Watching old Muppet Shows and trying to identify which ones I definitely watched when I was young is an interesting process, and since it relies on my always-unreliable memory skills, it's not an exact science. But I can tell you one that I definitely didn't watch on its BBC airing - the Helen Reddy episode!
Why, I hear you ask? It goes like this. On May 29th 1987, apparently, Emu's Wide World was on TV, and although I don't remember it, my brother (with his superior autobiographical memory) does recall seeing Rod Hull singing "You and Me Against the World" to Emu.
That's rather beautiful. And I do like the way he starts singing the song to someone else operating Emu's neck and head, then reaches down and picks up the entire puppet (complete with false arm) and puppeteers Emu himself, all while continuing to sing.
But then, just two months later, on Sunday 2nd August 1987, the BBC showed Helen Reddy's Muppet Show appearance, in which she sings the same song to Kermit the Frog!
Also very beautiful, especially with Kermit gazing into Helen's eyes in rapt adoration throughout. Kermit's deep-seated need to bond with a mother-figure is a fascinating part of his character - he was so deeply touched by Julie Andrews and her "Song for Kermit", that he's obviously spent his life trying to recapture that feeling with any similar singer who comes on his show...
"You know, Helen, you did a song about, um, I don't know, a few years ago, that's one of my very favourite songs of all time."
"Really? Which one was that?"
"Well, it was called You and Me Against the World."
"Oh sure, that was a song I did with my daughter."
"Oh yeah, yeah, you did it with your daughter. Well, um, do you suppose that, um, you could... do it with a frog?"
But the point is, if we'd watched this one so soon after seeing Rod Hull do it, it would have been a memorable repetition. So it inclines me to think I didn't see the Helen Reddy episode. That's circumstantial evidence, but the clincher is the final number of the show, when Helen sings and dances with Sopwith the Camel!
This takes some explanation, but believe me, it's 100% certain we didn't watch this in 1987. If we'd watched it on a Sunday teatime, we would have watched it with our father. And Sopwith is exactly the kind of thing that would have sent him into raptures of delight! He would have been talking about it and imitating the dance for weeks or months afterwards! It's funny how I can say that with such supreme confidence, but if you'd known my dad, you'd agree. This dancing camel was absolutely his thing. And I would have remembered the experience, and I think it's rather a shame we didn't have it, back in August 1987.
I wonder what we were doing, that we didn't watch the Muppet Show at five o'clock that week. Maybe it was the week of our annual Butlin's holiday. What a shame.
