Customer Reviews

Ed Sullivan: Muppets Magic From the Ed Sullivan

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Okay, we all know that the cover to this thing stinks. But let's be positive, at least it's colourful.

I can't believe how good these sketches look. The colours are bright and vibrant, and the sound quality is excellent.

It is very nice to be able to see the original versions of some of the sketches made better known on The Muppet Show. "The Computer Dinner" is one of these sketches and it is much better here in its original form. It also stars the Muppet monster who eventually became Cookie Monster.

All of these bits are good, some better then others. My personal favourites are "The Computer Dinner", "InchWorm", and "Rock and Roll Monster".

If I had to pick a sketch that was the worst of the bunch, I'd probably have to say it's(I know some my fellow hard-core Muppet fans are going to hate me for this) "I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face" with Kermit lip-synching to Rosemary Clooney's classic crooner. It's funny, but also somewhat amateurish. The audience loves it though. Oh well, If it ain't broke don't fix it I guess.

There are 20 of the Muppets original 25 Ed Sullivan appearances included on this program.

The missing sketches are worth finding if you can. Especially "Music Hath Charms" from 1967 which shows our hero Kermit, trying to make various monsters dance with some great saloon-style piano playing.

All in all though, I am soooo glad that this has been released. I hope that other vintage Henson works eventually get this same type of treatment (only with better cover art). I would love to see "The Great Santa Claus Switch" or the unreleased 1962 pilot "Tales of the Tinkerdee".

If this release proves to be successful, I hope this will encourage both the Henson and the Ed Sullivan people to continue issuing this older, rarer material from the vaults.

Don't let the ugly cover fool you. This DVD is amazing. Before Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, Jim Henson's Muppets made it big on network variety show appearances. This DVD shows you early incarnations of Kemit, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Fan Favorite Mahna Mahna in great Henson sketches. Jim Henson was way ahead of his time, and this DVD shows it. From a 3 Headed Monster singing rock music to a bunch of singing reindeer, this DVD covers almost every Ed Sullivan appearance the Muppets Made (a few could not be shown due to copyrights). The video and audio are superb. The colors are very vibrant (especially on sketches like Scrap Flyapp and Santa's Workshop). Here is a list of the sketches you will see:
Rock 'n' Roll Monster 1966, September 18
The Art of Visual Thinking 1966, October 2
Monster Family 1966, October 23
Inchworm 1966, November 27
I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face 1967, February 5
I Feel Pretty 1967, April 30
The Computer Dinner 1967, October 8
Santa Claus Routine with Arthur Godfrey 1967, December 24
Business Business 1968, February 18
Java 1968, May 26
The Monster Trash Can Dance 1968, October 13
Sclrap Flyapp 1968, November 24
Christmas Reindeers 1968, December 22
A Change of Face 1969, March 30
Beautiful Day Monster 1969, May 11
Mahna Mahna 1969, November 30
Big Bird's Dance 1969, December 14
Octopus's Garden 1970, March 1
The Wild String Quartet 1971, January 17
The Glutton 1971, February 21

This DVD will not dissapoint. For 10 dollars, it is a steal. This is classic muppets and Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Juhl, Jane Henson, etc at their best. Please support this DVD and get it. There may be another release for The Great Santa Clause Switch (a Muppets and Ed Sullivan special, only aired once) if this one does well. Way to go, Good Times video!

Most people think of the Muppets from Sesame Street or their successful 70s TV show, where "Entertaining the Family, especially the kids" was the point.

Few people remember that when Jim Henson first started appearing on TV with the Muppets, the humor was very much more adult-oriented--not "dirty" adult, but slapticky adult. Things exploded. Creatures were devoured by other creatures. Still others died comically. (Remember the black and white coffee commercials, where a Muppet is asked how he likes a certain brand of coffee? He says he doesn't like it and the interviewing muppet promptly blows him away with a cannon. Then he turns the cannon to the camera and says to the viewer, "Now, what do YOU think of (NAME) coffee?")

Well, that sense of humor is prevalent on the bulk of this DVD and it's marvelous. Henson's appearances on Ed Sullivan are compiled in chronological order, starting with "Instant Rock Band," where a small furry thing expands into a full garage band before your eyes.

From there, we are treated to an early version of what would become the Cookie Monster, gleefully devouring a talking machine that gets the last laugh after it's been swallowed.

The Muppets' first performance of "Ma Nah Ma Nah," which actually became a hit record for them during the 70s after this skit was resurrected on their TV show, is here and is remarkably funny. (When the guy looks down the horn-like noses of his bovine background singers, the look on his face is hilarious.)

Of course, once Sesame Street showed up, Sullivan HAD to have Big Bird on, and it's those "crossover" skits that suffer the most. But you can skip over them.

Definitely get this. It's worth every penny. And it's worth looking into the mind of Jim Henson and what he could do when we was told he could do whatever he liked.

This DVD is a diamond in the rough. If you or anyone you know is a Muppet fan or simply loves classic TV, this DVD is a must.
These Muppet skits are a precurser to the wonderful shows and characters we all know and love. Many of these skits were recycled into Muppet Show skits years later.
My friend is always borrowing this DVD and both us watch it repeatedly and have yet to tire of it.

