Along with all 24 episodes from the first season of "The Muppet Show" you also get a decent serving of special features, most of which are in the way of pop up trivia tracks on all 24 episodes.
For those of you unfamiliar with just what exactly "The Muppet Show" is, this is a variety show that first aired in January 1976 led by a troupe of Muppets (Jim Henson's puppet characters) and leading the way is Kermit the Frog, a fuzzy green amphibian voiced by none other than Henson, the creator of the whole shebang. Anyway, Kermit does his best to keep the show from falling apart, by managing the guest stars (we'll get to them in a minute) and the raucous group of Muppets that make up the cast ranging from stand-up comedian Fozzie the Bear, Miss Piggy, Scooter, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Gonzo, the Swedish Chef and so many more. The show has tons of music, several skits and backstage antics, not to mention the geriatric heckling duo from the balcony Statler and Waldorf.
Going back to the guest stars I mentioned there are a ton of names here including Ruth Buzzi, Rita Moreno, Florence Henderson, Peter Ustinov, Candice Bergen and Vincent Price (my personal favorite from this season). However, the best guests are yet to come as the second season really bumps up the name dropping with stars such as Don Knotts, Steve Martin, George Burns, Elton John, Peter Sellers, Bob Hope and John Cleese... I cannot wait to preview that season.
As for the rest of the DVD you do get four main features and one of them is a trivia track feature that can be found on each and every episode called "Muppet Morsels." Personally, trivia tracks give me a headache and these are migraine inducing as they contain a bunch of silly animations and then a tiny tidbit on the Muppets or the show you are watching. While the information is interesting at times it just doesn't do much for me.
Next is a short gag reel, which can hardly be called that as it seems more like a deleted scenes section than anything else, and the stuff here just isn't too funny. The interesting pieces are the final two, which are the original pilot episode and Jim Henson's original pitch reel, which he created to sell the show to the studio execs... now this is a cool little piece of history.
As for the pilot you are also going to see one direction the show might have gone, which is far different in structure than what ultimately became "The Muppet Show", but not too much different in material. Instead of Kermit hosting the show you are introduced to a character named Nigel who guides the audience through the show and Sam, the uptight eagle, is actually the brains behind the whole operation making sure things run smoothly. Instead of joke telling houses the show used the talking heads of Mt. Rushmore to deliver the comedy, Gonzo and Fozzie are not around and a casting contest with the Seven Deadly Sins is the theme of the show. It is all quite interesting, especially considering it is the same as most pilots in which the actual show is far from its original concept.
Overall, I would say this DVD is a collector's dream as it takes us back quite a ways in time, but the seasons to come have a lot more to offer as the guest stars improve making for a much more enjoyable feature, especially once Beaker enters the show along with the skit "Pigs in Space." Trust me, there is a lot more to come that isn't even found in this first season.