Muppet Show: Season Three (2008)

Certainly, the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational shows ever to hit television. The third season of "The Muppet Show" finds the series nearing its prime.

This four-disc set includes 24 half-hour shows, with its human guest stars a faded red carpet of throwbacks. Pearl Bailey, Lynn Redgrave, Cheryl Ladd, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Raquel Welch, Danny Kaye, Sylvester Stallone, among others, take turns tussling and singing with the Muppets.

We all win.

Creator Jim Henson's mad world of foam and frizz finds its roots in vaudeville, its heart on Broadway, its head in the ether, its hat tipped to Carson. The show was reflective of the times, ahead of its time and yet steeped in the slapstick of the past. Anarchy is everywhere here and it's a release.

The show remains as fresh and as laugh-out-loud funny today as it did when it first premiered in 1976. Who knew that one of pop culture's most enduring love affairs would be between a frog and a pig?

Grade: A