bad variety shows from the 70's

[leach]

I may be one of the very few who remembers watching the Star Wars Holiday Christmas special with Bea Arthur from Maude back in 1977. I have to admit I don't remember a whole lot of the show itself other than my parents saying "what in the hell is this?". Anybody else remember this?

There was another science fiction I remember where William Shatner was doing a very bad cover of Elton John's Rocket Man. Now today I think its a safe bet to say that Shatner himself would laugh at his old "music", but when this show aired ( I think it was around 1976 or 1977 ), he was serious about his singing.

Didn't Dustin Hoffman and Bette Midler do a special together where they both sang? Now I know Bette is a fine singer but Hoffman? I seem to remember this one.

My wife remembers watching a special about the then-new movie "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" with The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. She says the special was done by RSO records I don't remember the special itself but I do remember the movie. Come to think of it didn't the movie actually destroyed RSO records. RSO was big in 1978 but by 1980 I believe they were a thing of the past.

I know the movie was bad but what was the Beatles reaction to this? I don't remember hearing anything said by Lennon, McCartney, Starr, or Harrison their reactions to the 70's Sgt. Pepper.

any other examples of Bad 70's variety shows?

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

How about "The Sonny Comedy Revue" (ABC, Sunday nights 8-9 P.M. ET/PT, September 22nd through December 29th, 1974)??

After divorcing his wife Cher, with whom he co-hosted a very popular variety show from 1971 until Spring 1974, Sonny Bono atempted his own comedy/variety show.

Although some of the producers, writers and cast had worked with Sonny on the "Sonny and Cher" show, "The Sonny Comedy Revue" was one of the biggest flops of the 1974/1975 TV season, both in terms of critical reviews and ratings.

BTW, Cher began her own solo variety show on CBS in February of 1975, which was moderately successful. Production of "Cher" abruptly ended in December of 1975 when she and Sonny agreed to resume their professional partnership, resulting in the return of "The Sonny and Cher Show" in February of 1976. But the revived version was not as successful as the original, and left the air in 1977.

A few other "notorious" variety shows of the 1970's:

* "Mary"/"The Mary Tyler Moore Hour" (CBS, 1978/1979): One of the true greats of television history, Moore decided to helm a weekly variety show in the Fall of 1978. The ratings were so low that it was pulled after three weeks. Later in the season, the show returned in a different format: a "show within a show" (in which Moore and her castmates were playing the cast of a fictitious TV series). While the "show within a show" format worked well for some other stars, it didn't for Moore. This version lasted a little longer----thirteen weeks.

* "The Redd Foxx Show" (ABC, 1977/1978): Veteran comedian/actor Redd Foxx was lured away from his most famous role, that of junk dealer Fred Sanford on NBC's "Sanford and Son", with a lot of money and the promise to host his own variety show. Redd Foxx wasn't the problem; the material and guest stars (many longtime friends of his who some critics ripped apart for lack of talent) apparently were. The show was gone by late January of 1978.

* "Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell" (ABC, 1975/1976): Perhaps the ultimate example of a bad TV variety show, regardless of decade. On paper, it should have worked: A well-known host and performances (music or comedy) by top-name stars, and broadcast live for added excitement. After a high-rated premiere, viewers stayed away in droves.

And perhaps the high (or low) point of the show came a few weeks before it left the air: Cosell and Barbara Walters (who at the time was rumored to be leaving NBC to join ABC; a deal that indeed became official some weeks later) sang a duet of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better".

Some will remember the Bay City Rollers' American TV debut on the premiere broadcast of this ill-fated series; hyped by Cosell as being "the biggest rock-and-roll group since the Beatles", the Rollers turned out to be nothing more than a very ordinary Scottish bubblegum band. The Rollers had some success on both sides of the Atlantic during the second half of the 1970's but they didn't enjoy long-term success as recording artists.

 

[ClearThinker]

The Shatner cover of "Rocket Man" came during a broadcast of some sci-fi awards show or a Trekkie convention, and I think it goes back to 1972, 74 maybe.

Didn't the Starland Vocal band have a show? Might have been just a one shot special but I understand they parlayed a Grammy into some Tv time

 

[MCarney]

> Didn't the Starland Vocal band have a show? Might have been
> just a one shot special but I understand they parlayed a
> Grammy into some Tv time
>
IIRC it was a summer replacement series.

