The Muppet Show: Season 1

1976 · 24 episodes · ★ 5.0

What Season 1 of The Muppet Show

From the first episode, Kermit the Frog hosts the variety show staged every week in a theater, and Nigel takes over as conductor of the orchestra. Each show features a guest star who must be looked after while the rest of the cast prepares their acts. Kermit has to rein in his colleagues' antics and also his own temper. Fozzie tries to get his joke routine off the ground, Miss Piggy demands the spotlight, and Gonzo tries his luck with increasingly outrageous stunts. Scooter, the newcomer, complicates things. Behind the scenes, side stories intersect with what happens on stage. Statler and Waldorf watch the show from their balcony.

24episodes

Sep 5, 1976premiered

Apr 23, 1977Latest episode

10.4 hrtotal runtime

Season 1 Episodes

1x01 Joel Grey
Sep 5, 1976 · 26 min · ★ 6.6
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!"
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Joel Grey
1x02 Rita Moreno
Sep 12, 1976 · 26 min · ★ 7.7
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."
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Rita Moreno
1x03 Sandy Duncan
Sep 19, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writers: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Sandy Duncan, Peter Friedman
1x04 Jim Nabors
Sep 26, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writers: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Jim Nabors, John Lovelady
1x05 Ruth Buzzi
Oct 3, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Ruth Buzzi
1x06 Paul Williams
Oct 10, 1976 · 26 min
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!"
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Paul Williams
1x07 Florence Henderson
Oct 17, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Florence Henderson, John Lovelady
1x08 Peter Ustinov
Oct 24, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Peter Ustinov, Peter Friedman
1x09 Lena Horne
Oct 31, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Lena Horne, Peter Friedman
1x10 Harvey Korman
Nov 7, 1976 · 26 min
Embarrassed about being the "token person" on the show, Harvey is dressed up as a giant chicken.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Harvey Korman
1x11 Candice Bergen
Nov 14, 1976 · 26 min
Fozzie brings a series of deliveries to Kermit, pestering the frog with lousy gags.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Candice Bergen, John Lovelady, Peter Friedman
1x12 Ben Vereen
Nov 21, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Ben Vereen
1x13 Charles Aznavour
Nov 28, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Charles Aznavour, John Lovelady
1x14 Phyllis Diller
Dec 5, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writers: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Phyllis Diller, John Lovelady
1x15 Avery Schreiber
Dec 12, 1976 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Avery Schreiber
1x16 Twiggy
Dec 19, 1976 · 26 min
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!"
Directing: Peter Harris · Writers: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Twiggy, John Lovelady
1x17 Valerie Harper
Jan 2, 1977 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writers: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Valerie Harper, John Lovelady
1x18 Mummenschanz
Jan 9, 1977 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writers: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Mummenschanz
1x19 Juliet Prowse
Jan 16, 1977 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writers: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Juliet Prowse, John Lovelady
1x20 Kaye Ballard
Jan 23, 1977 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writers: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Kaye Ballard, John Lovelady
1x21 Bruce Forsyth
Jan 30, 1977 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Bruce Forsyth, Peter Friedman
1x22 Ethel Merman
Apr 9, 1977 · 26 min
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."
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Ethel Merman, John Lovelady
1x23 Connie Stevens
Apr 16, 1977 · 26 min
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.
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Connie Stevens, John Lovelady
1x24 Vincent Price Season Finale
Apr 23, 1977 · 26 min
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!"
Directing: Peter Harris · Writing: Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl · Starring: Vincent Price, John Lovelady