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87-437: In Melbourne Tonight , also known as IMT , was a highly popular nightly Logie award-winning Australian variety television show produced at GTV-9 Melbourne from 6 May 1957 to 1970. Graham Kennedy was the show's main host and star attraction, but other presenters were often called on to present the show on certain nights. In Melbourne Tonight had as many as 50 different presenters over its 13 years on air. The format of

174-532: A Cedel hairspray advertisement by announcer Rosemary Margan . Kennedy later claimed the Adelaide network station immediately cut the live feed of that show. The Nine Network reportedly received hundreds of complaints, followed by a rash of newspaper headlines the next day. This led the Australian Broadcasting Control Board to request that Kennedy "show cause" why he should not be removed from

261-436: A backlash if it forced unpopular content quotas on the industry, the government steered well clear of any serious re-examination of the current structure and did little to increase levels of Australian content on TV. The proposal to increase local content had long been advocated local producers, writers and actors, but it was bitterly opposed by the networks, who relied on being able to buy large blocks of American programming at

348-495: A brief time in the late 1980s, the show was replaced with The American Radio Company of the Air , also hosted and created by Keillor, was set in a more urban environment and likewise was based on old-time radio; its short run eventually morphed into a revival of A Prairie Home Companion ). In 2016, following Keillor's retirement, Chris Thile took over the program and, over the course of the next year, transformed it into Live from Here ,

435-508: A bunch of head-banging, beer-crushing rock jocks blew up a pile of disco records in the Chicago White Sox outfield . If any art form truly encapsulates the entirety of '70s culture, it is the variety show. After all, the variety show was not an art form, it was all art forms. A variety show packed sketch comedy, dance choreography, guest celebrities and concert performances (okay, lip-synching) into one anything-goes show. A variety show

522-468: A charity or cause. The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon was one of the best known telethons in the US, but it too was eventually canceled after several years of shortening (originally over 21 hours, by the time of its last telecast in 2014, by which point Lewis had been gone from the telethon several years, it was down to two hours). Another popular telethon, for United Cerebral Palsy , ended its run in 1998 shortly after

609-639: A comedic take on the news events of the previous week. The show ran until 27 November 1998. Variety show While still widespread in some parts of the world, such as in the United Kingdom with the Royal Variety Performance , and South Korea with Running Man , the proliferation of multichannel television and evolving viewer tastes have affected the popularity of variety shows in the United States. Despite this, their influence has still had

696-503: A cooking show or a talent competition but end in various results. Iran had a private television company that had broadcast Iran television network channel before national television, it aired variety shows. Variety programming has remained one of the dominant genres of television programming. While Japanese variety shows are famous abroad for their wild stunts, they vary from talk shows to music shows, from tabloid news shows to skit comedy. The prominent use of telop on screen has created

783-526: A different night of the week— Jimmy Hannan , Ugly Dave Gray , Bert Newton , and Stuart Wagstaff . The program was gradually scaled back from four nights a week to three, then two, with the remaining shows renamed as The Ugly Dave Gray Show and Tonight With Stuart Wagstaff until they were finally axed in March 1971. On 20 October 1970, during one of the final programs under the IMT banner, British actor Patrick Wymark

870-457: A fast-paced setting, with scenes repeating or fast forwarded. Another popular variety show in Taiwan was Kangsi Coming (2004–2016). It was famous for its bantering, which was scripted. The first Cantonese variety show to become a major success was Hong Kong's Enjoy Yourself Tonight , which first aired in 1967 and ran for 27 years. In Hong Kong, variety shows are often combined with elements of

957-435: A female audience and produced by Elle chief editor Daisy de Galard. Each episode of Dim Dam Dom was hosted in an all-white studio set by a different speakerine (a female continuity announcer), usually a popular actress or singer like Françoise Hardy , Marie Laforêt , Geraldine Chaplin , France Gall , Jane Birkin , Françoise Fabian , Romy Schneider . Variety shows with an emphasis on comedy sketches were popular in

