Variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including
While still widespread in some parts of the world, such as in the United Kingdom with the (which originally premiered in 1975) have remained popular fixtures of American television.
History
Stage and radio
The live entertainment style known as
In the United States, former vaudeville performers such as the
1931–1960
Variety shows were among the first programs to be featured on television during the experimental
From 1948 to 1971,
Other long-running American variety shows that premiered during this time include
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,
1960s
Popular American variety shows that began in the 60s include a revival of The Jackie Gleason Show (1960–1970),
Entertainers with less successful variety shows in the 1960s include Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr.
1970s
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, a bunch of head-banging, beer-crushing rock jocks blew up a pile of disco records in the Chicago White Sox outfield, as you might remember.
No, 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 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 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
Entertainers with weekly variety shows that ran for one season or less in the 1970s include
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;[5] the highest-rated variety show of 1975, Cher, was only the 22nd-most watched show of the year.[6]
1980s–present
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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
By the 21st century, the variety show format was practically extinct, due largely to changing tastes and the fracturing of media audiences (caused by the
At least one national variety show continued on national radio into the 21st century.
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 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 the variety format since the late 2000s (the network's last successful variety series,
Related formats
Christmas and other variety specials
Starting in the 1950s, some entertainers became associated with variety
.Talk shows
Though the format faded in popularity in prime time, it thrived in American
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 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 a parody of conservative pundits).
Sketch comedy shows
American
Talent shows
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 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.
Telethons
The variety show format also continued in America in the form of the
Other countries or regions
Australia
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 the short lived Micallef Tonight and The Sideshow.
Brazil
In Brazil, variety shows are referred to as a show de auditório (lit. "auditorium show").[15] Among the longest-running variety shows on Brazilian TV have been SBT's Programa Silvio Santos (1963–present), which is hosted by SBT's owner Silvio Santos, and TV Globo's Domingão do Faustão (1989–2021), which was hosted by Fausto Silva until he departed the network to host a new variety show on Rede Bandeirantes.[16][17][18][19]
Taiwan
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 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.
Hong Kong
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 a cooking show or a talent competition but end in various results.
Iran
Iran had a private television company that had broadcast Iran television network channel before national television, it aired variety shows.[20]
Japan
Variety programming has remained one of the dominant genres of television programming.[21] 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 a style that has influenced variety programming across Asia. One of the most popular variety shows in Japan includes Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai.
South Korea
In
Philippines
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
Mexico
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 the Univision networks in the United States.
Venezuela
In
Chile
The Spanish-language variety show known as Sábados Gigantes (forerunner of 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 April 12, 1986 until the end of the show's run on September 19, 2015.
France
Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, the producers
From 1965 to 1970 was also aired Dim Dam Dom, a modern, playful and sophisticated show intended for 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.
United Kingdom
Variety shows with an emphasis on comedy sketches were popular in 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.
See also
- List of British music hall musicians, which features a list of Variety performers
- Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, a club for variety performers and entertainers
- Variety, the Children's Charity, widely known as the Variety Club, a charity operated by variety performers
- Japanese variety show
- Korean variety show
- Cine-variety, a mix of variety acts performing in between the showing of films
References
- ^ "Television in the United States". Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2011. Web. 06 Jun. 2011.
- ^ McCabe, John (2004). The Comedy World of Stan Laurel. Robson. p. 143.
- ^ "Stan at Queen's first Royal Variety Show" Archived 1 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. North West Evening Mail.
- ^ The groovy, goofy Paul Lynde Halloween Special could only have existed in the 1970s, October 16, 2018
- ^ Carter, Bill (May 12, 2014). Overextended, Music TV Shows Fade. The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
- ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
- San Diego Union-Tribune. p. E-1.
- ^ "MeTV to Present Early Episodes of THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW" from Broadway World (April 4, 2019)
- ^ "Maya Rudolph is reviving the variety show – but is there still a place for it?". The Guardian. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
- ^ "Forget Donny & Marie. Maya Rudolph, NBC Bid To Revive TV's Variety Show" from Variety (May 17, 2014)
- ^ "TV Ratings Monday: 'Bones' & 'Mike & Molly' Dip for Finales, 'The Voice' Rises + '24: Live Another Day' Slides & 'The Bachelorette' Ties Premiere Low" from TV By The Numbers/Zap2It (May 20, 2014)
- ^ Joe Adalian (6 May 2015). "Neil Patrick Harris Variety Show Now Has a Name -- Vulture". Vulture.
- Daily News. New York. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
- ^ a b Scott Collins; Joe Flint (December 24, 2011). "The Christmas variety TV special is out of season". Los Angeles Times.
- ISBN 978-0-8420-2559-1.
- ^ CASTRO, DANIEL (2021-04-30). "De saída da Globo, Fausto Silva fecha contrato de cinco anos com a Band". Notícias da TV (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ "Como Faustão foi 'proibido' pela Globo de ser anunciado na Band". tvefamosos.uol.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ISTOÉ(in Brazilian Portuguese). 2021-09-04. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
- ^ Oliveira, Gabriel de (2022-09-12). "Band muda programação e coloca novela dividindo horário com Faustão". TV Pop (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ "نگاهی به تاریخچه تلویزیون ملی ایران؛ جام جهاننمای محبوب دلها".
- ^ Gerow, Aaron (2010), "Kind Participation: Postmodern Consumption and Capital with Japan's Telop TV", in Yoshimoto, Mitsuhiro (ed.), Television, Japan, and Globalization, Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, pp. 117–150
External links
The dictionary definition of variety show at Wiktionary
- The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment digitized items from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress