User Reviews

What I can remember of the lyrics of the theme, as sung by David Clayton-Thomas, formerly of Blood, Sweat and Tears:

"Keepin' it together, together! Runnin' from their old life, reflecting on the past. Mom and Dad are gone, Nick and Muggsy left alone, Tine for movin' on! Keepin' it together, together!"

The show was about the two orphans living in a van or mobile home. Clytemnestra was Muggsy's best friend.

Plots I can recall: Muggsy befriends a kid (perhaps a runaway) named "Jackie", who is being chased by a Latino. The Latino turns out to be his brother, who is scolding "Jackie" for trying to pass. Jackie's actual name is Joaquin. Eventually, Joaquin embraces his ethnicity.

Clytemnestra and Muggsy write an story about a young prodigious author and broadcast it on a radio station, but it turns out that they didn't research it thoroughly. A local reporter upbraids them by saying that "it's not good to report without checking your facts. In fact, it's kinda dumb". He eventually apologizes for the bluntness of his statement, but it turns out that the author did indeed plagiarize a part of a book and Clytemnestra retracts the story on-air.

There was a story about a Country and Western singing duo that fought a lot. One of their songs was "The State of Our Union".

For a twelve year-old that was looking for something "serious" to watch, I rather liked this show. No other show I know of was tackling issues such as assimilation and journalistic integrity.

Mom and Dad are gone, Nick and Muggsy all alone, Keepin' It Together, Yea! I tried looking this show up on here once, but must have spelled the name Muggsey, so I didn't find it.

Now I was looking up Ben Masters to see how many times he appeared on Murder She Wrote and, lo and behold, there he is as appearing on "Muggsy" as brother Nick.

No one else has reviewed this show.

It might seem dated now, but I think it would also be richly mid-1970s, filmed right on the streets, no studio sets.

I remember one episode that was about a little old man who may or may not have been a leprechaun.

But the show did deal with other issues of the day.

I distinctly remember the school vandalism episode.

The leader was in the classroom with all the other hoods and he said, as tho he were talking to the principal, that the principal was going to sit in his chair (the kid sprayed the chair with the aerasol can as he did so) and WRITE YOUR NAME! D! U! M! M! Y! He sprayed it on the chalkboard.

Just didn't know Ben Masters was Nick. He had a head full of hair, it seems I recall.

Again, I can only imagine it must be fun to see now. It aired on Sunday mornings, like a Saturday morning offering, but I get the impression it just wasn't picked up as a primetime show, like Saved By The Bell, which now has its strange cult following.

Nobody remembers Muggsy.

I do.

I didn't remember the name of this show, which I watched as a child, until I came across it recently on a site for 70's live action Saturday-morning shows. I remember "Muggsy" to be a generally decent show with likable characters. But it had one traumatic scene I remember very vividly, that IMO wasn't appropriate for Saturday morning.

As a previous user noted, this was a 'serious' Saturday morning show for somewhat older viewers. But some of us under 10 were watching. There was an episode where someone's mother--maybe Clytemnestra's mother? (Obviously not Nick and Muggsy's mom) gets hit and killed by a car. The mother had red or brown hair, pulled in a bun like the headmistress on "The Facts of Life."

They actually portrayed the death. They showed the woman crossing the street carrying bags of groceries and a car hits her in the crosswalk. There was a very convincing out-the-windshield view of the woman screaming as she's hit, the bags of groceries flying. Then they show her laying dead on the pavement, with groceries scattered all over.

That scene traumatized me terribly. For months I lived in cold fear that my mom would die whenever she left the house. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying shows shouldn't deal with hard realities of life. And again, Muggsy and Nick were likable, sympathetic characters, and the show was decent. I think estimating 5 out of 10 stars is fair based upon that much memory. But the death of a character was kind of a rough thing to be actually *showing* in live-action on Saturday morning.

At some point later in the episode, the daughter of the dead woman wants to see the body, but the morgue won't let her in until Nick comes and offers to accompany her. Presumably the idea was that a child deserves to have closure to such a tragedy like anyone else, and shouldn't be denied it. Nick helps her just like he and Muggsy help each other. Which are good points that go with the show's storyline of showing young people dealing with tough aspects of life.