The Muppet Show
Season 1
197624 episodes
Episode 1
Joel Grey
Sep 5, 197626m
TMDB rating 6.6TMDB
Fozzie works on a new act -- jokes on any subject -- and drives everyone crazy. Finally, he gets on stage and asks for any word. Statler and Waldorf call his bluff by yelling out: "Amoeba!"
Episode 2
Rita Moreno
Sep 12, 197626m
TMDB rating 7.7TMDB
Fozzie Bear becomes embroiled in a running gag involving the backstage phone. Throughout the episode, Rita parodies her combative image. She battles with several Muppets, including Miss Piggy, a Full-Bodied Muppet, and Animal, who's backing her on drums in her closing number, "Fever."
Episode 3
Sandy Duncan
Sep 19, 197626m
TMDB rating 4.5TMDB
Fozzie performs Gags Beasley's famous "banana sketch," which everyone has heard of except Kermit. When Kermit asks Sandy and Fozzie to tell him what it is, they laugh too hard to explain it.
Episode 4
Jim Nabors
Sep 26, 197626m
TMDB rating 5.7TMDB
A young kid named Scooter applies for a job as a go-fer. When Kermit remarks that he doesn't even look like a gopher, Scooter explains that he'll go-fer coffee, he'll go-fer sandwiches, he'll go-fer anything. Kermit says he doesn't have the money to hire him, until Scooter mentions that his uncle owns the theater.
Episode 5
Ruth Buzzi
Oct 3, 197626m
TMDB rating 5.7TMDB
Scooter's uncle sends a mechanical, wind-up TV show host, an exact duplicate of Kermit. The robot harasses Kermit and flirts with Miss Piggy.
Episode 6
Paul Williams
Oct 10, 197626m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Scooter talks Fozzie into doing "the telephone pole bit," and Fozzie practices dutifully until he finds out what the bit is: Fozzie dresses up as a public telephone, and Scooter asks what his name is. "Mike Oznowiczki," Fozzie says, and Scooter exclaims, "Oh, so you're the telephone Pole!"
Episode 7
Florence Henderson
Oct 17, 197626m
TMDB rating 5.3TMDB
The Muppet Theatre is plagued by a variety of pig-related problems, both onstage and off. First, The Bouncing Borsalino Brothers flub their act and crash through the stage floor. Backstage, Miss Piggy throws herself at an uninterested Kermit and then jealously interrupts his onstage Talk Spot, physically threatening guest star Florence Henderson, whom she thinks is horning in on her frog. The feud continues in the Panel Discussion as Florence throws pig slurs around.
Episode 8
Peter Ustinov
Oct 24, 197626m
TMDB rating 6.3TMDB
Kermit becomes jealous when Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Hilda and Scooter rave about Peter Ustinov. At the end, Peter admits that he's jealous of Kermit; he's always wanted to be a frog.
Episode 9
Lena Horne
Oct 31, 197626m
TMDB rating 5.0TMDB
Kermit cuts Miss Piggy's scheduled song so she won't look foolish following Lena Horne. He tells her that "there are singers and there are singers," making her think that he doesn't want her to show up Lena.
Episode 10
Harvey Korman
Nov 7, 197626m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Embarrassed about being the "token person" on the show, Harvey is dressed up as a giant chicken.
Episode 11
Candice Bergen
Nov 14, 197626m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Fozzie brings a series of deliveries to Kermit, pestering the frog with lousy gags.
Episode 12
Ben Vereen
Nov 21, 197626m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Fozzie gets stuck in a magician's trick cabinet. The cabinet is dragged onstage so that he can perform his act -- and at the end of the act, two pig stagehands tip the box over so he can take a bow. Crazy Harry, who makes frequent appearances (and frequent explosions) during the show, blows up the cage before the end of the show so that Fozzie can escape.
Episode 13
Charles Aznavour
Nov 28, 197626m
TMDB rating 5.7TMDB
When he's unable to get a spot on the show, Gonzo asks Scooter to be his manager. Scooter advises Gonzo to do a rock act, banging on a large rock with a mallet. Later, Gonzo tries his hand at female impersonation, wearing a dress and a blonde wig. Scooter gives up managing when Gonzo eats his contract.