How could anyone not mention the "Brady Bunch Variety Hour"! The Jacksons also had one on CBS over two summers.

 

[EnbyCee]

> > Didn't the Starland Vocal band have a show? Might have
> been
> > just a one shot special but I understand they parlayed a
> > Grammy into some Tv time
> >
> IIRC it was a summer replacement series.

And one of its writers was one David Letterman. He probably would sooner forget.

Is there really a good answer to "what's an example of a bad variety show from the 70's?" besides "All of them!"? TV from that era (besides SNL with the original cast and the Cosell-Gifford-Meredith announce trio on Monday Night Football) seems almost incomprehensibly bad to someone born in 1980.

 

[Markxxx]

> > > Didn't the Starland Vocal band have a show? Might have
> > been
> > > just a one shot special but I understand they parlayed a
>
> > > Grammy into some Tv time
> > >
> > IIRC it was a summer replacement series.
>
> And one of its writers was one David Letterman. He probably
> would sooner forget.
>
> Is there really a good answer to "what's an example of a bad
> variety show from the 70's?" besides "All of them!"? TV
> from that era (besides SNL with the original cast and the
> Cosell-Gifford-Meredith announce trio on Monday Night
> Football) seems almost incomprehensibly bad to someone born
> in 1980.
>
What about the Brady Bunch Variety Hour or The Tony Orlando And Dawn Rainbow Hour

The Mary Tyler Moore Hour had a Michael Keaton and Dody Goodman on it. <P ID="signature">______________
Once I figured out the meaning of life....Then I forgot to write it down.</P>

 

[bhayes1016]

Shatner's "Rocket Man" was from a show called the Science Fiction Film Awards, I think it was in 1978. It may have been seen only in the UK.

I remember two mimes...a husband and wife team, can't remember their names..that actually had a variety show.

And of course, every bad music act in the 70s had one...Donny and Marie, The Hudson Brothers, Captain and Tennile, etc.

 

[SgtPepper9876]

> I remember two mimes...a husband and wife team, can't
> remember their names..that actually had a variety show.

That would be "Shields and Yarnell." I believe it aired on CBS during the 1977-78 season. I had totally forgotten about it until I saw it being discussed in a segment of VH1's "I Love the 70s."

 

[rugrats1]

> I may be one of the very few who remembers watching the Star
> Wars Holiday Christmas special with Bea Arthur from Maude
> back in 1977. I have to admit I don't remember a whole lot
> of the show itself other than my parents saying "what in the
> hell is this?". Anybody else remember this?
>
I thought the special was televised in 1978?

Nevertheless, the special was so bad, that George Lucas wanted everyone to forget that this special, and the events within, ever happened.

Try telling that to a Star Wars fan.

> My wife remembers watching a special about the then-new
> movie "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" with The Bee
> Gees and Peter Frampton. She says the special was done by
> RSO records I don't remember the special itself but I do
> remember the movie. Come to think of it didn't the movie
> actually destroyed RSO records. RSO was big in 1978 but by
> 1980 I believe they were a thing of the past.

As was the film's star, Peter Frampton, who was already on his way out by the time the film was actually released.

 

[rugrats1]

> And of course, every bad music act in the 70s had
> one...Donny and Marie, The Hudson Brothers, Captain and
> Tennile, etc.
>
Even some top acts got into act, like Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. (both from The 5th Dimension), The Jacksons and, of course, Sonny & Cher.

Even obscure acts who always were unknowns managed to get a national variety show on the air -- remember "The Keane Brothers Show" from the Summer of 1977 (two musical pre-teen brothers, signed up as CBS' answer to "Donny & Marie")?

 

[retrothoughts]

The "Star Wars Holiday Special" was in Nov. 1978, and a book entitled "What Were They Thinking?" listed it as the single dumbest event in TV history, "the worst 2 hours of television, ever".

This same book listed "The Brady Bunch Hour" at #11, and "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" at #30. Contrary to what the book says, the Howard Cosell show was shot live from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, along with some remote cut-in segments.

