MuppetWatch

104: Ruth Buzzi & Freaky Friday

Today’s special guest is Laugh-In favorite Ruth Buzzi, but will she and the Muppets be able to withstand the terror of MechaKermit? Then we watch the 1976 film Freaky Friday, which is much stranger than either of us expected. The title probably should have warned us.
Topics of discussion include a plethora of recurring sketches that feel like filler, frustrated housewives in popular culture, John Astin’s unfortunate resemblance to William F. Buckley, and droopy basset hounds.
Further resources:
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You - 10 Things I Hate About You
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You - Drop Dead Gorgeous
Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: “Jack Klugman”
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Gump - "Weird Al" Yankovic
The Lost Saucer opening
Sesame Street: “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”

103: Joel Grey & Cabaret (with Dallin Agatone)

Today on MuppetWatch, the podcast is joined by friend and filmmaker Dallin Agatone to discuss Tony and Oscar winner Joel Grey! Then we discuss the film that won Grey his Oscar, Cabaret, and find our opinions split.
Topics of discussion include waiters at the Hotel for Dogs, the personality shift of Sam Eagle, being an underdog versus just being pitiful, cutting edge 70s video technology, and how literally we are meant to take the Kit Kat Klub as representative of Weimar Germany.
Further resources:
Broadway Legend Joel Grey Opens Up About His Sexuality by Liz McNeil
“Cabaret - 1967 Tony Awards"
Divine Decadence: Fascism, Female Spectacle, and the Makings of Sally Bowles by Linda Mizejewski
“Joel Grey Wins Supporting Actor — 1973 Oscars”
Master of Ceremonies by Joel Grey and Rebecca Paley
“The Real Sally Bowles” - The Berliner

102: Connie Stevens & Rock-A-Bye Baby

Tonight on MuppetWatch, our special guest is singer-actress Connie Stevens, and the show undergoes more growing pains. Then we take a trip back to 1958, with the Frank Tashlin-directed Jerry Lewis-starring semi-remake of The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, Rock-A-Bye Baby.
Topics of discussion include Muppet skin versus fur, the Electric Mayhem still having yet to perform as a group, unfortunate color schemes for evening gowns, the FTA tour, and how much emotional suffering for Fozzie Bear is too much emotional suffering?
Further resources:
Baywatching: “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”
Connie Stevens - Official Web-site
F.T.A. - Official Re-Release Trailer
Hope: Entertainer of the Century by Richard Zoglin
“Jerry Lewis’ Costars Speak Out: “He Grabbed Me. He Began to Fondle Me. I Was Dumbstruck”” by Julie Miller, Amy Ziering, and Kirby Dick
“Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)” with Edd Byrnes on The Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show
Laughing Hysterically: American Screen Comedy of the 1950s by Ed Sikov
Mulholland Drive: “Sixteen Reasons”
Tashlinesque: The Hollywood Comedies of Frank Tashlin by Ethan de Seife

101: Juliet Prowse & G.I. Blues

Tonight on MuppetWatch, we’re joined by dancer Juliet Prowse in the first episode of The Muppet Show produced and all of its awkward growing pains. Then, we watch G.I. Blues (1960), where Prowse plays love interest to Elvis Presley in his first film out of the army.
Topics of discussion include Space Mutiny-esque Elvis names, the troubling implications of a Muppet version of yourself, StarKid musicals that haven’t aged well, the career of Arnold Drake, and At the Dance: Yea or Nay?
Further resources:
Championship Ballroom Dancing (1987)
Circus of the Stars (1987)
Dancer-Actress Juliet Prowse Dies at 59
“I watched every Elvis movie and all I went was insane”
In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid (1993) part 1 and part 2
”Mahna Mahna” on The Ed Sullivan Show
Obituary: Juliet Prowse

MuppetWatch 001: Mia Farrow

On this very special pilot episode of MuppetWatch, we cover The Muppets Valentine Show (1974) with special guest Mia Farrow, and The Muppet Show: and Violence (1975), with not much , a decent amount of violence, and no humans. Then, we discuss Rosemary's Baby, the film that made Mia Farrow a star.