Chapter 60

“Have fun with the kids tonight. Don’t burn the house down.” Sweetie gave me a kiss as I grabbed my overnight bag. She was staying home to relax and catch up on reading. (The latest chapter for “Sword of the Goddess” had posted and she was eager to read it.) Me? I was headed to my son’s house to do “Grandpa Duty” and watch the two grandchildren while my son and his wife went to a party with friends.

Once I was settled in and the other adults were out the door, the boy, 13, went to his room to play ‘Minecraft’ on his PC. I tried to watch him play it a few times and all it did was give me a headache. The girl, 9, wanted me to sit and watch TV with her. She was astonished that I had never seen an episode of a show called “The Owl House”. She asked me what shows on TV I had watched when I was younger. “Muppets,” I replied. “What’s ‘Muppets’, grandpa?”

Try not to be too shocked at that question. Kids today have goodness knows how many viewing options for shows on more streaming services than I have fingers and toes to count on. We quickly found episodes of “The Muppet Show” from way back when, and sat down to watch, together.

The silliness and absurdity of the show and characters soon had her laughing so hard, she was gasping at times. Seeing Miss Piggy scream “Heee-Yaaaa!” and landing a karate chop on some other character, was a favorite of hers. She asked me if I knew any of the songs that “Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem” played. She had seen videos of me, back when I was younger (LOTS YOUNGER!) and was in a band called “Menagerie”. (We jokingly called ourselves ‘a collection of animals’ and did a lot of 50s and 60s music.) She eventually fell asleep next to me, and I had to carry her to her room and tuck her in.

So, as a new generation discovered the Muppets, I thought about how so many of us had enjoyed them over the last 60 years. Yes, Jim Henson’s characters have been around that long! So, for those of you who are interested, some Muppet Trivia.

Jim Henson had a puppet show prior to “The Muppet Show” called “Sam and Friends.”

Before he created “The Muppet Show,” Jim Henson’s first television venture was called “Sam and Friends,” a puppet ensemble show that ran from 1955 to 1961. In addition to featuring the original version of Kermit the Frog, a wide array of early Muppets appeared on “Sam and Friends” including Harry the Hipster, Icky Gunk, and Pierre the French Rat. And we can’t forget how they were a tremendous part of “Sesame Street”.

The Muppets made regular guest appearances on late-night talk shows in the ‘60s and they still do from time to time.

In the 1960s, during their “The Muppet Show” fame, several characters made guest appearances on talk shows. Rowlf the Dog and Kermit the Frog were the most popular of the Muppets and made frequent appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Rowlf the Dog eventually became the first Muppet to have a regular late-night television spot, when he was signed to “The Jimmy Dean Show” alongside comedian Jimmy Dean.

Jim Henson produced a Muppet sketch series on “Saturday Night Live” that only ran for one season.

Following “Sam and Friends,” Jim Henson created a recurring sketch for the first season of “Saturday Night Live” called The Land of Gorch.

Originally called Muppet Night Creatures, the Land of Gorch depicted an uncouth family of royal Muppets that interacted with “Saturday Night Live” cast members. According to some sources, the sketch series was not popular with critics or with cast members themselves. Stars like John Belushi were frustrated with having to share screen time with the characters, which Belushi called the “mucking Fuppets.”