Rita Moreno
Us too!
Perfect guest Rita Moreno is perfect on an episode that has us mostly gushing over this collection of highly memorable sketches and firsts, including Veterinarian’s Hospital, Marvin Suggs and his Muppaphone, Sweetums, and of course Animal. Along the way we’ll talk about accents, learning to read, the many voices of Miss Piggy, pseudonymous songwriters, and if it’s possible for the Talk Spot to ever not be creepy in 2021.
Living legend Rita Moreno won the Emmy in her EGOT with this, the first episode of The Muppet Show to air in the US, on September 16, 1976. This was also season premiere week for all of the networks, and (football aside) this looks like an amazing night of television!
We’ve been getting these old ads and TV listings from the New York Times’ TimesMachine (har har), which if you’re of a certain nerd vintage may pleasantly remind you of using microfiche in the school library.
In the NYC metro area if you picked up Long Island’s PBS station on Channel 25, you could watch The Electric Company at 7 and The Muppet Show at 7:30 for a full hour of Rita Moreno!
The editing (or just off-camera quick-changing) between puppet and dancer in this sketch is so much fun.
On our episode we referred to this as a tango, but it’s actually an apache, which is mostly worth noting because it’s pretty cool. “A violent ‘discussion’ between a pimp and a prostitute!” (The song is a tango.)
Our EGOT Queen
At 11:45, Rosie Perez and Animal do “Fever” at the Kennedy Center:
The Country Trio on the Perry Como Winter Show
Lady of Spain on the Lawrence Welk Show (in a weird twist, we actually recommend reading the YouTube comments on this).
Just because we’re nerds, can someone tell us what a “Vision Mixer” was? And insert your own “Wayne and WandaVision” joke here.
Exit stage left.