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1044-838: A few shows (such as Hee Haw and The Lawrence Welk Show ) surviving and moving into first-run syndication . Variety shows continued to be produced in the 1970s, with most of them stripped down to only music and comedy. Popular variety shows that ran in the 1970s include The Flip Wilson Show (1970–1974), The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971–1977, in various incarnations), The Bobby Goldsboro Show (1973–1975), The Hudson Brothers' Razzle Dazzle Show (1974–1975), The Midnight Special (1973–1981), Don Kirshner's Rock Concert (1973–1981), The Mac Davis Show (1974–1976), Tony Orlando and Dawn (1974–1976), Saturday Night Live (1975–present), Donny & Marie (1976–1979), The Muppet Show (1976–1981), and Sha Na Na (1977–1981). Of all of these, only Saturday Night Live remains on

1131-412: A few years, reruns of most of those shows (except The Flip Wilson Show ) were discontinued. Similarly, CMT held the rights to Hee Haw but broadcast very few episodes, opting mainly to hold the rights to allow them to create performance videos from the episodes to be shown in its video blocks. The current rights holder of Hee Haw , RFD-TV , has been more consistent broadcasting complete episodes of

1218-458: A flurry of new variety shows with rural appeal: The Johnny Cash Show (1969–1971), The Jim Nabors Hour (1969–1971), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969–1972) and Hee Haw (1969–1992). Entertainers with less successful variety shows in the 1960s include Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. Some consider disco to be the boiled-down essence of Seventies pop culture . But that doesn't quite cover it. Not everyone liked disco. In fact,

1305-473: A fraction of what it would have cost to produce similar shows locally. The problem was compounded by the Whitlam government's far-reaching 1973 decision to reduce tariffs across the board by 25% in the first move towards today's highly successful "free trade" policies. The immediate result of the tariff reduction was that overseas programming became even cheaper. Also at this time, the networks were being targeted by

1392-500: A house vocalist, music from the house band , a stand-up monologue and a short comedy sketch . Variety shows centered on running comedy sketches with recurring characters eventually evolved into sitcoms (situation comedies). Variety shows were among the first programs to be featured on television during the experimental mechanical television era. Variety shows hosted by Helen Haynes and Harriet Lee are recorded in contemporary newspapers in 1931 and 1932; because of technical limits of

1479-408: A major effect on late night television whose late-night talk shows and NBC 's variety series Saturday Night Live (which originally premiered in 1975) have remained popular fixtures of American television. The live entertainment style known as music hall in the United Kingdom and vaudeville in the United States can be considered a direct predecessor of the "variety show" format. Variety in

1566-412: A more streamlined musical variety series. Live from Here , which moved to New York City in 2019, was cancelled due to budget cuts in 2020. Improvisational comic Wayne Brady , coming off his successful appearances on the panel game Whose Line Is It Anyway? , launched an eponymous variety show in 2001, which aired on ABC. The Wayne Brady Show lasted only one summer season in its variety format; when

1653-460: A music hall artist of that period. The audience was also encouraged to dress in period costume in a similar fashion. Other long-running British variety shows that originated in the 1950s include Tonight at the London Palladium (1955–1969), The Black and White Minstrel Show (1958–1978), The White Heather Club (1958–1968) and Royal Variety Performance (an annual event televised since

1740-722: A parody of rightwing pundits). The Richard Bey Show combined the variety show with the tabloid talk show , not only having its guests talk about their problems but also having them participate in absurdist games, and Sally Jesse Raphael was known for occasionally having music and fashion in the show, especially drag and gender-bending performances. American sketch comedy series such as Saturday Night Live , In Living Color , Almost Live! (and its successor Up Late NW ), MADtv , and SCTV also contain variety show elements, particularly musical performances and comedy sketches. The most obvious difference between shows such as Saturday Night Live and traditional variety shows

1827-462: A run on CBS in the early 2000s during the reality television boom; The Gong Show , which reached its peak in the 1970s but has had occasional revivals since then; and the worldwide Got Talent franchise. The variety show format also continued in America in the form of the telethon , which feature variety entertainment (often music) interspersed with appeals for viewers to make donations to support

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1914-533: A senior executive for variously the Packer and Murdoch media empires. A May 2005 interview with Chisholm records: Kennedy requested a "reject" dog from the Jack Davey Memorial Guide Dog Centre and was given a Labrador Retriever which he named "Rover". Rover was sometimes brought into the studio to assist with advertisements for Pal dog food. One night the dog showed no interest whatsoever in

2001-565: A series of variety shows that collectively ran from 1948 to 1969, followed by variety specials that ran until 1994. Shorter-lived variety shows during this period include The Frank Sinatra Show (1950–1952), The Jimmy Durante Show (1954–1956) and a different The Frank Sinatra Show (1957–1958). In the UK The Good Old Days —which ran from 1953 to 1983—featured modern artists performing dressed in late Victorian /Early Edwardian costume, either doing their own act or performing as

