# Would a 1970's style Variety show work again? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633 "2018-12-05T20:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/41 "2018-12-06T22:08:56Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Danny Kaye had a show, you would think that was a great fit, not so much. Lasted 3 or 4 years, but never a big hit and largely forgotten. I remember Danny Kaye’s show, largely for the hilarious satire of _ **Batman** _ they did not long after that show debuted: _ **Chickenman!** _ **POLICE COMMISSIONER:** We’ll call him on the Chicken Wire! (_Pulls out a copy of the Batphone, with a cover made of chickenwire._) Laughed my ass off on that one! 😛 Star host, regular supporting cast, special guest stars, comedy sketches, song and dance numbers, studio orchestra (not band) and dance company. Those are the elements of what I’d call a classic TV variety show. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/42 "2018-12-06T22:23:51Z")
Maybe it could work, but not as a weekly show. And actually, I think it could be a good idea for Netflix. If they pumped out one or two variety shows per month, maybe a different host every time, they might be able to draw in new subscribers. I’m thinking folks who enjoy that kind of stuff but don’t love the original content already on Netflix. Could be Hulu or Amazon or whatever streaming service. But it might not be the worst idea ever. As a weekly show on network TV, I think it’s a loser. As many have said, they’ve tried and they’ve not lasted. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/43 "2018-12-06T22:41:00Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Variety shows were more a thing of the '50s and '60s. I know Carol Burnett survived into the '70s, but when Mary Tyler Moore tried one of her own around the bicentennial, it failed miserably. Did you quit watching TV in the 70’s? Donny and Marie Sonny and Cher The Flip Wilson Show The Julie Andrews Show The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour The Captain and Tennelle The Hudson Brothers The Jacksons The Jim Nabors Hour Tony Orlando and Dawn ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/44 "2018-12-06T23:11:52Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Did you quit watching TV in the 70’s? > > Donny and Marie > Sonny and Cher > The Flip Wilson Show > The Julie Andrews Show > The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour > The Captain and Tennelle > The Hudson Brothers > The Jacksons > The Jim Nabors Hour > Tony Orlando and Dawn I said \*more \*a thing of the 50s and '60s, not that they were exclusive to them. Do you have the dates for these? I’m willing to bet the vast majority of them ran from the late '60s through to the early '70s (which was when I pretty much lost interest in variety shows). I know Donny and Marie were on later, because they had C-3PO and R2-D2 as guest stars, but I never watched the show. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/45 "2018-12-07T00:28:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Do you have the dates for these? I’m willing to bet the vast majority of them ran from the late '60s through to the early '70s (which was when I pretty much lost interest in variety shows). Doing more legwork than I should to answer this: Donny and Marie: 1975-1979 Sonny and Cher: 1971-1974 Flip Wilson: 1970-1974 Julie Andrews Show: 1972-1973 Glen Campbell: 1969-1972 Captain and Tennille: 1976-1977 Hudson Brothers: 1974 Jim Nabors: 1968-1971 Tony Orlando and Dawn: 1974-1976 I can’t find evidence that the Jackson 5 ever had their own variety show. Anyway, other than Campbell and Nabors, the rest were purely 1970s shows, though most didn’t last past the middle of the decade. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/46 "2018-12-07T00:30:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I remember Danny Kaye’s show, largely for the hilarious satire of _ **Batman** _ they did not long after that show debuted: _ **Chickenman!** _ > > **POLICE COMMISSIONER:** We’ll call him on the Chicken Wire! (_Pulls out a copy of the Batphone, with a cover made of chickenwire._) > > Laughed my ass off on that one! 😛 Are you sure you aren’t confusing Kaye’s show with Dick Orkin’s radio show, [Chickenman?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenman_(radio_series)) (A Batman parody, AKA The White Winged Warrior.) [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Kaye) is more Kaye: > [@](#): > > Kaye’s daughter, Dena, tells a story her father related about being in a restaurant in China and trying to order chicken. Kaye flapped his arms and clucked, giving the waiter an imitation of a chicken. The waiter nodded in understanding, bringing Kaye two eggs. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/47 "2018-12-07T00:43:17Z")
Forget bringing back variety shows. They should bring back Battle of the Networks Stars! Now that was TV Worth Watching! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/48 "2018-12-07T00:45:14Z")
