We will be looking toward the holiday break by watching a rare classic, A Muppet Family Christmas. Read below to discover why this is such a special production from Jim Henson Studios, and to understand the history of this program, and why it has been so difficult to see the original special as it aired on television in 1987.
We are watching it to identify examples of concepts that we have covered so far in AP Psychology. As you enjoy the show, look for applications of terms and concepts that we have discussed, including frustration, the cerebellum, the hypothalamus, anxiety, forms of love, all 5 senses, planning and the frontal lobe, and more! Psychology is everywhere, even in The Muppets and Sesame Street!
We are watching it to identify examples of concepts that we have covered so far in AP Psychology. As you enjoy the show, look for applications of terms and concepts that we have discussed, including frustration, the cerebellum, the hypothalamus, anxiety, forms of love, all 5 senses, planning and the frontal lobe, and more! Psychology is everywhere, even in The Muppets and Sesame Street!
A Muppet Family Christmas is a TV special that premiered on December 16, 1987 on ABC.
In this one-hour Christmas special, Fozzie Bear surprises his mother Emily on Christmas Eve by bringing the entire Muppet gang to her farm to celebrate the holidays. Doc and his dog Sprocket, who had planned a quiet Christmas, end up joining the Muppets in their holiday activities and preparations.
The Sesame Street regulars, including Big Bird, Bert, Ernie and others, join the festivities, but to Kermit's dismay, the only one missing is Miss Piggy, who has been caught in a snowstorm.
ABC re-broadcast the special following year on December 2, 1988. It was then re-edited, and aired on NBC as an episode of The Magical World of Disney on December 24, 1989.
A Muppet Family Christmas has been released on video in both 1994 and 1998 and on DVD in 2001. However, every commercially available version in the United States and Canada has scenes edited out due to music rights problems. When this special originally debuted on television, the full rights to the songs were only secured for television. All video releases derive from the 1989 edit, which contains less incidental music, and puts dissolves between scenes that originally faded to and from black for commercial breaks. (NBC added their own fades when airing the special.) The 2001 DVD is a shorter cut of the 1989 edit.
In this one-hour Christmas special, Fozzie Bear surprises his mother Emily on Christmas Eve by bringing the entire Muppet gang to her farm to celebrate the holidays. Doc and his dog Sprocket, who had planned a quiet Christmas, end up joining the Muppets in their holiday activities and preparations.
The Sesame Street regulars, including Big Bird, Bert, Ernie and others, join the festivities, but to Kermit's dismay, the only one missing is Miss Piggy, who has been caught in a snowstorm.
ABC re-broadcast the special following year on December 2, 1988. It was then re-edited, and aired on NBC as an episode of The Magical World of Disney on December 24, 1989.
A Muppet Family Christmas has been released on video in both 1994 and 1998 and on DVD in 2001. However, every commercially available version in the United States and Canada has scenes edited out due to music rights problems. When this special originally debuted on television, the full rights to the songs were only secured for television. All video releases derive from the 1989 edit, which contains less incidental music, and puts dissolves between scenes that originally faded to and from black for commercial breaks. (NBC added their own fades when airing the special.) The 2001 DVD is a shorter cut of the 1989 edit.