2088-604: A style that has influenced variety programming across Asia. One of the most popular variety shows in Japan includes Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai . In South Korea , the hugely popular show Infinite Challenge , has been broadcast by MBC from 2005 to 2018, was a new model of this, called "Real Variety Show". It combined comedy and variety scenes including unscripted stunts and special guest stars while taking place in various settings. Although many variety shows have existed in Korea long before

2175-423: A suitable replacement host "... should I be on my way". In the first commercial break, Kennedy addressed the opening comments off-air with the studio audience, wondering if the network would cut the remarks, and stating that if they did, he would repeat them live on This Day Tonight . He made the same threat on-air during the "wheel" segment later in the episode, with he and Bert Newton both effectively repeating

2262-498: A then-innovative interstate live split-screen link with The Tonight Show on TCN-9 Sydney , via the recently completed co-axial cable linking Melbourne and Sydney. Kennedy signed off from In Melbourne Tonight on 23 December 1969 after 12 years. On his final program, he was given a crown—made by the GTV-9 props department—symbolising his reign as king of Australian television. The following year, IMT continued with four hosts, each on

2349-598: A variety show starring SNL performer Maya Rudolph . Like Rosie Live , the broadcast was intended to be a one-off special, but with the possibility of additional episodes depending on its performance. The special won its time slot, due mainly to a strong lead-in, and spawned the May 2016 premiere of Maya & Marty , adding fellow SNL cast member Martin Short ; under that format, Maya & Marty lasted six episodes. Earlier that season, NBC aired Best Time Ever , an adaptation of

2436-484: Is Broadway meets Solid Gold meets Saturday Night Live meets Saturday morning . In 1970 and 1971, the American TV networks, CBS especially, conducted the so-called " rural purge ", in which shows that appealed to more rural and older audiences were canceled as part of a greater focus on appealing to wealthier demographics. Many variety shows, including long-running ones, were canceled as part of this "purge," with

2523-403: Is the lack of a single lead host (or hosts) and a large ensemble cast . SNL has used different guest hosts ever since its inception. Televised talent shows have a variety show element, in that they feature a variety of different acts. Examples of US talent shows that feature entertainers from a broad variety of disciplines include Star Search , which had a run in the 1980s in syndication and

2610-571: The Marx Brothers , George Burns and Gracie Allen , W. C. Fields , and Jack Benny honed their skills in the Borscht Belt before moving to talkies , to radio shows, and then to television shows, including variety shows. Radio variety shows were the predominant form of light entertainment during the Golden Age of Radio from the late 1920s through the 1940s; such radio shows typically included

2697-453: The "TV - Make It Australian" campaign, which involved a number of prominent Australian actors and TV personalities including Kennedy and several leading actors from the popular police shows made by Crawford Productions , notably Gerard Kennedy and Charles "Bud" Tingwell . The cancellation of all three major Crawford Productions police shows within months of each other during 1975 has been portrayed by Tingwell and others as an act of revenge by

In Melbourne Tonight - Misplaced Pages Continue

2784-404: The 16 April 1975 edition. Episodes from March 1975 were transmitted in "living colour from Television City Melbourne" according to the opening and closing voiceovers. Following Kennedy's resignation, the final two April shows were hosted by Noel Ferrier and Daryl Somers . On the show of 3 March 1975 (his first seen in colour), Kennedy imitated a crow, saying "faaaaaaark", during a live read of

2871-474: The 1950s). Popular American variety shows that began in the 60s include a revival of The Jackie Gleason Show (1960–1970), The Andy Williams Show (1962–1971), The Danny Kaye Show (1963–1967), The Hollywood Palace (1964–1970), The Dean Martin Show (1965–1974), The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978), The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967–1969) and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–73). 1969 saw

2958-549: The British variety game show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway starring actor Neil Patrick Harris which was ultimately unsuccessful. Starting in the 1950s, some entertainers became associated with variety television specials that would recur on a regular basis, in some cases for decades, on American network TV. Such entertainers included Bob Hope , Bing Crosby , Perry Como , Andy Williams and Mitzi Gaynor . Many of these were Christmas variety specials, which often showed

