There may be no greater touchstone among the childhood entertainments of Generation X than The Muppet Show, which introduced a whole new crop of kiddies to the comedic possibilities of vaudeville and “variety” while celebrating a gang of wildly different creatures who didn’t merely work together but created their own unique family dynamic. Our parents had Carol Burnett and Sonny & Cher — we had the Swedish chef, Gonzo the Great, and the snide asides of Waldorf and Statler. I don’t think it’s too great an overstatement to say that this one gloriously silly, deeply profound show had a greater affect on the group character of Generation X than any other single influence. Not all the characters had yet been fully realized when the series debuted in 1976 — Miss Piggy, in particular, feels rather unformed — but the self-