Television Variety Shows

Television Variety Shows
Author: David M. Inman
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2014-12-03
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476608776

For the few hundred television viewers in 1946, a special treat on the broadcast schedule was the variety show called Hour Glass. It was the first TV program to go beyond talking heads, cooking demonstrations, and sporting events, featuring instead dancers, comics, singers, and long commercials for its sponsor, Chase and Sanborn coffee. Within two years, another variety show, Texaco Star Theatre, became the first true television hit and would be credited with the sales of thousands of television sets. The variety show formula was a staple of television in its first 30 years, in part because it lent itself to a medium where everything had to be live and preferably inside a studio. Most of the early television stars--including Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Ed Sullivan, Red Skelton, Dinah Shore, and Arthur Godfrey--rose to prominence through weekly variety shows. In the 1960s, major stars such as Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Judy Garland and Danny Kaye were hosting variety shows. By the 1970s, the format was giving way to sitcoms and dramas, but pop music stars Sonny and Cher, Tony Orlando and Dawn, and Donny and Marie Osmond hosted some of the last of the species. This book details 57 variety shows from the 1940s through the 1990s. A history of each show is first provided, followed by a brief look at each episode. Air date, guest stars, sketches performed, and a listing of songs featured are included.

TV's Grooviest Variety Shows of the '60s and '70s

TV's Grooviest Variety Shows of the '60s and '70s
Author: Telly R. Davidson
Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2006
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9781581825503

TV's Grooviest Variety Shows (of the '60s and '70s)' is an irresistible page-turning account of TV's greatest and goofiest variety shows of the psychedelic 1960s and '70s. Designed to be browser-friendly, the book covers the main shows of the era?Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk, Dean Martin, the Smothers Brothers, 'Laugh-In, ' Flip Wilson, 'Sonny and Cher, ' 'Midnight Special, ' classic 'Saturday Night Live' (1975-80), 'SCTV, ' and 'The Muppets.' Each of these key chapters is fast-moving and fun, with quick, easy-to-skim sidebars like Memorable Moments,"" ""Quotable Quotes,"" and ""Bloopers & Breakups,"" plus a brisk narrative of the show's behind-the-scenes dramas, cast, and history.""

TV (The Book)

TV (The Book)
Author: Alan Sepinwall
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2016-06-28
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1455588202

Is The Wire better than Breaking Bad? Is Cheers better than Seinfeld? What's the best high school show ever made? Why did Moonlighting really fall apart? Was the Arrested Development Netflix season brilliant or terrible? For twenty years-since they shared a TV column at Tony Soprano's hometown newspaper-critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz have been debating these questions and many more, but it all ultimately boils down to this: What's the greatest TV show ever? That debate reaches an epic conclusion in TV (THE BOOK). Sepinwall and Seitz have identified and ranked the 100 greatest scripted shows in American TV history. Using a complex, obsessively all-encompassing scoring system, they've created a Pantheon of top TV shows, each accompanied by essays delving into what made these shows great. From vintage classics like The Twilight Zone and I Love Lucy to modern masterpieces like Mad Men and Friday Night Lights, from huge hits like All in the Family and ER to short-lived favorites like Firefly and Freaks and Geeks, TV (THE BOOK) will bring the triumphs of the small screen together in one amazing compendium. Sepinwall and Seitz's argument has ended. Now it's time for yours to begin!

Television Comedy and Femininity

Television Comedy and Femininity
Author: Rosie White
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2018-11-30
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 178673656X

Can comedy on television harbour elements of gender transgression or subversion? If a man is permitted to be 'funny peculiar' – playing the underdog or misfit – does a woman seem stranger in his place? Mapping examples from British and American comedy television over the past 60 years, from I Love Lucy to The Big Bang Theory and Smack the Pony to Waiting For God, this book asks: are particular forms of television comedy gendered in specific ways? Paying attention to series which have not been addressed in academic work, as well as more established shows, White offers fresh insights for the fields of television studies, gender and women's studies, cultural history and comedy.