3045-650: The GTV or Channel 9 Ballet. The ballet troupe was known as the Royal Dancers. Performers included Denise Drysdale and Roma Egan , directed by Valmai Ennor, a former dancer with the Sadler's Wells Ballet . From 1960, a Friday-night, syndicated, "national" edition of the program aired under the title The Graham Kennedy Show (later The Graham Kennedy Channel Nine Show ), with highlights packages being shown as The Best of IMT and The Best of Kennedy . On 7 July 1965, IMT featured

3132-518: The IMT days, with Brian Rangott leading the GTV band for live musical performances. As the series began pushing more permissive humour boundaries from 1973, it received a suitable for Adults Only (AO) superimposed viewer guidance at the beginning. Kennedy sparked controversy after a "crow-call", which sounded like the word " fuck ", was broadcast in March 1975. Forced to prerecord from that point on, he abruptly departed following GTV-9 management's censorship of

3219-466: The Media, for his failure to support local content regulations for TV on the 16 April 1975 edition. According to Kennedy's biographer, Graeme Blundell , Kennedy resigned from Nine after this controversy, just six weeks after the "crow call" incident. Kennedy's words which never made it to air were: During a segment featuring guest Daryl Somers , Kennedy said that he'd let it be known that Somers would make

3306-405: The U.S. Sábado Gigante ) began in 1962 with Don Francisco and lasted into the 1990s. His daughter, Vivianne Kreutzberger, currently hosts the program under the title Gigantes con Vivi , while Don Francisco has hosted the U.S. version since 12 April 1986 until the end of the show's run on 19 September 2015. Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, the producers Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier created

3393-607: The UK evolved in theatres and music halls, and later in working men's clubs . British performers who honed their skills in music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin , Stan Laurel , George Formby , Gracie Fields , Dan Leno , Gertrude Lawrence , and Marie Lloyd . Most of the early top performers on British television and radio did an apprenticeship either in stage variety, or during World War II in Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). In

3480-542: The UK, the ultimate accolade for a variety artist for decades was to be asked to do the annual Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium theatre, in front of the monarch. Later known as the Royal Variety Performance (from 1919), it continues today. In the 1940s, Stan Laurel revisited his music hall days when he performed at the Royal Variety show. In the United States former vaudeville performers such as

3567-876: The United Kingdom from the late 1960s until the 1980s. Two of the longest-running and most popular series were Morecambe and Wise and The Two Ronnies . [REDACTED] The dictionary definition of variety show at Wiktionary The Graham Kennedy Show The Graham Kennedy Show was an Australian variety and comedy tonight show which debuted on 19 September 1972 on the Nine Network . On 23 December 1969, host Graham Kennedy quit as host of In Melbourne Tonight (IMT) due to exhaustion and rested for two years. In spite of his fame and fortune, he later described that period as "years of misery". After specials on 15 November 1971 and 2 March 1972, he returned with this series produced by Bob Phillips and Peter Faiman . The concept, regular cast and crew were mainly recycled from

In Melbourne Tonight - Misplaced Pages Continue

3654-556: The United States bringing on a new type of the Korean wave globally. Variety shows are a huge part of daily life in the Philippines, with all of the major networks running their own variety shows usually during lunchtime and can be on the air for between one and a half hours to three hours. The most notable Philippine variety show is the longest-running Eat Bulaga , which premiered in 1979 and has aired on RPN , ABS-CBN , GMA , and TV5 in

3741-511: The United States in 1986, continued to produce and broadcast new episodes on Univision until its cancellation in September 2015. At least one national variety show continued on national radio into the 21st century. A Prairie Home Companion was founded and created by Garrison Keillor in 1974 as an homage to rural radio variety shows, featuring sketch comedy based on radio dramas of the old-time radio era, complete with faux commercials. (For

3828-511: The Univision networks in the United States. In Venezuela , the best known variety show is Súper Sábado Sensacional . Originally established in 1968 (as Sábado Espectacular ) on Radio Caracas Television , the show moved to Venevision in 1970 and was renamed Sábado Sensacional . In 1990, "Súper" was added to the title, and is how the show is currently known today. The Spanish-language variety show known as Sábados Gigantes (forerunner of

3915-410: The air today, and has become the second-longest-running variety show in the history of American television. Entertainers with weekly variety shows that ran for one season or less in the 1970s include Captain & Tennille , The Jacksons , The Keane Brothers , Bobby Darin , Mary Tyler Moore , Julie Andrews , Dolly Parton , Shields and Yarnell , The Manhattan Transfer , Starland Vocal Band , and

