The first season of The Muppet Show is wildly different from all later seasons.
Pilots
- The Muppet Valentine Show and Sex and Violence were hosted by now-obscure Muppets (Wally and Nigel respectively, the latter becoming the orchestra's conductor in the series proper) instead of Kermit.
- The Muppet Valentine Show takes place in a more domestic setting, many of the more familiar characters The Muppet Show hadn't been created yet, and Crazy Harry is named Crazy Donald after his inspiration, Don Sahlin; bizarrely, he would retain this name in the German dub for the first two seasons of the series. Like in season one of the series, he is performed by John Lovelady instead of Jerry Nelson.
- Sex and Violence is even more different:
- Kermit only makes a cameo in the At the Dance sequence and the Wrestling Match.
- This special sets its host segments in a conference room instead of a vaudeville theater, with the segments taking place in different settings instead of the stage.
- The format is different, jumping across various segments instead of host and backstage segments bridging them together.
- Statler and Waldorf aren't hecklers on a balcony, but rather two elderly gentlemen seated in a lounge, with Statler on the left and Waldorf on the right, rather than the other way around; they're also significantly less energetic than in the series.
- The Swedish Chef's segment is named Järnvägskorsning (Swedish for "railway crossing"). This name was abandoned due to being too difficult to remember or pronounce.
- Miss Piggy has a more generic design, with beady eyes and hooves.
- This special (along with some of Henson's other projects at the time) used many of the same crew from Sesame Street, including Jon Stone, Joe Raposo, Norman Stiles, Fran Brill, and Dick Maitland. It was also filmed at Metrotape East in New York instead of ATV Elstree Studios in the UK.
- Gonzo is a background Muppet.
- Dr. Julius Strangepork, who would later become the Swinetrek's scientist in the Pigs in Space sketches, is known as Dr. Nauga here, and he's among the medical doctors seen in the Return to Beneath the Planet of the Pigs sketch.
- Some of the characters have different performers: Miss Piggy and Janice are performed by Fran Brill (Frank Oz and Eren Ozker would fill those roles in the series, with Richard Hunt taking the latter role in 1977), Richard Hunt performs Crazy Harry (John Lovelady would perform the character in the first season, and Jerry Nelson would take over in Season 2), and Statler is performed by Jerry Nelson (whose limited availability in the first season resulted in Hunt taking his role; Nelson retook the role after Hunt died in 1992).
- Like in the first season, Janice didn't have her Valley Girl persona yet.
- This version primarily focuses on the Muppets and does not have a human guest star, like The Muppet Valentine Special did a year earlier with Mia Farrow.
- At the end, the camera pulls back to show the Muppeteers running around.
Series
- The show's first season had a different (and far less epic) opening from the other seasons and a less detailed title card. The famous arch motif was absent, with the characters in front of a red curtain and later singing the final verse on risers in front of a silver rain curtain. During the intro, Fozzie would tell a different joke every episode, followed by Kermit singing a verse introducing the guest star. Statler and Waldorf don't appear, and no full-body Muppets are used. Gonzo's part involved him trying to bang the "O" in the show's logo at the end instead of him trying to play a trumpet.
- Also, in the earliest episodes, after Kermit introduces the guest star before the final verse, they were shown with Muppets from one of their upcoming sketches. Starting in the Jim Nabors episode, it was changed to the guest star being surrounded by Muppets (with some exceptions).
- In the Joel Grey episode, some previews of Grey's songs are shown in the theme song, followed by a line of Kermit singing, "Our show tonight will feature / Some stuff that looks like this..." followed by a preview of "Comedy Tonight". This is the only time this happens.
- There were fewer celebrity interactions with the Muppets, and the first two guests were given their own Muppets in their likeness (eliminated in part because of the cost).
- Originally, only Kermit and the guest star (as well as their Muppet likeness in earlier episodes) were on stage at the end. Soon, they would be joined by other Muppets.
- The show was also more gag-centric in the first season, due in large part to Jack Burns being the show's head writer in that season. In the second season, when Jerry Juhl replaced Burns as the show's head writer, the series started to become more character-based.
