The most sensational inspirational celebrational Muppetational

So, I ordered one of the "Best Of" the Muppet Show dvds from Netflix for the kids portion of Friday movie and pizza night. I guess I was eight or nine years old when my own family used to gather round our tiny black and white television set to watch Kermit and guests every Monday night. I never really cottoned to the movies that came later, but man oh man, I loved the variety show.

I was a little apprehensive about watching it again as an adult, wondering if my bubble would burst. But I maybe enjoyed it more. When I was eight or nine, I couldn't appreciate how great the guest list was. This dvd features the Peter Sellers, John Cleese and Dudley Moore episodes. No wonder my parents watched too.

The kids did not disappoint, either. They are watching it again this morning. "Play the one with the the transporter, Mom,!" ( a Bunsen Honeydew contraption that has Beaker popping in and out of scenes, making Kermit crazy.)

The adult feature was Grey Gardens. It was fascinating for the first 30 minutes, and had me thinking about hosting a Little Edie dress party. But then it gets kind of painful, and almost callous. It would have been more compassionate to offer some kind of contextual narrative, but the Maylses are too amused by the insanity to temper it with humanity. I was sort of wishing one of the Edies would up and eat them, Grizzly Man-style.

Postscript, Saturday afternoon--okay, I found the love I was missing in Grey Gardens. It's in the audio commentary by the two female director-editors. MUCH better. They speak directly in places to some of the discomfort I was having on the first viewing. Start here, at least through the first couple of chapters, then go back and watch the film without the commentary.