4002-543: The airwaves. Kennedy replied that he could not show cause, suggesting that the Board take action to limit his appearances, while hinting at legal action should they do so. Rather than removing him, the ABCB banned Kennedy from appearing live, forcing him to pre-record the show on videotape. In 2002, in The Age newspaper, media writer Jonathan Green reported that the crow call segment

4089-473: The broadcast of Infinite Challenge , this program has given a rise to a new page in the history of Korean variety shows by introducing unscripted stunts. As a result, other broadcasting channels such as KBS and SBS have followed its path and introduced programs such as 2 Days & 1 Night and Running Man . These types of Korean variety shows are grabbing foreign interest of countries such as Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and even

4176-544: The case of a one-off Christmas special, the Christian-leaning network INSP ); JLTV dropped Kaye from its schedule at the end of 2018. The Carol Burnett Show , which had aired in severely edited form sporadically in syndication since it ended in 1977, returned intact in 2019 on numerous platforms. Digital multicast network getTV shows variety shows on an irregular basis. The Spanish language variety show Sabado Gigante , which began in 1962, and then moved from Chile to

4263-446: The cast of The Brady Bunch . Entertainers with variety-based TV specials in the 70s include Carpenters , John Denver , Shirley MacLaine , Diana Ross , Bob Hope, and Pat Boone. Paul Lynde hosted a string of irregularly scheduled Comedy Hours through the late 1970s. By the late 1970s nearly every TV variety show had ended production. Audiences were clearly tiring of the format; the highest-rated variety show of 1975, Cher ,

4350-513: The current generation of U.S. hosts, late-night talk shows vary widely on their resemblance to the original variety format, with Jimmy Fallon 's incarnation of The Tonight Show putting heavy emphasis on sketch and game segments incorporating celebrity guests (especially involving music), while The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has placed a larger emphasis on news satire similar to its host 's previous Comedy Central late-night program The Colbert Report (where Colbert portrayed himself as

4437-415: The death of its founder and figurehead, Dennis James . Likewise only a handful of long-established local telethons remain. The prime time variety show format was popular in the early decades of Australian television, spawning such series as In Melbourne Tonight , The Graham Kennedy Show , The Don Lane Show , and Hey Hey It's Saturday , which ran for 27 years. Recent prime time variety shows include

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4524-561: The era, no recordings of either show have been preserved. After World War II , the genre again was an early favorite of the burgeoning electronic television industry; Hour Glass , dating to 1946, is the earliest surviving variety show, preserved in the form of audio recordings and still photographs. The genre proliferated during the Golden Age of Television , generally considered to be roughly 1948 to 1960. Many of these Golden Age variety shows were spin-offs or adaptations of previous radio variety shows. From 1948 to 1971 The Ed Sullivan Show

4611-452: The event really was. Biographer Blundell quotes Ernie Carroll: Pal dog food, with Rover [...] was time consuming [...] once we fed him all afternoon so that when he came out to do the commercial he didn't want to touch the Pal dog food. He was already full of it. [...] on another occasion they had him drink before the show, big drinks. So when he came out, he peed all over the camera and all around

4698-583: The format faded in popularity in prime time, it thrived in American late-night TV. Night-time variety shows eventually evolved into late-night talk shows , which combine variety entertainment (primarily comedy and live music) with the aspects of a talk show (such as interviews with celebrities). The Emmy Awards academy considers the two genres to be related closely enough that, until 2015, the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series

4785-476: The genre arose in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Variety shows from this era included Dolly (starring Dolly Parton ), which ran for 23 episodes on ABC during the 1987–88 season; The Tracey Ullman Show which aired on Fox from April 1987 through May 1990; a revival of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour from 1988 to 1989; a revival of The Carol Burnett Show , which was broadcast by CBS for nine episodes in 1991 (following up on Carol & Company on NBC

4872-463: The live commercials from what would have otherwise been dull pro-forma obligations into a unique comedic art form. On one famous occasion, a scheduled 20-second ad spot for an aspirin product was spun out into 33 minutes of improvised comedy. Newton has written: The blood would drain from the face of Pelaco shirt-wearing executives in television, advertising and business until they realised that instead of televisual suicide, this skinny little wiseguy

