Recently I watched on YouTube an episode or part of an episode (I couldn’t really sit through it all) of The Brady Bunch Hour from 1976. And boy did it bring back memories of some kind of childhood where even kitsch shows could trigger something almost primal in me.
It was entertainingly bad with the whole gang from the original series singing, dancing, hamming it up and showing their “talents” outside the canned laughter comedy of only a very few short years before. Everyone except the original Jan who was replaced with what many fans of both series cruelly dubbed as “fake Jan”. Eve Plumb was a wise woman.
For some reason, it included synchronized swimming dancers and a lot of glitz and flared pants. And I cannot help but smile when Rip Taylor appears as Alice the housekeeper’s love interest; an old queen supporting an old dyke- the former confirmed and the latter mere speculation but really, Alice was butch. But I won’t let my queer politics creep in on this blog.
The 70s were flush with variety shows: The Sonny and Cher Comedy Show, The Jacksons and their Mormon competitors Donny & Marie (Osmond), The Julie Andrews Hour, Cher (on her own), Dolly! (Parton), and many more likely unknown ventures.
My hero, Mary Tyler Moore tried her hand with two variety series in 1978 and 1979- both failed thankfully. She could then concentrate on her memorable dramatic role in Ordinary People. Her’s was another example of these variety aberrations being mere bumps in otherwise long careers: Dolly, Cher, Michael Jackson, Julie Andrews all dusted themselves and quickly forgot about their little misadventures in TV Land.
Not all were glitter and failure. The Muppet Show showcased the talents of other big stars of TV and movies of the time and ran quite a few seasons. Look up Linda Carter’s rendition of “Orange Sky”; you won’t be disappointed. The Carol Burnett Show was established in the 1960s and ran through most of the following decade with plenty of brilliant sketches interspersed with dance and song routines. Saturday Night Live is a comedy sketch plus music show so it can be classed in this variety genre and still is in production. I have only watched a few SNL episodes. Very hit and miss in its comedy.
The Americans were not the only guilty producing variety shows. The British had The Two Ronnies (some purists will say it was not a variety show per se but it always ended in a musical number so I am not budging), The Black and White Minstrel Show complete with blackface, The Sound of Petula (guess which Petula), Bruce Forsyth’s Big Night, countless Royal Variety Performances and Bonkers!
We, down under, shouldn’t chuckle too much when we consider Young Talent Time, Hey! Hey! It’s Saturday (again, I won’t budge), The Graham Kennedy Show, The Mike Walsh Show….
Are you uncomfortable yet?
Cringe as they may be, variety shows were once popular as a gentle nod to the MGM musical and vaudeville and were great platforms to showcase talent. Their very kitchness is a form of entertainment; indeed when the very bad can be entertaining. I refer back to my describing these as “almost primal”. These shows are built on song, dance and some questionable light comedic banter. Possibly this is the simplest form of television without depth to comedy writing and hardly any hints of intellectualism. The ultimate escapism which I would like to see come back in these god-awful times.
I dedicate this blog to Geri Reischl.
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