JERRY LEWIS: "THIS WILL BE MY FINAL LABOR DAY APPEARANCE"

[hubcity]

You mean to stand in for one of those 15 1/2 not-so-good hours? Sounds like a good fit.

It is cancelled, though (I think.) They probably knew I wasn't watching.

 

[johnnya2k6]

and Charo's performances were painful to watch.

Remember during the 1996 telethon when Charo taught Jerry to do the Macarena (while the craze was still red-hot)? It was dull with a capital D!

 

[WPPCProductions]

Very sad for the MDA moneymaker. Wonder who will take over his throne? Tom Bergeron?

Also, how long will it take for a cure to be found? C'mon, it's been over 40 years already, pushing 45!

-crainbebo

This is sad.6 hours.Ryan Seacrest can take over.That if he has time in his over busy schedule.

 

[DToTheJ]

Maybe they should let Chelsea Handler take over the telethon. It would just bring the younger demos in.

 

[Kurt Toy]

I always looked forward to the local portions when disc jockeys from local radio stations would show up on camera, also looked forward to appearances by the McDonald's All-American High School Jazz Band.

 

[JeeperOne]

As an aside, anyone know if WGN and/or WGN America will be carrying the newly reformatted telethon broadcast?

Of if a group of stations will band together to keep it going on subchannels instead.....

Cheers

 

[onairb]

The telethon was never the same after Sammy died in 1990.That year's telethon had many 'tribute' segments(I belive Sinatra made his last telethon apperence that year, as he was already showing signs of losing it). KTVU, the longtime telethon affiliate in the Bay Area(also the Fox affiliate), started delaying telethon coverage til 11 PM in 1991, in favor of the Fox lineup(and its 10 PM newscast). Within a few years, they didn't even show the telethon on Sunday night, a trend most stations were following by the mid-90s. Since that time, it was a hodgpodge of delayed segments, with local coverage allotted far more time by KTVU than the 'Love Network' actually planned. The little bits of national coverage always seemed to include Carrot Top, or some off-off-Broadway show cast doing a number, with the closest thing to 'big names' being perennials like Norm Crosby, Maureen McGovern, or Jack Jones. And obviously, an increasing, and increasingly painful and awkward, amount of 'Jerry being Jerry'.

 

[ShawnHill1]

The telethon was never the same after Sammy died in 1990.That year's telethon had many 'tribute' segments(I belive Sinatra made his last telethon apperence that year, as he was already showing signs of losing it). KTVU, the longtime telethon affiliate in the Bay Area(also the Fox affiliate), started delaying telethon coverage til 11 PM in 1991, in favor of the Fox lineup(and its 10 PM newscast). Within a few years, they didn't even show the telethon on Sunday night, a trend most stations were following by the mid-90s. Since that time, it was a hodgpodge of delayed segments, with local coverage allotted far more time by KTVU than the 'Love Network' actually planned. The little bits of national coverage always seemed to include Carrot Top, or some off-off-Broadway show cast doing a number, with the closest thing to 'big names' being perennials like Norm Crosby, Maureen McGovern, or Jack Jones. And obviously, an increasing, and increasingly painful and awkward, amount of 'Jerry being Jerry'.

Valid points, including one I'll expand on bit...with the expansion of network programming and committments (specifically the networks putting a tighter rein on pre-emptions), as well as the quality of guest stars as you alluded to, have to be the two major factors in the decline of the Jerry Lewis Telethon. The participating stations in some markets don't even bother to promote the telethon anymore; KCAL in Los Angeles has carried the telethon since the mid-90s, but you barely (if at all) hear any promotion for it. I guessing that they take as a given that Jerry and his kids will be every Labor Day weekend, but it slips the mind (me included) quite a bit.

KCAL's lack of promotion is in contrast to when KTLA, the longtime L.A. home of the MDA telethon (for about 25 years or so), promoted the telethon both on on-air and in local TV Guide ads. In fact, KTLA (and even KCAL later on) would show a mini-marathon of Jerry Lewis movies leading-in to the telethon that afternoon. When I was in Las Vegas during Labor Day weekend last year, KTNV (the ABC affiliate there) was promoting the telethon during the top-of-the-hour station IDs virtually EVERY hour.