4959-424: The longest-running variety show in U.S. television history. " The Arthur Murray Party " (1950–1960) was wildly popular and one of only 5 shows in the history of television to appear on all four major networks at the same time. The premise was a large dance party hosted by Kathryn Murray and Arthur Murray that showcased a new dance and a celebrity guest along with dozens of professional dancers. The show also hosted

5046-414: The most popular variety shows on French television , including Le Sacha Show (1963–1971) hosted by Sacha Distel , Top à... (1972–1974), Numéro Un (1975–1982) and a lot of television specials presented by various famous singers ( Johnny Hallyday , Sylvie Vartan , Claude François , Petula Clark ). From 1965 to 1970 was also aired Dim Dam Dom , a modern, playful and sophisticated show intended for

5133-451: The networks for Crawford's active support for the campaign and the participation of its contract players. Following this logic, Blundell suggests that Kennedy too was a victim of the Nine TV network's sensitivity about the local content issue. It has also been suggested that, with a federal election looming, Nine used the crow call incident as a pretext to remove the politically vocal Kennedy, who

5220-1075: The only television appearance of Buddy Holly and The Crickets . The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–1982) would go on to become one of U.S. television's longest-running variety shows; based on the concept of the big band remote from the old-time radio era, it was already one of the last shows of its kind when it debuted and far outlasted all other big-band centered broadcast series by the end of its run. Other long-running American variety shows that premiered during this time include Texaco Star Theatre (1948–1956), Jerry Lester 's Cavalcade of Stars , Broadway Open House and Chesterfield Sound-Off Time (1949–1952); The Jackie Gleason Show (1950–1955), The Garry Moore Show (1950–1967, in various incarnations), The Morey Amsterdam Show (1950–1954 in various incarnations), The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950–1955), Your Show of Shows (1950–1954), The Red Skelton Show (1951–1971), The Dinah Shore Show (1951–1957), The George Gobel Show (1954–1960) and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956–1963). Perry Como also hosted

5307-464: The opening remarks. Kennedy also remarked that McClelland was "...not all that literate", and that "... he has to go". The opening segment was indeed edited out before the show went to air and Kennedy resigned in anger. He did not, however, follow through with the threat to repeat the comments on This Day Tonight , with an ABC spokesman later commenting that Kennedy had decided that it "would not be in his interests" to appear. Australian content on TV

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5394-486: The pound and so, when Patti's father's dog died, Rover went on to a long and happy life at the McGrath (senior) household. In 1996, the format was revived under the title IMT , hosted by Frankie J. Holden and screened as a Monday-night variety show. Featured on the show were the comedic stylings of Steven Jacobs , Denise Drysdale , Ann-Maree Biggar , and Julia Morris , who was best known for presenting "The Morris Report",

5481-409: The previous year); and Showtime 's The Super Dave Osborne Show hosted by Bob Einstein from 1987 to 1991 (itself a spinoff of John Byner 's Bizarre , which ran from 1980 to 1986). By the 1990s, networks had given up on the format; after initially promising Phil Hartman his own variety show, NBC backed out of the agreement believing a variety show could no longer succeed. By the 21st century

5568-408: The product, which Kennedy then himself proceeded to eat with apparent relish, straight from the can – or so it seemed. Rover also achieved television immortality by relieving himself – live to air – upon one of the huge cameras. The studio audience collapsed in hysterics, but the duration and urgency of Rover's impressively hydraulic performance might have led some cynics to question just how impromptu

5655-493: The program; RFD-TV also airs numerous other country -style variety shows from the 1960s and 1970s up through the present day, in a rarity for modern television. Another notable exception is The Lawrence Welk Show , which has been frequently broadcast in reruns on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) since 1986. The Danny Kaye Show returned to television in 2017 with reruns on Jewish Life Television (and, in

5742-506: The regularly scheduled variety shows that spawned them by several years. Also, Barbara Mandrell Christmas special. Christmas variety specials' popularity continued into the 1990s, before starting to wane in the 2000s. Nevertheless, the tradition has continued. Entertainers who have hosted Christmas variety specials in the 21st century include Kid Rock , Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson , Carrie Underwood , Lady Gaga , Michael Buble , Bill Murray , Gwen Stefani , and Darci Lynne . Though