- One character that needed a lot of development then was Fozzie; he was played as a bad comedian who is rather obnoxious and is treated rather cruelly in the early stories. However, the seeds of what would make him a great character in later seasons showed in the Harvey Korman episode with the "Good Grief, the Comedian's a Bear
" sketch when he struggles to set up a joke with Kermit and is both hilarious and charming with his innocent goofs and his determination to make it work.- Fozzie's voice was considerably lower and more gravelly in the pilots, and his puppet was a slightly different model with mechanisms that would lower his cheeks to make him frown. When the pilots were reworked and one of Fozzie's sketches still had his old voice in it, they added a Hand Wave to one of the backstage scenes - since the sketch was a Western parody, the lower voice was Fozzie's poor attempt at a John Wayne impression.
- Miss Piggy looked very different in the first season, and was alternately played by both Frank Oz and Richard Hunt, the latter usually portraying her when the former had to play a more prominent character like Fozzie or George the Janitor. This is made even more peculiar in the first episode, in which the final sketch had Oz doing Piggy's puppetry and speaking voice, and Hunt singing for her.
- Piggy and Janice were both occasional chorus girls. Also, the normally unhinged Animal and Crazy Harry sometimes sang in the chorus, as not enough suitable Muppets had been built at that point.
- Several Muppets weren't introduced until later seasons, such as Rizzo, Lew Zealand, and Link Hogthrob.
- The first season is the only season without cold opens involving the guest star.
- Gonzo originally was a rather pathetic, Literal-Minded nebbish who had a crush on Piggy. He soon gained a whole lot of confidence and a girlfriend in Camilla the chicken. This was reflected in his first-season puppet, which was recycled from a TV special, was a bit ratty-looking, and had a permanent frown on his face. It was rebuilt for the second season by Dave Goelz, and his base appearance was in place.
- Eren Ozker and John Lovelady were performers in the first season. Ozker left after that, while Lovelady scaled back his involvement to building puppets in the second season before he himself left.
- Crazy Harry was part of the Muppet Orchestra in the first season, playing a triangle. He was still seen in the orchestra during the closing credits in Season 2.
- Muppet Labs was originally solely hosted by Bunsen. His inventions would usually backfire on himself, and he had a much more frustrated personality. Once the segments became more frequent in Season 2, Bunsen gained both a cheerier, more absent-minded personality, and a loyal, yet long-suffering assistant, Beaker, who quickly became the segment's new guinea pig for testing inventions.
- Zoot spoke more often in the first season and was the one dating Janice in the "At the Dance" sketches. Season 2 established Floyd as Janice's boyfriend, while Zoot became The Quiet One in the Electric Mayhem. He also didn't wear his hat all the time in the first season.
- The pilots had Statler and Waldorf speaking slower like in Sex and Violence, which is easily noticeable in the aired versions when they still have their slower delivery in some of their scenes. As the series progressed, both became far more boisterous.
- Janice and Crazy Harry were performed by Eren Ozker and John Lovelady in the first season. After their departure, they were darrin'ed by Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson, respectively. Janice also lacked her Valley Girl speech, which was introduced once Hunt took over.
- In the first season, the Newsman would report on a bizarre story or interview a guest star playing a role related to said story. It wasn't until season two that the formula changed to the Newsman being comically hit by something related to the story he had just reported on. Also, he didn't wear glasses in Season 1.
- Kermit wore a purple tuxedo more regularly on stage in the earliest episodes.
- At the Dance was a more frequent segment in that season as well. It was phased out over time after the writers were running out of ideas for gags.
- Dr. Julius Strangepork was a generic pig in the first season. Starting in Season 2, he was given a name and became prominent in the Pigs in Space segments.
- Season 1 also had quite a few segments that never appeared in later seasons, chief among them the Talking Houses, Panel Discussions and Wayne and Wanda.
- Stock reaction shots of the audience in the first two seasons used a much simpler set (consisting of a black background and spotlights) and staging, as well as some static Muppets like Mahna Mahna and Sam the Eagle. During the second season, more elaborate setpieces started being used, and from the third season on, audience shots consisted of a full view of the auditorium from the stage, with Statler and Waldorf's balcony and the Muppet Orchestra pit visibly seen.