This is a really magical DVD. The sketches are very, very funny and Jim Henson and fellow puppeteers are superb. The best sketches here are clearly "Instant Rock'n'Roll Monster" (does anybody know the song they sing?), "The Computer Dinner," which I'd like to say is the funniest skit on the disc, "Mahna Mahna," which is really funny and reliant on a simple gag, and "Octopus' Garden," which features an unnamed Muppet singing the Ringo Starr song while an octopus keeps butting in and telling jokes. Good DVD.

Don't let the ugly cover fool you. This DVD is amazing. Before Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, Jim Henson's Muppets made it big on network variety show appearances. This DVD shows you early incarnations of Kemit, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Fan Favorite Mahna Mahna in great Henson sketches. Jim Henson was way ahead of his time, and this DVD shows it. From a 3 Headed Monster singing rock music to a bunch of singing reindeer, this DVD covers almost every Ed Sullivan appearance the Muppets Made (a few could not be shown due to copyrights). The video and audio are superb. The colors are very vibrant (especially on sketches like Scrap Flyapp and Santa's Workshop). Here is a list of the sketches you will see:
Rock 'n' Roll Monster 1966, September 18
The Art of Visual Thinking 1966, October 2
Monster Family 1966, October 23
Inchworm 1966, November 27
I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face 1967, February 5
I Feel Pretty 1967, April 30
The Computer Dinner 1967, October 8
Santa Claus Routine with Arthur Godfrey 1967, December 24
Business Business 1968, February 18
Java 1968, May 26
The Monster Trash Can Dance 1968, October 13
Sclrap Flyapp 1968, November 24
Christmas Reindeers 1968, December 22
A Change of Face 1969, March 30
Beautiful Day Monster 1969, May 11
Mahna Mahna 1969, November 30
Big Bird's Dance 1969, December 14
Octopus's Garden 1970, March 1
The Wild String Quartet 1971, January 17
The Glutton 1971, February 21

This DVD will not dissapoint. For 10 dollars, it is a steal. This is classic muppets and Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Juhl, Jane Henson, etc at their best. Please support this DVD and get it. There may be another release for The Great Santa Clause Switch (a Muppets and Ed Sullivan special, only aired once) if this one does well. Way to go, Good Times video!

I agree with a few of the other reviewers here. The cover is ugly. Seeing that GOODTIMES put it out I had low expectations. Happily, I can report these clips are right from the SULLIVAN archives and of the BEST quality. HENSON was at his CREATIVE peak when this stuff was conceived and performed. I am so glad to finally own some his early work on DVD. This is simply the BEST!

Rick Goldschmidt RANKIN/BASS Historian

If you need to laugh, babysit or just want to have something on in the background without commercials this will do the trick. I love The Muppets and have many DVD's from the collection. This one is just unusual as it has music and skits mixed together and makes for a fun time that can be enjoyed over and over. Sure beats anything from the Bratz Dolls world of child raising. Raise your kids on good wholesome TV.

I know, it looks like a public domain hack job. But trust me, you'll see some puppet moments here that will blow your mind. Early Henson greatness that is in some ways BETTER than his celebrity-addled Muppet Show. Less corny, more experimental, more "wow". AND the color and clarity of this DVD is surprisingly first-rate, considering old-TV-source + B-list label. But it's definitely worth getting, trust me.

Sure the cover sucks, but who cares? Watching this DVD is a tour through time into the early days of Jim Henson's career for puppet sketches. Those of you real Muppet Aficionados should look carefully at the cover and try to identify some of the characters, and who they would evolve into later. Despite Kermit the Frog, an early Beautiful Day Monster design, and the obvious Sesame Street characters, watch the skits and try to notice any similarities.

One of the first puppet show appearances in SAM AND FRIENDS hosts memorable skits such as "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" with a bewigged Kermit the Frog being taunted by the ravenous monster Yorick (who later became Cookie Monster), and the classic "Inchworm" sketch. No, not the song Inchworm, but the sketch with Kermit sitting on a bench and the worm taps him on the leg until he eats it, when the third worm appears, Kermit tries to eat it, but a giant monster appears and eats him. It was a classic sketch used later on THE MUPPET SHOW guest starring Rich Little, with Lennie the Lizard standing in for Kermit. There is also the "Java" skit from the Ed Sullivan Show, which later featured on THE MUPPET SHOW with Ethel Merman.

Many of these skits look great after being preserved for so long, and it's enduring to see how the characters have evolved over the years. Those of you real fans should recognize I FEEL PRETTY, MAHNA MAHNA, and BIG BIRD'S DANCE which would also be re-enacted in shows later. I, for one, would love to see flashbacks of the product commercials which were popular around the late 1950s which lasted six seconds during each skit to sell a product and tell a joke. Who can forget Wilkins Coffee, the La Choy Dragon, Claussens Bread, or Purina Dog Chow? For more information on these rarities, I recommend Danny's Tough Pigs website or Kaptain Kidshow Memories.

This is a great collectible, and I sense there will be more to follow.