STUDIO: Buena Vista
RELEASE DATE: May 20, 2008
STARRING: Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Animal
CREATED BY: Jim Henson
FEATURES: Muppets On Puppets
A Company of Players
Muppet Commercials

My love for The Muppet Show has been a major part of my life for over three decades and it has never faltered. If anything, the show only gets better as I get older. I love the movies, the series, and, most of all, Animal. I can't really explain it, but on the worst day of my life, I think The Muppets could make me smile with a simple "Wocka! Wocka! Wocka!" or a visit from The Swedish Chef. Seriously, kids may have more options for entertainment than anyone from my generation ever did but none can compare to The Muppet Show. You can keep Dora and Diego. I'll take Kermit and Fozzie Bear every time. So, it is with great pleasure that I gleefully opened my third season DVD of The Muppet Show. We talk a lot about ups and downs in series' history when we review TV seasons on DVD. The Muppet Show (at least in the original series) has NO downs.

The Muppet Show ran for five seasons and the 24 remastered and restored classics in this set aired from 1978 to 1979. It was a good year. The show was famous for its cavalcade of guest stars and this season includes Gilda Radner, Kris Kristofferson. Alice Cooper, Liberace, Raquel Welch, Harry Belafonte, Danny Kaye, Sylvester Stallone, and Cheryl Ladd. That list of late '70s icons should make this season a must-buy for classic TV fans alone. Pigs in Space is just a welcome bonus.

The Muppet Show is timeless. It hasn't lost any of its power to make children of all ages smile and when someone uses the cliched phrase, "entertainment for the whole family," The Muppet Show is the first show I think of. It never ceases to entertain. Just having the episodes looking and sounding this good on DVD is reason enough to pick up the third season, but if you need special features, you'll find an awesome, rarely-seen 1969 one-hour program called "Muppets on Puppets" that is hosted by Jim Henson himself. It's a fascinating look into the origins of the show and a must-have for fans of Kermit and the gang. "A Company of Players" looks behind the scenes with the puppeteers and some awesome Purina Dog Chow commercials are included. It's all great stuff, like everything Muppet, but maybe I'm a little biased.