Best 70's Variety Show

[Falls City Beer]

I'm not too young to remember its' pain.

Actually I liked Carol Burnett when it was on.

Momma's family has made that hard to admit.

How old is woy? He's got to be older than I am. Heck, he must be at least 40!

But don't feel bad, Pedro, I have no recollection of the Smothers Brothers show. Maybe Grampsie woy can fill us in on what we missed.

[RFS62]

Allow me.

The Smothers Brothers, as dorky as they seem now, were in the forefront of the anti-Vietnam war movement.

They even had the premier of the Beatles "Hey Jude" on their show.

CBS considered them too controversial, and cancelled them, in spite of great ratings.

I guess you had to be there.

[Falls City Beer]

Well, I chose Shields and Yarnell because 1) I remember it and 2) it pissed people off.

[RFS62]

"Rowan and Martin's Laugh In" was my favorite.

[westofyou]

How old is woy? He's got to be older than I am. Heck, he must be at least 40!

Yep....

I'm not too young to remember its' pain.

You're too young to remember Flip Wilson, or the dancing bear on Andy Williams.

[westofyou]

CBS considered them too controversial, and cancelled them, in spite of great ratings.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/enc...s_brothers.htm
The latter show became increasingly controversial for its references to youth culture, racism, and the (A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States) Vietnam War, thus getting the comedians into regular conflicts with the network censors. The show also featured an impressive list of writers and regular performers who would eventually become some of the biggest names in comedy, like (Click link for more info and facts about Pat Paulsen) Pat Paulsen, (United States actor and comedian (born in 1945)) Steve Martin, (Click link for more info and facts about Don Novello) Don Novello, and (Click link for more info and facts about Rob Reiner) Rob Reiner. (Click link for more info and facts about CBS) CBS abruptly canceled the show on March 9, 1969, leading the brothers to file a successful breach of contract suit against the network. Despite the cancellation, the show went on to win the (Click link for more info and facts about Emmy Award) Emmy Award that year for best writing. The saga of the cancellation of the show is the subject of a 2002 documentary film, Smothered.

[SandyD]

We were forced to watch the Jackie Gleason Show on Sat night. While eating hot dogs and chili on the floor in our pj's with wet hair.

Seems like Andy Williams must have come on at 8pm, because I remember listening to it, but not watching it. So I must have been in bed. But that was from the 60s.

Moon River. Sing a Rainbow. Try to remember a day is September. And so on.

[pedro]

Yep....



You're too young to remember Flip Wilson, or the dancing bear on Andy Williams.

oh, I remember Geraldine.

[GAC]

We were forced to watch the Jackie Gleason Show on Sat night.

Same here Sandy. Two of my dad's favorite shows were Gleason and Gunsmoke. We never missed them (and we weren't allowed to sit in his chair when they were on). Saturday night was also family pizza night (we made our own ). I loved the Crazy Guggenheim with Joe the Bartender sketches...."LIVE FROM MIAMI BEACH!"

Another great one was the Red Skelton Show with such characters as Junior the Mean Widdle Kid (who was famous for his expression, "I Dood It"), country boy Clem Kadiddlehopper, Freddie the Freeloader, and seagulls Gertrude and Hecliff. Red was the king of slapstick and pantomime.

As Groucho Marx once said, Red Skelton is "the most unacclaimed clown in show business." Marx noted that by using only a soft, battered hat as a prop, Red could entertain with a dozen characters.

His show helped to spawn so many of the variety shows later on.

His signature closing line became "Good night and may God bless."

[cumberlandreds]

I voted for The Carol Burnett Show. I thought it was consistently more funny and entertaining than any of the other one's. It was at its best when Tim Conway was a regular member of the cast. There were a couple of season he wasn't on it and it suffered.
Carol Burnett was the end of the evening for me on saturday nights for quite a few years. I remember settling in with my parents,brothers and sister for a full evening of TV on CBS. Hee Haw was at 7 pm followed by All in the Family at 8. 8:30 is a liitle fuzzy to what was on. I think CBS tried a few different shows at this time slot. I'm thinking the Jeffersons finally settled in though. At 9 was The Mary Tyler Moore Show and at 9:30 was The Bob Newhart Show,this was the one in which he was a psychologist in Chicago. Then finally at 10 was the Carol Burnett Show and the variety of comic routines. Mama's family was my favorite skit and when they would do take offs on commercials. Ah for days of good clean fun on TV.