5829-651: The set [...] Even those seemingly innocent dog manoeuvres were carefully planned. Kennedy was exasperated for decades by questions about "whatever happened to Rover" . As late as 1989, on Graham Kennedy's News Hour (see below), he answered a viewer's question couched in exactly those words with the withering reply "... he was a dog. What do you think happened?" In early June 2005, on the 3AW program Nightline with Philip Brady and Bruce Mansfield , Patti (McGrath) Newton stated that her father had often looked after Rover when he appeared at GTV-9. It seems that Kennedy had become increasingly irritated with retrieving Rover from

5916-472: The short lived Micallef Tonight and The Sideshow . In Brazil variety shows are referred to as a show de auditório (lit. "auditorium show"). Among the longest-running variety shows on Brazilian television have been SBT 's Programa Silvio Santos (1963–present), which was originally hosted by SBT's owner and founder Silvio Santos (and is presently hosted by his daughter Patricia Abravanel ), and TV Globo 's Domingão do Faustão (1989–2021), which

6003-461: The show returned the next year in syndication, it had been reformatted as a talk show, under which format it ran until 2004. Fox's Osbournes Reloaded , a variety show featuring the family of rocker Ozzy Osbourne , was canceled after only one episode had been telecast in 2009. More than two dozen affiliates refused to telecast the first episode of the show. This series had been slated for a six-episode run. NBC has made repeated attempts at reviving

6090-486: The show was inspired by the American Tonight Show on NBC , but Kennedy's exuberant charisma was the key to the success of IMT . The show originally had its own self-titled theme song, written by IMT 's first band leader, Lee Gallagher, but for most of its run, it adopted an uptempo version of the swing tune of Gee, But You're Swell , written by Abel Baer and Charles Tobias in 1936. Geoff Corke

6177-474: The star in a set meant to look like their home, welcoming singers and other guests to perform duets of Christmas songs . The popularity of these Christmas shows outlasted that of weekly variety shows. In 1973, for example, even as variety shows were starting to fade in popularity, variety Christmas specials hosted by Williams and Como both attracted an enormous 40% of the American television audience. Williams's and Johnny Cash 's annual Christmas specials outlasted

6264-663: The succeeding years. Recently many other TV networks are different formats of variety. ABS-CBN's It's Showtime has also shown great popularity and interest to Filipino viewers. Siempre en Domingo premiered in 1969 with Raúl Velasco hosting. It became Mexico's longest-running variety series, remaining on Televisa until 1998. Other long-running variety shows, most of which have been Televisa productions, have included La Carabina de Ambrosio , Anabel , Al Fin de Semana , Silvia y Enrique , La Parodia , Muevete , Desmadruga2 , and Sabadazo. . Most, if not all, of Televisa's variety shows have aired in other countries, including

6351-515: The variety format since the late 2000s (the network's last successful variety series, Michael Nesmith 's short-lived but influential Television Parts , was broadcast in the summer of 1985) . A pilot episode for Rosie Live was telecast the day before Thanksgiving Day in 2008 and, after receiving middling ratings and extremely poor reviews, was not picked up for its originally planned run in January 2009. In May 2014, NBC aired The Maya Rudolph Show ,

6438-482: The variety show format was practically extinct, due largely to changing tastes and the fracturing of media audiences (caused by the proliferation of cable and satellite television ) that makes a multiple-genre variety show impractical. Even reruns of variety shows have generally not been especially widespread; TV Land briefly broadcast repeats of some variety shows (namely The Ed Sullivan Show and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ) upon its launch in 1996, but within

6525-615: The videotapes were erased and reused after broadcast, so fewer than 100 episodes survive today out of the thousands produced and broadcast. When Kennedy returned to GTV-9 in the early 1970s, he launched his own weekly variety show for the Nine Network, The Graham Kennedy Show , but it did not recapture the success of the original In Melbourne Tonight , and was later succeeded by The Ernie Sigley Show and The Don Lane Show . Drawing on his radio experience with Nicky Whitta (who had routinely "sent up" advertisers), Kennedy transformed

6612-475: The word "shit" in a short, incoherent acceptance speech. This was apparently the first time that profanity had been heard on Australian national television. Having been forced to tape his shows "indefinitely" by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, the network took advantage of the pretaping to completely edit out Kennedy's scathing attack on Senator Doug McClelland , the then Minister for

