Worst TV Variety Shows Ever

Just stumbled upon this tonight.



My god... the horror! THE HORROR!

 

Here's some unedited footage from that show. It's fascinating in several ways...that future TV legend David Letterman is here and clearly hating every second of it, and it shows how these productions were shot leading up to editing. The audience question and answer bit isn't actually too bad considering Letterman nailed this concept on his show just several years later, but then you get to see him doing the pick-up takes with the audience silently watching.

From my memory the Brady Bunch variety show was probably the bottom of this tired TV junk, but this is pretty close.


dan c

 

The Brady Bunch Hour:

 

It’s burned into my memory seeing them do “Send In the Clowns” dressed as sad wacky clowns, natch. I was 7 or 8 and it’s a vivid memory watching this with my parents because of the squirm-worthyness of it all. I felt a deep humiliation for all humanity, and as a kid growing up in the 70s who’d gleefully watch anything on TV that’s saying something.

dan c

 

It's just a really terrible show, period.

 

I think you nailed in with the "squirm-worthyness" descriptor.

As a kid watching a show, especially depending on age, there are some normal topics that usually garner an uncomfortable response...like a heart felt love scene, or documentary type medical terms being used...They just make a kid go "yuck" for the most part.

But....when the show elicits embarrassment, from the kid watching towards the people acting....well...that show is truely bad on all fronts....The Brady Bunch Hour was steeped in that embarrassment.

 

I thought that the Donnie & Marie show was really, really bad. But then came The Brady Bunch Hour, which showed me that things can be much worse than even Donnie & Marie.

 

One of the legendary heavyweights of variety show dreck:



Sid and Marty Krofft’s head-scratching 1980 foray into the format, Pink Lady and Jeff. This is just a highlight reel. Several full length episodes can be enjoyed via YouTube. It’s a fairly stellar roster of guest stars for a dog of a show that only ran for 5 weeks before cancellation.

 

Bob Blackman takes some beating (literally), with his legendary version of `Mule Train`........

 

I remember seeing Pink Lady records in the cutout bins for 99 cents after that show. No, I didn't buy one, but evidently somebody thought that they would become big recording stars in the U.S. from the TV exposure.

 

Does anyone remember The Big Show? No, I am not referring to the WWE wrestler.

 

When I was a kid I loved the Brady Bunch -but at 13 when this variety series aired I already thought I was too old for this crap.

 

That was really, really bad.
Except the Blondie, Cheap Trick, and Alice Cooper promos.....(as they were called back in those days)

 

Can I be blunt? That cover is an insult to the McCartney original.

 

Ah, the 70's....

 

It's an insult, period!

 

What the hell was THAT?

 

I like The Brady Bunch too, but what were they even thinking when they made that?

 

$$$

 

What's really surprising is the fact that Robert Reed, who was not happy with his character on the sitcom, was really enthusiastic about the variety show!

 

Yes, the dialogue on the variety show was infinitely more cringe-inducing than the sitcom EVER was!
But maybe that's why Reed could stomach it: it was a variety show, nothing more, nothing less.
And it's well documented that Reed truly loved the kids.

I've always wondered if the cast got a better deal on that show than syndication deal.

 

This is a format we don't need to make a come back. I have more affection for the yearly 'special' Battle Of the Network Stars. Ed Asner in a sack race is what I call entertainment!

 

IIRC one of the male children wasn’t that interested at first so he asked for a high salary. They gave it to it. So he signed on and they offered similar terms to the others.

Reed told cast members he was trained in singing and dancing (it didn’t show) and always wanted to do it. For a person who hated the show, he showed up in all its reincarnations. Tina Louise, by contrast, stayed away from “Gilligan’s Island” except for one talk show with all members to promote a movie.

 

Wayland Flowers and Madame, somebody's finally calling for you...!

Some part of my dim memory seems to recall a summer replacement variety series...only by bringing this up on this thread even justifies my even remembering that...