Dear Internet,
Have I
talked enough about "The Muppet Show"? I guess not considering that there are still
two seasons left for me to watch, and the rules of this experiment demand that
I keep talking about it. Yet why do I
find myself digging at the bottom of the barrel to find something to write
about? Is it because I do not like the
show? No, that is not the case for I
find myself laughing at the jokes and situations that the various characters
get themselves into. Is it because time
and time again, I find myself falling a bit drowsy when watching the show? There is only so much that I can blame on the
sweltering weather that has decided to cook me alive these days while at the
same time causing me to fall asleep. Si
is because have started to do exercises
while watching this show because I might as well do something productive while
watching the show? I do not think these
posts count considering that I do them after I finish watching for the
day. And we both know I am doing this
for my health already, right, Internet?
No,
there is something happening when watching "The Muppet Show" the way
that I am. It heavily detracts away from
itself. That is a bit much to say, but I
think it is a sad reality. Watching the
episodes back to back for hours on end is causing a degradation of the comedy
that the show has at its core. The show
is not meant to be viewed in a marathon manner.
This is evident by the fact that the show was broadcast one a week when
it first aired. The second reason is
most likely because of the show's format.
The episodes all run five minutes more than shows made now. These extra five minutes might not seem like
a lot, but they have added up to make watching this series take longer than
normal. Normally, I can get through
fifteen episodes every day and it takes five hours. Some shows I can shave off a few minutes here
and there because I can skip the intros and outros that repeat. At most I can shave off a half hour, but that
is rare. With "The Muppet Show,"
I can only get through twelve episodes because of those extra minutes. This means that the 120 episodes take ten
days to get through. Otherwise, this
would take me eight days. On top of that
is the fact that the opening and closing sequences stop me from fast forwarding. I do not mean that there is a physical or digital
block that stops me from going past them.
The problem for me is that the two sequences include at least one joke
each. The jokes are just a single line or
two at most and sometimes stem from the episode's plot. This means that I have to view it because it
is unwatched content. I could try to
skip only to the joke, but trying to find that one moment and skipping around
would take longer than letting the opening just play out.
All of
this is not really a fault of the show, more a fault of my own and how this
experiment is designed. I cannot mark
against a work a strike saying that it cannot be enjoyed in long stretches when
it was not meant to be done as such. However,
by watching the show in this manner, the show's minute problems are compounded. I have already mentioned the show's use of
repeating sketches. When they are placed
closely together, they have a way of getting tiring. Each repeating skit relies on a certain set
of jokes and poke fun at nearly the same thing.
Veterinarian's Hospital is a collection of puns and word plays. Pigs in Space makes fun of the macho man
idiot and his attempts to be adept in anything useful. Bear on Patrol covers the hole left by Fozzie
the Bear not delivering comedic monologues.
These repeating skits are all entertaining in their own way, but putting
them next to each other causes an inverse affect. In the very least, they do not repeat as much
as they do in the earlier seasons.
However, since the natures of the skits do not change, they can fell
like they are beating a dead horse at times. This is what happens with every kind of
repetition. You can take almost anything
that would normally make you ecstatic about doing more than once and make it banal
by doing it too often. I would love to
go to Disney Land, but not for three weeks straight and ride everything.
The
rest of the show suffers if only because of how similar episodes can make it
all feel like dry repetition. This is
even stranger considering that season 3 has some of the most varied episodes
around. Just today, there was a cowboy
episode and one that changed the format to put on a production of Robin
Hood. These episodes are great because
they try and do something different and succeed. The rest are either enjoyable because of the
guest star or become another episode of the same old same old. At that point, all I am looking forward to
are the special guests, specifically the ones that I know or recognize.
"The
Muppet Show" has got episodes abounding to the point where any individual
can find their own favorite episodes but will then of course find the other
ones lacking. The show is meant to have
a week in between viewings. Otherwise,
the humor can become too quickly stale from serving the same thing over and
over.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
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