in the 80s I know the mandrell sisters tried to out do hee-haw ….and even Howard Cosell tried to take out snl like twice in the 70s …… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/49 "2018-12-07T01:04:11Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > ….and even Howard Cosell tried to take out snl like twice in the 70s …… Only once, I think. Howard hosted a variety show, “[Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159205/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_81)” on ABC, which premiered a month before NBC’s “Saturday Night” did, in September 1975. The NBC show was named “Saturday Night,” rather than “Saturday Night Live,” at first, to avoid confusion with Cosell’s show. After the cancellation of Cosell’s show, “Saturday Night” eventually was renamed “Saturday Night Live.” Cosell’s show ran in prime time, rather than late-night, and its development was, as far as I can tell, completely independent of SNL (and I don’t know of any evidence that it was created to somehow compete against SNL). I watched it once or twice, and remember it being pretty bad, even to my 10-year-old eyes. The show somehow made it through 18 episodes (probably because of Cosell’s and Roone Arledge’s power at ABC), and is generally considered to be one of the most pathetically bad shows in TV history, despite the fact that Cosell was able to draw a lot of big names to the show, and several future SNL stars (Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Christopher Guest) were all regulars on it. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/50 "2018-12-07T01:57:59Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > Forget bringing back variety shows. They should bring back Battle of the Networks Stars! Now that was TV Worth Watching! 😛 It is, it is being brought back and as God is my witness, I do not know why. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/51 "2018-12-07T03:18:44Z")
Rhett and Link, apparently, want to turn Good Mythical Morning (a YouTube show) into a variety show, but their strategy for doing so didn’t work out. They were doing a 15m show with a single silly activity and they tried to set it up that they were doing three 7-10m activities in separate videos that were tightly linked together. But they didn’t do anything new, just copying all their old stuff and cutting it short, rather than introducing new stuff like guest performers or skits, so really all they accomplished was to churn through three seasons worth of material in one season, done less well. And the separate videos thing wasn’t super smooth. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/52 "2018-12-07T08:01:55Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Are you sure you aren’t confusing Kaye’s show with Dick Orkin’s radio show, [Chickenman?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenman_(radio_series)) (A Batman parody, AKA The White Winged Warrior.) [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Kaye) is more Kaye: No, I am not confusing the two. I’ve never even heard of Dick Orkin. When Kaye walked in wearing his Chickenman outfit, they had to wait for the audience to stop laughing before they could continue. \*\*\*Batman \*\*\*debuted in January 1966, so I was I was in fifth grade at the time. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/53 "2018-12-07T08:05:34Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Doing more legwork than I should to answer this: > > Donny and Marie: 1975-1979 > Sonny and Cher: 1971-1974 > Flip Wilson: 1970-1974 > Julie Andrews Show: 1972-1973 > Glen Campbell: 1969-1972 > Captain and Tennille: 1976-1977 > Hudson Brothers: 1974 > Jim Nabors: 1968-1971 > Tony Orlando and Dawn: 1974-1976 > > I can’t find evidence that the Jackson 5 ever had their own variety show. Anyway, other than Campbell and Nabors, the rest were purely 1970s shows, though most didn’t last past the middle of the decade. Right. Only two lasted beyond the Bicentennial, and then by 2–3 years. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/54 "2018-12-07T08:07:53Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Doing more legwork than I should to answer this: > > Donny and Marie: 1975-1979 > Sonny and Cher: 1971-1974 > Flip Wilson: 1970-1974 > Julie Andrews Show: 1972-1973 > Glen Campbell: 1969-1972 > Captain and Tennille: 1976-1977 > Hudson Brothers: 1974 > Jim Nabors: 1968-1971 > Tony Orlando and Dawn: 1974-1976 > > I can’t find evidence that the Jackson 5 ever had their own variety show. Anyway, other than Campbell and Nabors, the rest were purely 1970s shows, though most didn’t last past the middle of the decade. Right. Only two lasted beyond the Bicentennial, and then by just 1 and 3 years. The classical genre in the US was basically dead by then. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/55 "2018-12-07T08:18:44Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Only once, I think. Howard hosted a variety show, “[Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159205/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_81)” on ABC, which premiered a month before NBC’s “Saturday Night” did, in September 1975. The NBC show was named “Saturday Night,” rather than “Saturday Night Live,” at first, to avoid confusion with Cosell’s show. After the cancellation of Cosell’s show, “Saturday Night” eventually was renamed “Saturday Night Live.” > > Cosell’s show ran in prime time, rather than late-night, and its development was, as far as I can tell, completely independent of SNL (and I don’t know of any evidence that it was created to somehow compete against SNL). I watched it once or twice, and remember it being pretty bad, even to my 10-year-old eyes. The show somehow made it through 18 episodes (probably because of Cosell’s and Roone Arledge’s power at ABC), and is generally considered to be one of the most pathetically bad shows in TV history, despite the fact that Cosell was able to draw a lot of big names to the show, and several future SNL stars (Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Christopher Guest) were all regulars on it. I watched part of the first episode of this show and then switched it off permanently. The “Big Name Guest Stars” were the Bay City Rollers, a Scottish rock band that was being hailed in the US as “the New Beatles” and quickly vanished into oblivion. _ **SNL** _ had been under development all that summer under the direction of Lorne Michaels (NBC executives had given him a blank check, and were surprised to see how the show turned out). The similarity between the names was pure coincidence, and the two shows were completely different. Cosell’s was never intended to be anything other than prime-time vanilla; _ **SNL** _ was biting from the start, and was always intended to take over the Saturday late-night slot (which at the time was showing Johnny Carson reruns, if your local affiliate carried them at all). