The Wickedest Witch

This is one of my earliest memories of watching something that my grandma recorded on VHS for me lol. I truly wish there was a way to watch this and share it with my daughter. I honestly never knew that Rue McClanahan was the actress that played the witch and that kinda made me love it even more growing up with my mom and watching the Golden Girls. I'm sure that I'm not the only one that would pay good money to be able to own copy of this Halloween Special from so many moons ago. From the witch, to the kid, the puppets, and the 3 tasks of game show fun this mini movie was definitely worth my grandma's efforts to make me happy for so many years.

I watched this movie for the first time when it originally ran, and I loved it. My dad taped it on one of those old Beta-Max tape decks that disappeared after like two years. Lol... But I love this movie!! Sammy the Greevil is great! I've been wanting to see it again for about six years now, but I can't find it anywhere!! I love the story line, and it's all about imagination for a kid!! I remember watching this along with "The Halloween that Almost Wasn't", "Buttons and Rusty: Which witch is Witch?" and "Halloween is Grinch Night." I really miss those old shows. It's a shame that TV stations don't show the old stuff anymore.

This was one of the most original made-for-TV and Halloween movies ever made, starring Rue McClanahan and the Muppets ... two very capable entertainment superstars. To date, I have never seen this piece re-run. And yet I've seen Frosty The Snowman as voiced by Burl Ives ... what, 10,453,619 times? This is really GREAT theater, very entertaining, with elements for both the kids and for the adults.

In this picture, Rue McClanahan's excellent "witch" lures two mundane children down to the underworld, where she rules over a kingdom / queendom, I guess, of Game Show obsessive people who get punishments for winning, losing -- they don't care, on with the Game Show, okay?

The premise may be a little bit tired, but the characterization is rich and the Muppets are always fresh and creative and wonderful, and Rue worked her little fanny off doing the best Witch she could, which was... substantial.

I loved it. I wish everybody could see it.

I watched this with my son when he was about 5 years old. We laughed and laughed. The message was was very positive and very subtle. The main characters (Sammy and the little boy) were so sweet together. If I remember correctly there is a little twist at the end when they play the game. My son is now 20. I would love to see this again. It is my understanding it only ran once, but it should be played every Halloween because it was so sweet, extremely funny and very well done. I have checked www.IMDb.com periodically to see if this movie would ever be listed and I was thrilled to find it here. If it were available on DVD or tape, I would buy it in a heart beat! Please give us an encore!