The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (1975 TV Special) User Reviews (5)

The Muppets' Secret Origin

[tharrx · 9/10 · 22 September 2005]

I caught this when it first aired (I think) in the summer of 1975. Viewers today seem to look at this pilot as a misfire, with its odd set pieces and the low-key Nigel as host. (Nigel would later be the conductor on "The Muppet Show.") Me, I loved it and I still do. It used "Airplane" style humor years before "Airplane". Keep your eye on the clocks in the backstage office and see what I mean. Anticipating another gimmick popular today, it rewards viewers who sit through the credits with a surprise or two. And it was deliberately aimed at adults, with a bizarre "Seven Deadly Sins" pageant.

Henson and company would learn from this show. The really weird sketches would remain, but almost always as musical numbers, and the show would be tied together as a revue hosted by the more versatile Kermit.

But I'll always cherish the incredible 1/2 hour of joyful senselessness this show represented. Aside from some holiday and fairy tale themed TV specials, the Muppets had never had a full production like this, and this time their were no rules. So we got rubber-limbed wrestlers, birds squawking pickup lines, Mount Rushmore spouting knock-knock jokes, and so on. Heck, some of the characters, like the Swedish Chef and the complaining Stadler and Waldorf, would turn out to be pretty popular.

Such a great show!

[TOMNEL · 10/10 · 28 November 2005]

stars: Jerry Nelson as Floyd Pepper and various sins.

Jim Henson as Nigel, Dr.Teeth, Swedish chef, Waldorf, Rowlf and Kermit.

Frank Oz as Sam the Eagle, George the janitor, Animal and others.

Richard Hunt as Statler, The Wrestler, Greed, Abraham Lincoln and other

Fran Brill as Janice and various sins.

Dave Goelz as Zoot, wrestler 2 and various sins.

This is obviously a pilot to the show, but also very different than the show. We've got Nigel the band conductor backstage before an Electric Mayhem concert. Sam the eagle is there with him, and they end up playing chess. Meanwhile the Electric Mayhem has a concert. The sub-plot stories are Swedish chef, talking Mount Rushmore, Statler and Waldorf at home, two wrestlers that end up tied up and the Muppet Show's At the Dance segment. Meanwhile, Nigel, Sam and Electric Mayhem's Floyd introduce the deadly sins. Very entertaining and great! You can find this show as a special feature on Muppet Show season one.

TVPG A plus.

The second of two pilots

[wermuth601 · 10/10 · 18 October 2005]

Before there was The Muppet Show, there were two pilots. The first one was The Muppet Valentine Show, from 1974. The second of these pilots was this pilot, The Muppet Show: Sex And Violence, from 1975. In some ways this is closer to how The Muppet Show would turn out than the first pilot, but it is also different, with the earlier pilot having some things that were closer to the show.

In this pilot, the main cast includes Nigel, Sam The eagle, and Sgt. Floyd Pepper, who spend their time in a conference room playing games and preparing for the Seven Deadley Sins Pageant for the end of the show. Floyd was the bass guitar player for Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, who makes it's debut in this special. Nigel was the main character, but after this he was demoted to being the conductor of The Muppet Show orchestra.

Some of the highlights include: a variety of At The Dance segments, which occasionally include a few references to previous Henson productions; a series of segments with the heads of Mt. Rushmore telling jokes; A sketch with two small monsters and two small bird-like creatures; a series of skits that take place at a wrestling match; and a review of an all-new movie, Return To Beneath The Planet of The Pigs (featuring the first appearance of Miss Piggy, who has a different voice, different eyes, and isn't even named yet).

Oddly enough, the majority of characters created for this special (Nigel, Sam, Dr. Teeth, Floyd, Animal, Janice, Zoot, Dr. Nauga, Statler and Waldorf, a Muppet version of Gene Shalit, the seven deadley sins, and The Swedish Chef) were major characters in this, but most characters who were created previously (Kermit, Rowlf, Crazy Harry, Bert, Brewsters, and others) are more minor, with many of them only having one line and only appearing in At The Dance or the wrestling match.

It is also weird because, unlike The Muppet Valentine Show and The Muppet Show, this special doesn't have any guest stars. The ending credit sequence is interesting because we actually get to see the performers performing their characters.

An ok pilot

[mitsubishizero · 6/10 · 2 October 2020]

While not as great as the show it helped launch, it did show a glimpse of what was to come and for that, I have it to thank. The pilot is basically a muppet show episode, Albert slower paced and with more hit or miss jokes and skits. Funny to think how Kermit wasn't the original host. If you want to see the muppets history and how they got their show, I'd point you to this.

Muppets far from peak yet

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 5 January 2017]

"The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence" is a 25-minute short film from 1975 (also a special feature on the Season 1 DVD), so this one is already over 40 years old and one of the earliest Muppets showings. In this little movie directed by Dave Wilson and written by Jim Henson and others, they give us their take on the seven deadly sins. We see some known Muppets characters, but also new ones, for example the actual Sins in flash (or I should maybe say fur). Muppets fans will possibly love it, but I have never been too big on Kermit, Miss Piggy (especially her) and the gang, so I did not find it too entertaining. There is a funny moment here and there, like the vegetable who is in the wrong room at one point, but these are way too rare for my taste. Voice acting is not too bad, even if it always walks the fine line between being entertaining and being just random mumbling. When this was made, the Muppets still had a while until they were at their very best I guess and I personally am glad this one does not even run for an hour because it just wasn't memorable at all. The title sounds way more interesting than the product here, that much is safe. I could say that it's still a good watch for your children because it is not controversial at all, but I suggest you let your children watch something with better quality actually. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.