The Muppet Show: 19 Surprising Behind-The-Scenes Facts

1.

The inception of The Muppet Show, a musical variety series with Muppets, began in Jim Henson’s notebook back (which is known as “The Red Book”) in 1960. Its first name? The Zoocus. The original concept included many of the elements we know the show to have today: colonnades, a celebrity guest host, and Muppets.

2.

Even though the Muppets had huge success on Sesame Street in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Jim Henson had an incredibly difficult time securing funding in the US for his idea, The Muppet Show, because he believed the Muppets could appeal to a wider audience, not just children. While two half-hour pilot/holiday specials appeared on ABC in the mid-’70s, called The Muppets Valentine Show and The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, ABC didn’t pick up the show as a series. Actually, no American network did.

3.

Jim Henson watched the pilot episode, Sex and Violence, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his dad, which premiered in 1975.

4.

The Electric Mayhem — who are Dr. Teeth, Animal, Floyd Pepper, Janice, and Zoot — was made specifically for the holiday specials, too.

5.

Luckily, London-based television producer Lord Lew Grade believed in Jim’s idea and gave him funding, and production began in 1975 for ATV, which made The Muppet Show a British production. The show premiered in 1976.

6.

In addition to Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, and Jane Henson were some of the original Muppet puppeteers.

8.

While Miss Piggy was a Muppet long before The Muppet Show aired, her name was changed before the premiere from Miss Piggy Lee to Miss Piggy to avoid upsetting the American jazz singer Peggy Lee, who inspired Muppet designer Bonnie Erickson.

As a reference, here’s what Peggy Lee looks like.

9.

Some of the first Muppets who had their debut on The Muppet Show were Miss Piggy (with her new name), Fozzie Bear, Scooter, Uncle Deadly, and Gonzo.

10.

Most of The Muppet Show set was built on platforms about four feet above the ground for the puppeteers to work. (The cameras were set about seven feet high.) According to head art director David Chandler, the set had to not only work for Muppets and the performers but also for the guest stars who visited each week. “If you look carefully at that set, you’ll see that the staircase is full-size, but the doors at the top of the stairs are about seven-eighths the size of a regular door. The whole thing has to work for both guest stars and puppets. That’s not easy to achieve,” he said.

11.

Due to British broadcasting methods that result in shorter commercial breaks, Jim and the team had to film an extra two minutes for each UK episode. Some of those segments, which involved musical numbers and no guest stars, can be seen here.

12.

It was common for the Muppet performers to stay in character between takes or rehearsals. For instance, if the director or floor manager gave directions, the Muppets might respond rather than the human performers.

13.

Actually, Jim Henson was the creator of monitor puppetry, which was used throughout The Muppet Show. Rather than blindly puppeteering to the audience or the camera, Jim Henson realized that connecting a TV monitor to the camera and positioning it behind the scenes allowed puppeteers to see how their performances looked on screen.

14.

The legendary opening number of The Muppet Show appears to have all the Muppets performing at once; however, that’s not the case. Instead, between six and seven puppeteers would hold one puppet each in each archway. Then, once all performances were taped, they were stitched together in post-production.

16.

While the first season of The Muppet Show was a success, it was hard to get guest stars to appear. It wasn’t until ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev made an appearance in the second season — who was well-beloved at that time — that other major stars began to want to guest star on the show.

17.

After Rudolf’s appearance, some of the guest stars that followed were Elton John, Julie Andrews, Bob Hope, Alice Cooper, Sylvester Stallone, Liza Minnelli, Gene Kelly, and Mark Hamill.

19.

The Muppet Show lasted for five years from 1976 to 1981; won lots of awards, including BAFTA TV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Peabody Award; aired in over 100 countries across the world; and had more than 235 million viewers each week.