When will we see The Muppet Show Season 4 & 5 on DVD?

[slave2moonlight]

Well I am glad that unlike the Disney afternoon stuff it has not been abandoned.

*sigh* As much as I want the Muppet Show sets, I want the rest of the Disney Afternoon shows even more (though I did grow up watching both).

[slave2moonlight]

Perhaps I'm a huge Pepe fan because I was 11 when Muppets Tonight started. I see why a lot of people don't like him and he got on my nerves during Muppets Wizard of Oz... actually, that whole film got on my nerves. But it seems that Muppets fans who are older than me hate Pepe and those my age or younger really like him. He is my third favorite, behind Beeker and the Swedish Chef.

Well, I was born in '75. I grew up watching the Muppet Show, though my memories of it were of catching it at 6 am on weekdays, before going to school, when I was like in first grade or something. I was a big fan from that, and a lifelong Muppet fan. Still, I loved Pepe... until they started exploiting his popularity. It's sort of like Elmo. Elmo was adorable before they decided to give Sesame Street to him (or at least a fair chunk of it). Pepe was really funny, but then they got greedy and stupid, making him the star of Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and Muppet Wizard of Oz. And, excuse me, but that role totally belonged to Rizzo! I mean, c'mon, a waitress's pet?!!! A rat would have been perfect. A prawn made no sense, and they knew it. I still like Pepe (I even have a plush Pepe that is not on my "soon to be on Ebay" list), but I hate how they use him.

[goofystitch]

I hear ya. He really is better as a side character with comic relief. He isn't interesting enough to carry plot and hopefully in the new film, his role will be more held back. Kermit, Fozzy, Piggy, Gonzo and sometimes Rizzo are the characters that are capable of driving a story and the rest of the gang are best in secondary roles.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

That kind of sucks that we have to wait a whole year to get another season of The Muppet Show on DVD. I think we can blame poor sales for this.

Oh, they're probably just waiting for me to get #3 first - I know I've been a bit slow there - sorry!

[Big Disney Fan]

I wonder who will be on the cover this time.

[disneyboy20022]

I wonder who will be on the cover this time.

I would think....logically Gonzo or Animal as a runner Up... for the cover Ralph as a third choice but I bet its going to be either Gonzo or Animal...

[Dottie]

My money's on Gonzo. Although I would love to see Animal on the cover.

[EarthX]

Which, btw, I'm guessing it's Gonzo's turn to be on the cover, no?

Then possibly Animal for season 5, or some sort of group shot?

I've had the same ideas for the cover art for seasons 4 and 5

It's possible though, Disney may throw a curve ball and may have Rowlf on one of those sets.

You have to figure Gonzo and Animal on the final 2 sets:

Disney has 5 highlighted characters on their Muppet website. Hard to see them not using all five in a similar manner.

[isaacv3]

I emailed this to Disney:

At the D23 Expo,
...Disney announced that the Muppet
Show Season 4 would be released on DVD in 2010, yet half the
year has gone by and there's been no official announcement or update
from Disney. What is the status of the season 4 DVD release of The Muppet Show ?

This is the response from Disney:

Isaac,

Thank you for your email regarding THE MUPPET SHOW: THE
COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON. We value your interest in Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

At this time, we do not have a DVD release date for this title.

We
will forward your request for release to our Marketing Department for
consideration.

Please visit our website at www.disneydvd.com for a list of titles
that are currently available and to check for new DVD announcements from
Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

Regards,
WDSHE Consumer
Relations

[UmbrellaFish]

I didn't even know this was announced.

But I have to wonder, what is the problem with Disney? Why can't they ever finish releasing a series? Especially after they've announced plans to release it. It is so ridiculous.

[junco76]

I am another Muppet fan that wishes Disney would release Season 4 (and 5 as well). Wonder why Disney is delaying the release.

[Luke]

"The Muppet Show" has more red tape to clear than your typical TV series, so that might explain the delay. As for other shows they've given up on, the studio clearly has a huge-profits-or-not-worth-our-time philosophy. Did they lose money on things like "Gargoyles" and "Boy Meets World"? Of course not. But the umpteenth "Little Einsteins" compilation DVD makes more from far less effort. That "The Muppet Show" is such a strong demographic-unifying seller is the only reason Disney hasn't given up on it. But, if we don't hear anything about it in the next two months, it's not coming this year.

[slave2moonlight]

I'll be so annoyed if this doesn't come out. It's the one I've been waiting for all along (Star Wars Episode!!!), though I HAVE bought all the others so far.

[HarryCanyon]

Come on Disney, don't screw with us and give us the damned final seasons on DVD already in time for the new movie.

[Avaitor]

This thread title is misleading.

[Mickeyfan1990]

They would love to release them now if they could but the problem is music rights and they have to clear everything so it takes a while. They don't want to have another fiasco like the Season 1 set. And who knows; maybe next year we'll finally see them on DVD.

What they should do since The Muppets Most Wanted is coming soon, Disney should consider releasing a Special Edition of Season 1 with all 24 episodes uncut (it shouldn't be a challenge trying to clear rights to 6 episodes) and old and new extras.

[disneyboy20022]

This thread title is misleading.

Tell me about it

[Escapay]

HarryCanyon, I've merged your topic with two previous ones discussing the unreleased seasons of "The Muppet Show" (and given them a uniform new title). In the future, please keep in mind our revised Forum Rules & Guidelines, especially rules #1 and #3:

#1: Before creating a new thread, you are encouraged and expected to first search for an existing thread on the same topic. If relevant, it may be better to add on to this existing thread than starting a new one. Duplicate threads add clutter.

#3: Choose clear and accurate titles for your threads. Avoid misleading or vague wording in the subject line. Also, avoid using ellipses in the title to create suspense.

Albert

[rexcrk]

Getting these out when The Muppets came out would've been a great way to restart releasing the show on DVD. If they don't do anything with them during the release of the newest Muppet movie, then I think we can just abandon all hope lol. There's no reason to have waited so long for these. I know they had to clear a lot of music rights obviously, but it couldn't possibly be taking so long could it?

[disneyphilip]

"The Muppet Show" has more red tape to clear than your typical TV series, so that might explain the delay. As for other shows they've given up on, the studio clearly has a huge-profits-or-not-worth-our-time philosophy. Did they lose money on things like "Gargoyles" and "Boy Meets World"? Of course not. But the umpteenth "Little Einsteins" compilation DVD makes more from far less effort. That "The Muppet Show" is such a strong demographic-unifying seller is the only reason Disney hasn't given up on it. But, if we don't hear anything about it in the next two months, it's not coming this year.

Hey, Luke. Please re-assure us all that they're still working on getting all those legal clearances so they can finally release the remaining Muppet Show seasons on DVD.

Disney clearly knows that the entire world wants the complete Muppet Show series available on DVD too and we all know that they're still committed to getting them released anyway.

And why did Muppets Studio head Lylle Brier even bother to announce Season 4's release at the 2009 D23 Expo in the first place? Where they really that optimistic that all the music copyrights and celebrity estate legal issues would be worked out before the end of 2010 (when they said it would be released)?