And not only were the Starland Vocal Band, of "Afternoon Delight" fame, able to parlay their one-hit success into primetime summer-replacement series stardom, so, too, were The Manhattan Transfer, a four-member New York jazz-type vocal act whose top-20 hit "Operator", back in 1975, somehow got CBS executives suckered in to making a 4-week series that was shown in August of that year. And that was in a timeslot before CBS had the sense to put in something better, like "60 Minutes".

 

[valkyrie777]

> any other examples of Bad 70's variety shows?
>

A regularly-scheduled variety show as opposed to a one-time "special" that was nauseating was Chuck Barris' "The Gong Show"...a particularly odious waste of airtime, imho.

The one "Gong" show that featured EVERY act "singing" Morris Albert's "Feelings" sends shivers up my back to this day! Yeeeccchhh!

 

[KeithE]

> I may be one of the very few who remembers watching the Star
> Wars Holiday Christmas special with Bea Arthur from Maude
> back in 1977. I have to admit I don't remember a whole lot
> of the show itself other than my parents saying "what in the
> hell is this?". Anybody else remember this?

That one I don't remember. Probably a good thing.

> There was another science fiction I remember where William
> Shatner was doing a very bad cover of Elton John's Rocket
> Man. Now today I think its a safe bet to say that Shatner
> himself would laugh at his old "music", but when this show
> aired ( I think it was around 1976 or 1977 ), he was serious
> about his singing.

Shatner made an album called "A Transformed Man" in 1969. You'd think he'd learn from that disaster but he's attempted to be a singer more than once since then.

> My wife remembers watching a special about the then-new
> movie "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" with The Bee
> Gees and Peter Frampton. She says the special was done by
> RSO records I don't remember the special itself but I do
> remember the movie. Come to think of it didn't the movie
> actually destroyed RSO records. RSO was big in 1978 but by
> 1980 I believe they were a thing of the past.

The special couldn't have been any worse than the movie. I have to admit that I actually paid money to watch that drek in the theater when it came out. One of the worst movies of all time.

> I know the movie was bad but what was the Beatles reaction
> to this? I don't remember hearing anything said by Lennon,
> McCartney, Starr, or Harrison their reactions to the 70's
> Sgt. Pepper.

They were probably too busy throwing up to officially comment about it. :-D

> any other examples of Bad 70's variety shows?

Pink Lady & Jeff (NBC, 1979) - Pink Lady was a Japanese pop duo who were unknown in the US and couldn't speak a word of English. Alleged comedian Jeff Altman was co-host. One of the worst shows of any kind of all time.

Van Dyke & Company (NBC, 1976) - Hard to believe, but Dick Van Dyke actually did a bad show. Featured a recurring skit called "The Bright Family," about the dumbest family in the world. Must have been about the NBC executive that approved this drivel.

Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell (ABC, 1975) - Hah-Wad as the Second Coming of Ed Sullivan, believe it or not. This was done at the CBS-owned Ed Sullivan Theater (which is where I think David Letterman does his show) despite the show being on ABC. Fortunately for Sullivan he had died a year earlier so he wasn't subjected to this pile of excrement.

The Sonny Comedy Revue (ABC, 1974) - This was essentially the Sonny & Cher show minus Cher (who stayed at CBS after their divorce), including most of the supporting cast and writers, moved over from CBS. Not funny in the slightest.


EDIT: Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell was, of course, live, not taped.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Keith Elster on 12/03/05 06:01 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Stitch]

>
> Pink Lady & Jeff (NBC, 1979) - Pink Lady was a Japanese pop
> duo who were unknown in the US and couldn't speak a word of
> English. Alleged comedian Jeff Altman was co-host. One of
> the worst shows of any kind of all time.

What's worse is that this one is now available on DVD, for later generations to experience how bad it was.

 

[rugrats1]

> >
> > Pink Lady & Jeff (NBC, 1979) - Pink Lady was a Japanese
> pop
> > duo who were unknown in the US and couldn't speak a word
> of
> > English. Alleged comedian Jeff Altman was co-host. One
> of
> > the worst shows of any kind of all time.
>

And probably ahead of its time as well, since Jpop wouldn't even become mildly popular in the US until the late-1990s, at the earliest.

