The variety show was a staple of 1970's TV. For those of us old enough, remember "the Carol Burnett Show", or "The Donny & Marie Show"? How about "The Captain and Tennille Show"? I read somewhere that a show called "Pink Lady and Jeff" drove the final nail in that particular coffin (never saw it, which was evidently a good thing).

Actually, it was probably bigger in the 60s, but that's for another, future thread.  My favorites of the 70s were:  The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Carol Burnett Show.  The Tony Orlando one was okay, as was Sonny & Cher.

Carol Burnette was the master....I loved the Sonney & Cher ..Donnie & Marie... Flip Wilson... Captain & Tennile... The list goes on & on...Good Times Had by All  :) :) :)

I think the variety show was on its way out by the mid 70's.

It was still a good staple for those established stars that wouldn't of fit in with a sitcom or average hour long drama plotline and the older public still had good memories of variety shows from Ed Sullivan, Dean Martin and had good reasons/expectations to watch.

But in the end, since almost everyone and their mother, from Betty White to Richard Pryor had a variety show, the uniqueness of it was wearing through. There just wasn't enough "good" variety out there for every B-list actor like Bob Crane or Joey Heatherton  ::) to continue each week without embarrassing themselves in the process.

Like always, the cream floats to the top (and crap sinks to the bottom) so shows like "Sonny & Cher" (before they split), and Carrol Burnett came out on top with great casts, music and writers, i.e. good "variety".

By the time Donny & Marie  8-P came along (hated it with a passion even at 9 years old!) the end was near. While I'll acknowledge D&M had some success, theres no denying they were scrapping the bottom of the then empty variety show bowl by then...and the variety show was pretty much dead by 1980.

How about Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In  ;D

How about Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In  ;D


Verrrrrrrrrrry interesting... but stupid.

Funniest "WTF" moment I ever gave my parents was when I was watching You Can't Do That On Television.

Foo: (emits a side-splitting guffaw)
Mom: Foo, what are you doing watching the kids' channel?
Foo: Just give this 5 minutes, Mom.
~the YCDTOT implementation of Laugh-In's "joke wall" comes on~
Mom: (laughs harder than I was)

My folks turned me on to Laugh-in, Benny Hill, and Hale and Pace.  I turned them on to Animaniacs and YCDTOT.  

How about Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In  ;D


Verrrrrrrrrrry interesting... but stupid.

Laugh-in was very funny if the watcher had a sense of humor  ;)

Laugh-in was very funny if the watcher had a sense of humor  ;)


I loved 'Laugh In'.  I watched a lot of variety shows in the 70's - I think their popularity peaked sometime around the mid 70's.

Among those I recall: Laugh In; Hee Haw; Smothers Brothers; Carol Burnett; (all of which started in the 60's and continued into the 70's) Sonny and Cher; Flip Wilson; and Captain and Tennille are some I remember watching.  There were more, but I can't think of them all - too many.

There were some that I didn't like as much, like "Donny and Marie".

Sock it to me.


I used to watch Carol Burnett RELIGIOUSLY!!!!

Others I watched:

-Laugh-in (of course)
-Donny & Marie (yeah, I confess to watching it).
-Flip Wilson
-The Julie Andrews Show
-Hee Haw
-Sonny & Cher
-Mac Davis (how many people remember this one-it was actually one of the good ones IMO).
-Redd Foxx (another good one)
-Smothers Brothers
-Tony Orlando & Dawn
-Captain & Tennille
-Sha Na Na
-Bobby Vinton
-The Starland Vocal Band  :o :o :o (Had a very young guy on there by the name of Dave Letterman.  :o :o :o )
-The Brady Bunch (It was WAY bad-especially since they replaced Eve Plumb with some other chick.  8-P)
-Sheilds and Yarnell
-The Muppet Show (one of my favs.)

I'm sure there were more.



Cat

Mac Davis. Yeah.. People use to give him some lyrics and he'd write a song right there, on the show.
I watched that as well as from your list

- Laugh-in
-Donny & Marie
-Flip Wilson
-Carol Burnett
-Sonny & Cher
-Mac Davis
-Smothers Brothers
-Tony Orlando & Dawn
-Captain & Tennille
-Bobby Vinton
-The Starland Vocal Band 
-The Brady Bunch
-The Muppet Show (one of my favs.)

