History YMMV / TheMuppetShow

* CommonKnowledge: The Disney+ release got a ton of accusations of "cancelling" the numerous episodes featuring bits that are now considered to fall into ValuesDissonance. In fact, while there were several edits to the episodes, they were all due to songs that Disney didn't have the copyright for. The only change to the offensive material is putting an unskippable disclaimer at the start.

** The first season is a little slow, as mentioned on the main page under EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. But the pacing and a lot of hallmarks of the show came about in the later seasons. [[ChewToy Beaker]], for example, didn't appear until season 2, so not only did Muppet Labs have a duller looking set, lack its introductory jingle, but it was ''Bunsen'' on the receiving end of all his inventions going wrong. It was also in the second season when Rudolf Nureyev made his appearance on the show, which changed the producers' job of finding willing guest stars into picking and choosing guest stars. Season 2 is also when Frank Oz and Dave Goelz really start getting a handle on Piggy, Fozzie and Gonzo, cementing them as the most important and popular Muppets after Kermit.

** "Turn the World Around" (Even Statler and Waldorf couldn't help but sing along).

** Kermit's rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady"

* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Kermit's nephew Robin isn't universally hated by any means, but some Muppet fans can be a little bit testy when he shows up. That being said, he's still more well-liked and tolerable overall than, say, Bean Bunny from later Muppet projects.
** Piggy can be this way to some fans. Some of her more self-absorbed and violent tendencies tend to rub some people the wrong way, especially in later productions where she tends to be Flanderized to the point of these being her only traits, not to mention this kind of behavior, even from a female character, is considerably more unacceptable today.

** There are a few bits where Wayne and Wanda sing. (Wayne and Wanda can be counted for a lot of these moments.) *** They're singing "Goody Goody," and Wayne punches Wanda in the face after singing about someone who knocks you off your feet. The curtains close as she stands up and gives him a murderous DeathGlare.

** Rowlf the Dog, largely because he was the first Muppet to reach national stardom, and he really doesn't get enough credit for helping to bring the Muppets into mainstream consciousness.

** One episode had Creatot/KrisKristofferson and Rita Coolidge as co-guest stars. Miss Piggy drops hints to Kermit about how they're a example of a showbiz pair who are happily married. Too bad Kris and Rita would end up divorced less then two years after the episode aired...[[note]]In fact, of the three married couples that did the show, only Roy Rogers & Dale Evans stayed together; Shields & Yarnell divorced as well (although they did continue to tour together occasionally until the latter's death).[[/note]]

* HoYay: JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf ''constantly'' sit next to each other, do everything together, bicker and argue LikeAnOldMarriedCouple, and have even fricking '''danced''' together!!! Watch these [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sr2IOdGfTM two]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5uhMn7Fw50&feature=related videos]] if you're still not convinced! Doesn't help that [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Astoria Waldorf's wife]] looks exactly like Statler...
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T17GJ7zuTWk This Muppet Labs sketch]] pretty much spelled it out for anyone who wasn't already suspecting something between Bunsen and Beaker.

** More or less relating to the franchise itself, but in the WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} community Kermit being the father of streamer Joel due to his real father having a similar voice has become memetic.

** The Newsman

* SignatureSong: "Halfway Down the Stairs" for Robin, which even became a Top 10 hit in the UK in 1977. Kermit has "Bein' Green" and "The Rainbow Connection", but they both originated outside the show (''Series/SesameStreet'' and ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', respectively).

** There is a bit where Wayne and Wanda sing. (Wayne and Wanda can be counted for a lot of these moments.) They're singing "Goody Goody," and Wayne punches Wanda in the face after singing about someone who knocks you off your feet. The curtains close as she stands up and gives him a murderous DeathGlare.

** There is a bit where Wayne and Wanda sing. (Wayne and Wanda can be counted for a lot of thesemoments.) They're singing "Goody Goody," and Wayne punches Wanda in the face after singing about someone who knocks you off your feet. The curtains close as she stands up and gives him a murderous DeathGlare.
** "You Are Always Welcome At Our House" boasts this attitude when Marisa Berenson dresses as a little girl and romps around a house set. She explains how she and her family treated guests coming for various reasons by inviting them inside, knocking them out, and tying them up in various rooms all around the home. This should be NightmareFuel and you can hear the audience giving nervous laughter, but then the kidnapped victims sing along while tied up! Then it goes straight back to ridiculous, especially when viewers realize Creator/ShelSilverstein wrote the song. 

* ToughActToFollow: This show was so well-made and so beloved that future attempts at a regular Muppet variety series (''Series/TheJimHensonHour'', ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', ''Series/TheMuppets'') were all short-lived, with a strong TheyChangedItNowItSucks reaction from the public (and mixed reaction from diehard Muppet fans). ScrewedByTheNetwork and Henson's AuthorExistenceFailure (for the last two) were also factors.

** Kermit's nephew Robin isn't universally hated by any means, but some Muppet fans can be a little bit testy when he shows up. That being said, he's still more well-liked and tolerable overall than, say, Bean Bunny.

** Pepe the King Prawn: A small, energetic, four-armed crustacean with a heavy Spanish accent. What's not to love about this guy?

** Pepe the King Prawn: A small, four-armed crustacean with a heavy Spanish accent. What's not to love about this guy?

** Kermit's nephew Robin isn't universally hated by any means, but some Muppet fans can be a little bit testy when he shows up. That being said, he's still more well-liked overall than Bean Bunny or Pepe from later productions.