And following Pink Lady's cancellation, it wasn't until 2004 when another Jpop group attempted to break into American TV -- Puffy AmiYumi, with their made-for-America animated series, "Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi" on Cartoon Network. To be honest, when they debuted, the first thing that came into my mind was "Pink Lady".

> What's worse is that this one is now available on DVD, for
> later generations to experience how bad it was.
>

Or for otakus to express that Jpop existed in 1980.

 

[rugrats1]

> A regularly-scheduled variety show as opposed to a one-time
> "special" that was nauseating was Chuck Barris' "The Gong
> Show"...a particularly odious waste of airtime, imho.
>
Even "Gong" had a short-lived variety show, "The Chuck Barris Rah-Rah Show" (NBC, February to April 1978), which was practically "The Gong Show" without a panel or prizes.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Enby Cee asks:

> Is there really a good answer to "what's an example of a bad
> variety show from the 70's?" besides "All of them!"?

Actually, there were a few very good variety shows during the 1970's.

"The Carol Burnett Show" (which started in 1967 and ran until 1978), "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" (which premiered in 1968 and ran until 1973) and the original 1971-74 version of "Sonny and Cher" were all very entertaining programs and were of high quality.

 

[bpatrick]

> The "Star Wars Holiday Special" was in Nov. 1978, and a book
> entitled "What Were They Thinking?" listed it as the single
> dumbest event in TV history, "the worst 2 hours of
> television, ever".
>
> This same book listed "The Brady Bunch Hour" at #11, and
> "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" at #30. Contrary
> to what the book says, the Howard Cosell show was shot live
> from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, along with some
> remote cut-in segments.
>
> And not only were the Starland Vocal Band, of "Afternoon
> Delight" fame, able to parlay their one-hit success into
> primetime summer-replacement series stardom, so, too, were
> The Manhattan Transfer, a four-member New York jazz-type
> vocal act whose top-20 hit "Operator", back in 1975, somehow
> got CBS executives suckered in to making a 4-week series
> that was shown in August of that year. And that was in a
> timeslot before CBS had the sense to put in something
> better, like "60 Minutes".
>
Someone mentioned "Van Dyke And Company." In fact, that show
won an Emmy in 1977 for Best Variety Show. It was a launching
pad for Andy Kaufman as well.

And how about "The Richard Pryor Show" (five weeks on NBC
in 1977)? Incredibly, NBC put Pryor in an 8 PM (ET) slot
(Tuesdays against "Happy Days" and "Laverne And Shirley").
Typical of the humor was Pryor's claim on the first show
that he had conceded nothing to NBC, followed by the camera's
pulling back to reveal a supposedly-nude (actually, he was
wearing a body stocking) Pryor who, we were to believe, had
been humiliated to that extent by NBC.

And "The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour" (NBC, 1978), a lame
attempt to duplicate one of the best variety shows of
the decade, "The Muppet Show." Two life-size puppets
named Honey and Sis were "hosts" of this hour of unfuniness.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Sha Na Na." Does anyone
agree they were lousy sketch comedians?

 

[ccmfan]

After all the comments below, is it any wonder that variety shows are dead???

 

[rugrats1]

> Someone mentioned "Van Dyke And Company." In fact, that show
>
> won an Emmy in 1977 for Best Variety Show. It was a
> launching
> pad for Andy Kaufman as well.
>

I thought "Saturday Night Live" on NBC was Kaufman's launching pad? He appeared several times on that show since its 1975 debut.

> And how about "The Richard Pryor Show" (five weeks on NBC
> in 1977)? Incredibly, NBC put Pryor in an 8 PM (ET) slot
> (Tuesdays against "Happy Days" and "Laverne And Shirley").
> Typical of the humor was Pryor's claim on the first show
> that he had conceded nothing to NBC, followed by the
> camera's
> pulling back to reveal a supposedly-nude (actually, he was
> wearing a body stocking) Pryor who, we were to believe, had
> been humiliated to that extent by NBC.
>

Of course, Pryor was humiliated even more, when that bit was cut off (no pun intended) before the NBC broadcast.

> I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Sha Na Na." Does anyone
> agree they were lousy sketch comedians?
>

Yet the show lasted into the 1980s. Comedians they weren't -- they weren't even pop stars (their claim to fame was Woodstock), yet people watched the show every week from 1976 into the early-1980s.