I'm a HUGE Muppet Show fan. Have been since I was a kid. I still remember the station identification intro they played before the show started. I had the Muppet Show record, the book, the cassette tape, toys, jackets, watches and even a candle holder. I had the Muppet Movie soundtrack on 8-track and fell asleep to it every night. For the camp talent show one year, I sang "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday". (Gonzo sang it better.) My cell phone even plays the Muppet Show theme (thanks to Darrrrrragh)! Clearly, I'm a big Muppet freak.

So when the entire first season of The Muppet Show came to DVD, I was in heaven! I've been watching it with the pop-up trivia option so I can learn useless bits of information as I watch. Like the fact that every guest star got to choose which Muppets they wanted to work with most, and Miss Piggy was the top choice! I thought that was really interesting, so I started going through the cast and wondering who I'd want to work with if I were on the show.

Of course, I love them all, from Gonzo to Scooter to the Swedish Chef to Sweetums. Even Sam the American Eagle and his protégées, Wayne & Wanda. And really obscure Muppets like Gaffer and Uncle Deadly, too.

But if I have to narrow it down, here, then, is my list of favorite Muppets:

Kermit: yes, yes, very obvious, but he's the glue that held the Muppet Show together. And no one else could get away with saying "Hi ho!" without being a coal-mining dwarf.

Sgt. Floyd Pepper: the bass player for the Electric Mayhem. Named for the Beatles album that contains "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". He's the hippest of the hip and loves making sarcastic comments about the rest of the cast. I dig that.

Rowlf the Dog: great piano player with those big brown puppy dog eyes. He can play anything from Beethoven to Billy Joel. Takes the weirdness around him in stride. Mostly.

Robin: Kermit's little nephew. He's often overlooked by the rest of the cast because he's so small -- a kindred spirit. He also likes to be blown out of tubas like a cannon ball.

Animal: drummer for the Electric Mayhem. Knows what he wants, and takes it. Doesn't get bogged down by a cumbersome vocabulary. Wrestles alligators in his spare time.

Waldorf & Statler: I consider them one entity. One big, heckling, mocking, caustic entity. I especially like that Waldorf's wife's name is Astoria.

Lew Zealand: I'm all about the boomerang fish.