If I recall, the Starland Vocal band show didn't last too long, I only saw it once.

Mac Davis. Yeah.. People use to give him some lyrics and he'd write a song right there, on the show.



That is what I remember about the show, too. I loved that. The guy was very talented to be able to do that.





If I recall, the Starland Vocal band show didn't last too long, I only saw it once.



I think that was all it was on for. Ok, may twice.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

That is what I remember about the show, too. I loved that. The guy was very talented to be able to do that.


Cat




Very talented, and funny too.

The Lawrence Welk Show was still around in the '70s in syndication (my PBS affiliate is playing reruns from that era). Given that there are hundreds of channels these days compared to four for most people in the '70s, it's a missed opportunity for a comeback of this genre. The Porter Wagoner show is another.

But what caused the decline? Variety shows primetime heyday was the '50s/early '60s, and some that survived became syndicated by the early '70s, and throughout that decade, were most common during daytime programming. During the mid-late '70s, many soap operas expanded to one hour, taking away time for programming. Also, early talk shows like Donahue were starting to surface. Remember, game shows remained popular on daytime TV into the '80s, so many had to be left where they were on the schedule. I guess most boomers at the time viewed that the relationships that a serial drama plus the advice from talk shows were more appealing than simply watching someone do a free-for-all performance.

It is one genre I would like to see a comeback, particularly with established stars.

The Lawrence Welk Show was still around in the '70s in syndication (my PBS affiliate is playing reruns from that era). Given that there are hundreds of channels these days compared to four for most people in the '70s, it's a missed opportunity for a comeback of this genre. The Porter Wagoner show is another.

But what caused the decline? Variety shows primetime heyday was the '50s/early '60s, and some that survived became syndicated by the early '70s, and throughout that decade, were most common during daytime programming. During the mid-late '70s, many soap operas expanded to one hour, taking away time for programming. Also, early talk shows like Donahue were starting to surface. Remember, game shows remained popular on daytime TV into the '80s, so many had to be left where they were on the schedule. I guess most boomers at the time viewed that the relationships that a serial drama plus the advice from talk shows were more appealing than simply watching someone do a free-for-all performance.

It is one genre I would like to see a comeback, particularly with established stars.


Perhaps cable TV and home video made the variety show a thing of the past.  For the first 30 years of TV history, most viewers could only receive a few channels.  What you saw is what you got, and that was television.  More consumer choice allowed for more niche programming, less need to cram all sorts of stuff into a few prime time hours. 

The culture has also changed dramatically between the 1970s and today.  The variety shows were about celebration.  Most of today's programming is about competition.  Perhaps "The Gong Show" could make a comeback.  There were definite winners and losers on the Gong. 
::)

The culture has also changed dramatically between the 1970s and today.  The variety shows were about celebration.  Most of today's programming is about competition.  Perhaps "The Gong Show" could make a comeback.  There were definite winners and losers on the Gong. 
::)


It did in 1998/9 as this:  8-P

How about The Hudson Brothers Show and later The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show that was on Saturday mornings?

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=107646628929&id=8c6fa68a7480ce8334461daf814881c9&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.stuckinthe70s.com%2fimages%2ftb0775hudsonpu.jpg

How about The Hudson Brothers Show and later The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show that was on Saturday mornings?

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=107646628929&id=8c6fa68a7480ce8334461daf814881c9&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.stuckinthe70s.com%2fimages%2ftb0775hudsonpu.jpg

Oh Yeah! I watched that on Saturday mornings. That was about 1974 or 75ish?

They had some good songs too "So you are a star?"

One of them Married Goldie Hawn and is the father of Kate Hudson.

I remember the Hudson Brothers show, too.



Cat

I remember the Hudson Brothers show, too.

Cat

They were funny, they could sing. Yah, loads of fun.
I though this was a Canadian show, so it was available in the US as well?