It's Time To Get Things Started

The Muppet Show was a new breed of weekly variety show which featured Jim Henson's muppets interacting with live guests.

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A muppet is a cross between a marionette and a puppet.

The Muppet Show first aired in 1976, but muppet history goes back as far as 1955. "Sam and Friends" was a five-minute, live show which aired twice a night on WRC-TV, Washington, D.C. Kermit The Frog, the muppet host of The Muppet Show, made his debut on "Sam and Friends."

First season guest stars were mostly friends of Henson, but by the third season performers were lined up to make an appearance including Candice Bergen, Phyllis Diller, Vincent Price, Ethel Merman, Florence Henderson, Jim Nabors, Steve Martin, John Cleese, Dom Deluise, George Burns, Milton Berle, Don Knotts, Liberace, Alice Cooper, Harry Belafonte, John Denver, Arlo Guthrie, Johnny Cash, and Paul Simon.

The Muppet Show's success also spawned the films "The Muppet Movie" (1979), "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981), "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984), "Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992), "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996), and "Muppets From Space" (1999).

Henson had made a deal with the Walt Disney corporation in 1989 to sell his company, Jim Henson Productions. However, Henson died from pneumonia in 1990. Subsequently, the deal fell through.

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Here's A Story...

Combine two single-parents, their six combined children, a maid and a dog together in a Los Angeles suburb and call it a show.

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The Brady Bunch cleverly used the shotgun approach in reaching the broadest demographic possible.

Single-parenting was becoming a mainstream idea when The Brady Bunch first aired in 1969. Mike Brady's (Robert Reed) former wife had died, and he is left to raise 3 sons. It was intended that Carol Brady (Florence Henderson) had been divorced, but ABC wasn't comfortable with that idea at the time.

The Brady kids, three boys to Mike, three girls to Carol, gave children in the viewing audience, ranging from ages 4 to 17, someone to identify with.

Over the 5 year run of the show, the youngest Brady kids, Bobby (Mike Lookinland) and Cindy (Susan Olsen) lost much, if not all, of their cute appeal. For the final season, the producers added Oliver (Robbie Rist) as Carol's nephew in an attempt to fill that void. Except that kid was nothing but annoying.

The show even attempted to appeal to the 50+ demographic with Alice (Ann B. Davis) and her boyfriend, Sam The Butcher (Allan Melvin).

Though it never attained a Neilson rating above 25, the show produced four spin-offs, "The Brady Kids," "The Brady Bunch Hour," "The Brady Brides" and "The Bradys" and a TV movie, "A Very Brady Christmas."

Sherwood Schwartz created the show five years after he created Gilligan's Island.

Robert Reed died in 1992 of colon cancer.

Florence Henderson became almost as famous for her Wesson Oil commercials as for her role of Carol Brady. She also had five appearances on The Love Boat.

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A Tale Of A Fateful Trip

If Gilligan's Island had been "Survivor" who would have won?

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Of course, you'd have to find a way to actually get someone off the island after they've been voted off by the tribal council, something it took the castaways three years to accomplish.

While it would be easy to come up with many reasons to vote any member of the cast off of the island, in the end, the last man stranded would have to be Gilligan (Bob Denver). Not because the show is named after him, but because it was he who single-handedly foiled every attempt at being rescued, so he would certainly defeat any attempt to extricate himself.

The Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.), however, would never leave his "Little Buddy" behind. After all, when they were in the Navy, Gilligan once saved his life by pushing him out of the way of a depth charge which had broken loose.

The original song lyrics were intended to be used as the theme for "I Dream Of Jeannie," but the story of tour boat passengers being stranded on an island grew a life of its own.

In a 1999 auction, one of Gilligan's orginal, red shirts sold for $28,750.

Speaking of clothes, why did it seem that the castaways always had a wardrobe to choose from? Consider, perhaps, that the "three hour tour" was not a round trip, rather a charter to a remote Hawaiian resort, thus the passengers would have brought along a suitcase or two. Or in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Howell (Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer), twenty.

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Come Aboard, We're Expecting You

"Hello! Welcome aboard, I'm Julie McCoy and I'll be your cruise director!"

Inspired by the Jeraldine Saunders' best-selling memoir of the same title, The Love Boat was the brainchild of legendary producer Aaron Spelling.

During its 9 year run, The Love Boat was the show to appear on for anybody who was anybody or wanted to be somebody.

Among the seemingly endless list of notable personalities to make appearances on The Love Boat as passengers are Carol Channing, Ben Vereen, Ethel Merman, Gene Kelly, Vincent Price, Ginger Rogers, Billy Barty, Jamie Lee Curtis, Annette Funicello, John Ritter, Telly Savalas, Bob Crane, Richard Dawson, Bill Bixby, Scatman Crothers, Milton Berle, Tom Hanks, Don Knotts, David Hasselhoff, Tori Spelling, Minnie Pearl, Florence Henderson, Sonny Bono, Andy Warhol, Reggie Jackson and Charo.

Although The Love Boat may have made Charo famous for her "Cootchie Cootchie," in her recurring role as April Lopez, she is also considered one of the world's best classical guitarists.

Fred Grandy, who played the role of Yeoman Purser Burl "Gopher" Smith, embarked on a political voyage after the final season. He served two terms in Congress for the land-lubbing state of Iowa before losing the primaries by a 4% margin in an attempt to throw the incumbent Governor, Terry Branstad, overboard. Grandy is now president of Goodwill Industries.

UPN created and graciously cancelled "Love Boat: The Next Wave" after a few weeks.

For those who don't find enough pleasure in sea-sickness induced vomit sessions, there appears to be a loyal fan base who are scheduling fan cruises with former cast members, including Bernie Kopell (Doc), Jill Whelan (Captain Stubing's [Gavin MacLeod] Daughter) and aforementioned author, Jeraldine Saunders.

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Makin' Their Way The Only Way They Know How

Here come those pesky Duke boys, tearing up the dirt roads of Hazzard County in their bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger and tooting their trademark "Dixie" horn.

Bo and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat, John Schneider), heart-throbs of the deep south, were always getting into trouble with the "Law." In Hazzard County, the "Law" consisted of bumbling sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best) and his wide-eyed deputy, Enos Straitt (Sonny Shroyer), operating under the command of crooked County Commissioner, Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke).

Fortunately for the Dukes, they had the most souped-up car available and the driving skills to boot. Poor Rosco didn't stand a chance in his standard-issue police cruiser when going after the "General Lee." Moreover, that car could fly, literally. Nearly every episode featured the General Lee jumping some roadside ditch, creek, pond or bog.

I don't care how much "shine" you run for your Uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle), the kind of damage that sort of driving is bound to incur is going to get pretty expensive. According to Warner Bros., an average of three General Lees were destroyed in the filming of each episode.

Town mechanic "Cooter" (Ben Jones), became a congressman for the state of Georgia.

Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach), continued her affiliation with the hot-rod scene in the 1984 movie, Cannonball Run II.

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