Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody

My favorite show as a child, Sesame Street, is 40 years old this year.  Hands down, Sesame Street was the king. No other children’s program — not even The Electric Company — could even come close. Sesame Street was that perfect combination: fun, silly, and entertaining, but also smart and hip. The measure of its brilliance is that it’s always been able to entertain both children and adults.

The Muppet Show, which followed me perfectly into early adolescence, was created by the same team that brought us Sesame Street. Immediately, I was a huge fan. I even learned how to play the entire musical repertoire of The Muppet Show on the piano. But alas, in just a couple of years into The Muppet Show‘s existence, I reached the age where children’s programs become totally uncool. I forced myself to stop watching The Muppet Show, even though it continued to secretly seduce me as my younger brother Sam continued to watch it. (To me, Sam was the eternal lover of all things uncool.)

Thus I remember the utter confusion that resulted in my tiny little conformist pre-adolescent pea-brain when I saw my favorite pop idol of the time, Debby Harry, appear on The Muppet Show, backed up by a band of muppets, singing her hit One Way or Another.

How could Debby Harry appear on a kid’s TV show, singing one of her cool songs next to a bunch of muppets? Didn’t she feel stupid? It didn’t look like she did. She looked like she enjoyed it. It looked like she thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was forced to rethink this thing about The Muppet Show being uncool.

Oh, but I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now.