6699-667: Was Kennedy's offsider until 1959, when Bert Newton joined GTV-9 from HSV-7 to become Kennedy's straight man . This began a professional partnership that continued for many years and a friendship that continued until Kennedy's death in 2005. Other In Melbourne Tonight regulars included Joff Ellen , Val Ruff, Panda Lisner , Anne Marie Fabry, Evie Hayes , Mary Hardy , Rosie Sturgess , Patti McGrath (later Patti Newton), Toni Lamond , Philip Brady , Johnny Ladd, Buster Fiddess, Frank Rich, Jack Little, Noel Ferrier , Elaine McKenna , Bill McCormick, Honnie Van Den Bosch ("barrel girl"), Ted Hamilton , Lesley Baker , The Tune Twisters, and

6786-562: Was a highly sensitive issue at this time. In the wake of the controversial McLean Report, the Whitlam government was taking major steps to open up the radio spectrum with the introduction of community broadcasting and the ABC's new rock station, Triple J (launched as "Double Jay"), but it had done nothing to address the low levels of local content on Australian TV. Aware of the media's crucial role in its own election in 1972, and understandably fearful of

6873-430: Was commercial gold. And then they liked his brand of humour a l A commercial I shared with Graham, Raoul Merton ('of comfort you're certain when you wear Raoul Merton') changed the footwear buying habits of men. Gerald Stone recounts in his book Compulsive Viewing that a "cocky young salesman" visited the IMT set hoping for an extra plug for his employer's product. The young salesman was Sam Chisholm , who later became

6960-413: Was hosted by Fausto Silva until he departed the network to host a short-lived variety show on Rede Bandeirantes . Two notable Taiwanese variety shows are Guess (1996–2012) and 100% Entertainment (1997–present). East Asian variety programs are known for their constant use of sound effects, on-screen visuals and comedic bantering. Many of the shows are presented in a live-like presentation in

7047-400: Was in fact pretaped and that the controversy was probably just a pretext for other issues. Rival Nine personality Ernie Sigley , who presented his own variety show on different nights to Kennedy, has claimed the real reason Kennedy was axed was that his ratings were so poor compared to Sigley's. According to Age reporter Suzanne Carbone, the first known use of the expletive on Australian TV

7134-638: Was in the 1960s, when Nine Adelaide evening news presenter Kevin Crease said "fucking hell" during a mishap in a live advertisement on variety show Adelaide Tonight . Crease told The Age that "The audience fell off their chairs laughing" and that he was amazed no complaints were received and that although he feared he would be sacked, nothing happened. During the February 1973 Logie Awards , American actor Michael Cole generated controversy after accepting an award from host Bert Newton , while apparently drunk, uttering

7221-514: Was known to support the ALP . Four episodes of The Graham Kennedy Show were released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in May 2013. The episodes feature rare uncut footage, including the complete edited McClelland remarks. During Kennedy's 60th birthday special, Ray Martin visited the GTV-9 videotape archive shelves and purportedly held up the cassette case of the offending crow-call program. He reported it

7308-525: Was one of CBS 's most popular television series. Using his no-nonsense approach, host Ed Sullivan was instrumental in bringing many acts to prominence in the United States, including Elvis Presley and The Beatles . One year after Sullivan's premiere, Music & the Spoken Word first aired on television. Having carried over from an already 20-year run on radio, the series airs a program of religious music, messages, and occasional interviews, and remains

7395-544: Was only the 22nd-most watched show of the year. By 1980 viewer interest in TV variety shows was rapidly waning. Most of the few new variety programs being produced were of remarkably poor quality (for instance, the infamous Pink Lady and Jeff ), hastening the format's demise, though a few moderately successful shows remained, such as Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters (November 1980 to June 1982). A brief revival of

7482-515: Was open to any of these types of show; in 2015, the academy separated late-night talk shows and sketch comedy series into separate categories. During Johnny Carson 's tenure on The Tonight Show on NBC from 1962 to 1992, the show dominated late night ratings, and the other networks attempted late-night talk shows only sporadically. This changed with Carson's retirement, and other networks began to air their own talk show competitors, starting with Late Show with David Letterman on CBS in 1993. As of

7569-409: Was scheduled to appear as a guest to promote a theatre play and a TV special. His nonappearance prompted jokes between host Stuart Wagstaff and guest Richard Deacon until news reached GTV-9 that Wymark had collapsed in his hotel room. His death was announced at the end of the program. In Melbourne Tonight created a long-standing legacy of live variety programs for several decades from GTV-9. Most of

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