gosh darn cool. On the front of the box, Fozzie's face has fur you can feel. UB
 

Distributed by: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Genre: Television, Variety, Comedy
Rating:

Guest Cast
Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge
Leo Sayer
Roy Clark
Gilda Radner
Pearl Bailey
Jean Stapleton
Alice Cooper
Loretta Lynn
Liberace
Marisa Berenson
Raquel Welch
James Coco
Helen Reddy
Harry Belafonte
Lesley Ann Warren
Danny Kaye
Spike Milligan
Leslie Uggams
Elke Sommer
Sylvester Stallone
Roger Miller
Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Lynn Redgrave
Cheryl Ladd

DVD Features
The Muppet Show Season Three DVD Features: 24 episodes of "The Muppet Show"— The complete third season with digitally restored picture and sound! "The Muppets On Puppets"— The original 1968 documentary hosted Jim Henson and Rowlf the Dog. A Frog Is Born"— An all-new featurette exploring the origins of Kermit the Frog and his relationship with creator, Jim Henson. "A Company of Players"— An all-new featurette focusing on the troupe of puppeteers who operated the Muppets on "The Muppet Show". Original Muppet Commercials... and much more! Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Language: English, Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1, Number of discs: 4, Run Time: 612 minutes.

Despite a number of short-term unwarranted arrests for a virtual plethora of misdemeanors, which, for some odd reason, remain "classified", Cochaman Peef has continued to let his beloved hemp play a substantial role in his ever-waning life. Whether he’s smoking from a hand-blown glass pipe while studying Eastern religion and Woody Harrelson philosophy, or just smoking Jamaican sticks and watching Kung-Fu with David Carradine on DVD [he claims to know Carradine personally, a fact we've yet to dispute].
 

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