** The season 2 episode with Rich Little features the "Glow-worm" sketch, which was performed on several variety shows with Kermit[[note]](see NightmareFuel/TheMuppetShow for more information)[[/note]], only with Lenny the Lizard replacing him. Several episodes later, in the one hosted by Creator/SteveMartin, Lenny tries to replace Kermit again, this time by auditioning to be the new host of the show.

* ValuesDissonance: Due to the show being nearly half a century old, the digital release prefaces eighteen episodes with a disclaimer warning viewers of outdated material that can be considered offensive. Gags involving ethnic stereotypes and sexist cracks (mostly aimed at Piggy), as well as a few other questionable things (like the numerous Confederate flags seen in the Johnny Cash episode) can be found throughout the show's run. Thankfully, these aberrations are rare enough on the show that no episode or segment was deemed necessary to be cut (the Chris Langham episode was withheld due to unspeakably horrifying things he did ''outside'' of the show). Given its age, the show's jokes have held up admirably well for the most part; viewers should just be prepared for the occasional unpleasant gag.

* FirstInstallmentWins: While it's technically not the first non-Series/SesameStreet Muppet TV show (That would be ''Series/SamAndFriends'' two decades prior), it is the first one to feature the current Muppet group we know and love now and it's undeniably the most beloved and successful out of the bunch, with later TV shows such as ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' and ''Series/TheMuppets'' being less successful and having a more divisive reception.

* FirstInstallmentWins: While it's technically not the first non-Series/SesameStreet Muppet TV show (That would be ''Series/SamAndFriends'' two decades prior), it is the first one to feature the current Muppet group we know now and it's undeniably the most beloved and successful out of the bunch, with later TV shows such as ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' and ''Series/TheMuppets2015'' being less successful and having a more divisive reception.

* InformedRealLifeFame: Had this to an extent--especially in the first season, when no one knew how big it was going to be, and the special guests were mostly doing Lew Grade a favour. So there were several British celebs that American audiences had never heard of, but Kermit would still try and convince everyone that Creator/BruceForsyth was an international megastar (the most he got internationally was the Creator/{{ABC}} game show ''Series/HotStreak'', a 13-week flop in 1986). (This went both ways throughout its run, as not all the American guests were familiar to British audiences.) That said...it actually does fit Kermit's character, and the fact that it's supposed to be a D-list variety show...

** As noted in the TearJerker page, the Creator/LolaFalana episode sees Gonzo leave the Muppets to become a Bollywood movie star, with his big exit song being "My Way". This could be the forerunner to two events involving both Gonzo and his performer, Dave Goelz: the 1999 film ''Film/MuppetsFromSpace'' sees Gonzo nearly leave the Muppets to reunite with his family, while in the current day, in a cruel twist of irony, with Henson, Hunt and Nelson dead, Oz semi-retired and Whitmire fired, Goelz is the only original Muppet performer who remains active, with all of his closest friends having left him instead of Gonzo leaving his friends.

** Similarly, the cast's rendition of "[[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} When You Wish Upon a Star]]" as the finale of the ''Star Wars'' episode. Besides the obvious, Disney now owns the Muppets, Creator/LucasFilm, AND Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios! It's also oddly reminiscent of Disney's newest VanityPlate, which was displayed at the beginning of [[Film/TheMuppets the 2011 film]], and ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted''.

** Glenda Jackson: Everyone but Kermit inexplicably starts acting like pirates one by one, until even the theater sets sail.

*** In a similar, but more ironic example, the two following episodes had Creator/LyndaCarter and Creator/ChristopherReeve playing [[their Franchise/WonderWoman]] [[Franchise/{{Superman}} respective]] Creator/DCComics characters. In 2009, Disney bought DC's biggest competitor, Creator/MarvelComics.

** As noted in the TearJerker page, the Creator/LolaFalana episode sees Gonzo leave the Muppets to become a Bollywood movie star, with his big exit song being "My Way". This could be the forerunner to two events involving both Gonzo and his performer, Dave Goelz: the 1999 film ''Film/MuppetsFromSpace'' sees Gonzo nearly leave the Muppets to reunite with his family, while in the current day, in a cruel twist of irony, with Henson, Hunt and Nelson dead, Oz semi-retired and Whitmire fired, Goelz is the only Muppet performer who remains active, with all of his closest friends having left him instead of Gonzo leaving his friends.

** While Kermit and the rest of Jim Henson's non-''Series/SesameStreet'' Muppets were successful early on, it was this show that would completely solidify Kermit and the Muppets into the characters they are now and launch them into becoming the internationally beloved household names they are now.

* GrowingTheBeard: The first season is a little slow, as mentioned on the main page under EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. But the pacing and a lot of hallmarks of the show came about in the later seasons. [[ChewToy Beaker]], for example, didn't appear until season 2, so not only did Muppet Labs have a duller looking set, lack its introductory jingle, but it was ''Bunsen'' on the receiving end of all his inventions going wrong. It was also in the second season when Rudolf Nureyev made his appearance on the show, which changed the producers' job of finding willing guest stars into picking and choosing guest stars. Season 2 is also when Frank Oz and Dave Goelz really start getting a handle on Piggy, Fozzie and Gonzo, cementing them as the most important and popular Muppets after Kermit.