Episode 14
Phyllis Diller
Dec 5, 197626m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Aging wardrobe woman Hilda puts on a wig and makeup to try to make herself look younger. She is spotlighted in a backstage plot for the first and last time.
Episode 15
Avery Schreiber
Dec 12, 197626m
TMDB rating 4.5TMDB
To make Kermit jealous, Miss Piggy instructs Scooter to tell him that Avery is in love with her. Kermit finds out that it's all a trick, and Piggy karate-chops everybody.
Episode 16
Twiggy
Dec 19, 197626m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Kermit is skeptical when everyone backstage is terrorized by "the Phantom of the Muppet Show." There turns out to be one, though -- Uncle Deadly, a monster-actor who performed in the theater years ago. After being panned by the critics, he vowed never to perform there again, and not to let anyone else perform either. He warns the Muppets, "Leave or be doomed!"
Episode 17
Valerie Harper
Jan 2, 197726m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
This is one of only a few Muppet Show episodes that open the show after the theme song with some kind of offstage scene. There's also a couple of scenes with the guest star in her dressing room conversing with Muppets instead of onstage in the Talk Spot. In last week's "At The Dance", Boppity danced in drag with another monster. This week Boppity appears as normal but his partner is in drag. In both instances, he ends up headless.
Episode 18
Mummenschanz
Jan 9, 197726m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Miss Piggy is repulsed when Gonzo tells her that he loves her. Kermit tries to help by asking Piggy if she would like to go to dinner -- and when she accepts, he fixes her up with Gonzo. Everybody gets karate-chopped.
Episode 19
Juliet Prowse
Jan 16, 197726m
TMDB rating 6.3TMDB
Muppy, the favorite pet of The Muppet Theatre owner J. P. Grosse, becomes a prima donna when Kermit reluctantly allows him to do a musical number with Scooter. Muppy even gets his own dressing room and star billing, but Kermit draws the line when the dog asks to change the show's title to The Muppy Show. When Muppy locks himself in his dressing room and refuses to perform, Scooter does the number with Fozzie instead.
Episode 20
Kaye Ballard
Jan 23, 197726m
TMDB rating 3.5TMDB
Tired of the "embarrassingly square" theme song, bass player Floyd Pepper informs Kermit that he and the rest of the orchestra pit (except Rowlf) are quitting. Kermit says their conductor Nigel will write a new theme, but Floyd refuses: "He wrote the first one, man." Floyd performs his idea for a new theme, a dreadful Zappa-esque piece called "Fugue for Frog." Kermit won't use it and refuses that Floyd submits to Kaye Ballard a petition about the theme song, so the band leaves. The closing theme is performed solo by Rowlf on the piano.
Episode 21
Bruce Forsyth
Jan 30, 197726m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Fozzie Bear has a plan to get back at Statler and Waldorf when he does his act, but is crushed when he's replaced by Bruce Forsyth. Fozzie throws some nasty jokes and, for the first (and last) time, leaves the two old codgers speechless. Then Fozzie and Bruce end up performing together, and sing "Side by Side." A duck appears frequently in the sketches and skits.
Episode 22
Ethel Merman
Apr 9, 197726m
TMDB rating 4.5TMDB
Fozzie's agent, Irving Bizarre, negotiates Fozzie's contract with Kermit. Kermit ends up offering Fozzie ten times as much money; unfortunately, Fozzie made nothing before. "Yeah, and don't forget," Irving says, "I get ten percent of that."
Episode 23
Connie Stevens
Apr 16, 197726m
TMDB rating 6.0TMDB
When Fozzie overhears Hilda, Kermit, and Scooter talking about getting rid of "that bear," he thinks they're talking about him, only to find out later it's actually Gonzo's teddy bear that everyone is badmouthing.
Episode 24
Vincent Price
Apr 23, 197726m
TMDB rating 6.0TMDB
In honor of guest star Vincent Price, the show is filled with monsters, ghosts, bats, vampires and spooky situations. A three-headed monster auditions for the show: "We sing!" "No, we dance!" "No, we tell jokes!"