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/56 "2018-12-07T08:22:40Z")
**MODERATORS:** Please delete post **#53** (#54 is a better duplicate). Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/57 "2018-12-07T08:44:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I watched part of the first episode of this show and then switched it off permanently. The “Big Name Guest Stars” were the Bay City Rollers, a Scottish rock band that was being hailed in the US as “the New Beatles” and quickly vanished into oblivion. > > _ **SNL** _ had been under development all that summer under the direction of Lorne Michaels (NBC executives had given him a blank check, and were surprised to see how the show turned out). The similarity between the names was pure coincidence, and the two shows were completely different. Cosell’s was never intended to be anything other than prime-time vanilla; _ **SNL** _ was biting from the start, and was always intended to take over the Saturday late-night slot (which at the time was showing Johnny Carson reruns, if your local affiliate carried them at all). I remember watching SNL from the beginning and it was like nothing I had seen before. The highlight of the first? or second? show was Weekend Update showing a topless photo of Elizabeth Rey which Chevy Chase quickly (but not too quickly) covered up! :eek: Ahhh…my teenage hormones were revved up for every SNL episode after that! 😛 Oh…and the week where Jane Curtain (with her chubby legs - Roseanne Roseannadana) ripped open her blouse and showed her bra! Yep, variety shows today could never top that! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/58 "2018-12-07T09:25:34Z")
The first episode of _ **SNL** _ started cold with immigrant John Belushi getting an English lesson from Michael O’Donoghue: “Repeat after me: I … would like … to cut off your fingertips … and feed them to the wolverines.” The guest host was George Carlin: “How come all those dashboard Jesuses are facing inward, and not looking at the road? I guess it’s because Middle American hypocrites like to show off for Jesus.” Musical Guests were Billy Preston (“Nothin’ from Nothin’ Leaves Nothin’”) and Janis Ian (“At 17”). Garret Morris did “News for the Hearing Impaired” on Weekend Update: “OUR TOP STORY TONIGHT…” The parody commercials included the correspondence-course School of Diplomacy: “The Chinese ambassador has just made a derogatory remark about the United States. Do you (a) shoot him and create an international incident, or (b) smile and ask him to pass the sweet and sour pork? You’d be surprised how many people choose (a)!” Andy Kaufman lip-synched the Mighty Mouse theme. And so on. I watched this episode with my brother, and we were laughing our asses off the whole time! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/59 "2018-12-07T10:29:40Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Oh, I mentioned in another thread, Disney is reviving the Muppet Show for its new streaming service. So I guess we’ll see how that works out. Reviving the old Muppet Show or the new one that got canned? I liked the new one (seriously, Pepe the Prawn is hilarious) but apparently no one else did. Also: [Laurence Fishburne](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ-yzQL7214). What’s not to like about that? > [@Kenobi 65](#): > > I can’t find evidence that the Jackson 5 ever had their own variety show. [Really?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jacksons_(TV_series)) 1976-77. I remember it. It wasn’t great. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633/60 "2018-12-07T13:33:19Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > No, I am not confusing the two. I’ve never even heard of Dick Orkin. > > When Kaye walked in wearing his Chickenman outfit, they had to wait for the audience to stop laughing before they could continue. > > \*\*\*Batman \*\*\*debuted in January 1966, so I was I was in fifth grade at the time. You may be right. Further research turns up [this 1966 episode description](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056748/episodes?year=1966&ref_=tt_eps_yr_1966) of the Kaye show: > [@](#): > > Danny welcomes as his guests singers Nancy Wilson and John Gary. Series regular Harvey Korman joins Danny in a spoof of the TV series “Batman” in which Danny plays Chickenman and Harvey his sidekick Parakeet. In that case, since the [Orkin radio series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenman_(radio_series)) was nationally syndicated ca. 1966 too, I wonder who ripped off who. Or maybe great comic minds think alike; both were supposedly inspired by Batman. 1966: The Year of the Chicken [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-1970s-style-variety-show-work-again/825633.md?page=4)