Retro TV

Retro TV
Author: Ian Collis
Publisher: New Holland Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9781742575599

Showcases television programs from the 1950s and 1960s, profiling variety shows, dramas, sitcoms, and westerns and including trivia about each program and biographies of television's biggest stars.

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present
Author: Tim Brooks
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 1858
Release: 2009-06-24
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0307483207

AMERICA’S #1 BESTSELLING TELEVISION BOOK WITH MORE THAN HALF A MILLION COPIES IN PRINT– NOW REVISED AND UPDATED! PROGRAMS FROM ALL SEVEN COMMERCIAL BROADCAST NETWORKS, MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED CABLE NETWORKS, PLUS ALL MAJOR SYNDICATED SHOWS! This is the must-have book for TV viewers in the new millennium–the entire history of primetime programs in one convenient volume. It’s a guide you’ll turn to again and again for information on every series ever telecast. There are entries for all the great shows, from evergreens like The Honeymooners, All in the Family, and Happy Days to modern classics like 24, The Office, and Desperate Housewives; all the gripping sci-fi series, from Captain Video and the new Battle Star Galactica to all versions of Star Trek; the popular serials, from Peyton Place and Dallas to Dawson’s Creek and Ugly Betty; the reality show phenomena American Idol, Survivor, and The Amazing Race; and the hits on cable, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Top Chef, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Project Runway, and SpongeBob SquarePants. This comprehensive guide lists every program alphabetically and includes a complete broadcast history, cast, and engaging plot summary–along with exciting behind-the-scenes stories about the shows and the stars. MORE THAN 500 ALL-NEW LISTINGS from Heroes and Grey’s Anatomy to 30 Rock and Nip/Tuck UPDATES ON CONTINUING SHOWS such as CSI, Gilmore Girls, The Simpsons, and The Real World EXTENSIVE CABLE COVERAGE with more than 1,000 entries, including a description of the programming on each major cable network AND DON’T MISS the exclusive and updated “Ph.D. Trivia Quiz” of 200 questions that will challenge even the most ardent TV fan, plus a streamlined guide to TV-related websites for those who want to be constantly up-to-date SPECIAL FEATURES! • Annual program schedules at a glance for the past 61 years • Top-rated shows of each season • Emmy Award winners • Longest-running series • Spin-off series • Theme songs • A fascinating history of TV “This is the Guinness Book of World Records . . . the Encyclopedia Britannica of television!” –TV Guide

1001 TV Series

1001 TV Series
Author: Paul Condon
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 960
Release: 2018-02-15
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1788400461

This is the ultimate book for the Netflix and boxset generation, featuring all the greatest drama series ever broadcast as well as the weirdest game shows, controversial reality TV experiments and breathtaking nature documentaries. It is a must for anyone who wants to know why India's Ramayan is legendary, why Roots was groundbreaking, or what the ending of Lost was all about. Written by an international team of critics, authors, academics, producers and journalists, this book reviews TV series from more than 20 countries, highlights classic episodes to watch and also provides cast summaries and production details.

The Platinum Age of Television

The Platinum Age of Television
Author: David Bianculli
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2017-09-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1101911328

Television today is better than ever. From The Sopranos to Breaking Bad, Sex and the City to Girls, and Modern Family to Louie, never has so much quality programming dominated our screens. Exploring how we got here, acclaimed TV critic David Bianculli traces the evolution of the classic TV genres, among them the sitcom, the crime show, the miniseries, the soap opera, the Western, the animated series, the medical drama, and the variety show. In each genre he selects five key examples of the form to illustrate its continuities and its dramatic departures. Drawing on exclusive and in-depth interviews with many of the most famed auteurs in television history, Bianculli shows how the medium has evolved into the premier form of visual narrative art. Includes interviews with: MEL BROOKS, MATT GROENING, DAVID CHASE, KEVIN SPACEY, AMY SCHUMER, VINCE GILLIGAN, AARON SORKIN, MATTHEW WEINER, JUDD APATOW, LOUIS C.K., DAVID MILCH, DAVID E. KELLEY, JAMES L. BROOKS, LARRY DAVID, KEN BURNS, LARRY WILMORE, AND MANY, MANY MORE