The Decline of the Variety Show on American Television

Sonny & Cher

It was on this date that The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour debuted on CBS. In many ways, along with The Flip Wilson Show, it was a last hurrah for variety shows. The format had been popular on American television from their inception in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, but while the 1970s the majority of variety shows saw only moderate success. Some only lasted a few months or a few weeks.

Variety shows were an old form entertainment even as they made their way to television in the late Forties. They had their origins in the music halls of United Kingdom and vaudeville in the United States during the Victorian Era. Both the music halls of the United Kingdom and vaudeville in the United States often featured a variety of acts on one evening's bill. For instance, a singer might be followed by a magician who might be followed by acrobats and who in turn might be followed by a comedian. The British music halls faded after 1918, while American vaudeville largely vanished from view after 1930.

Of course, the variety format was hardly dead, as it found its way to radio. Many of the early variety shows on radio were hosted by individuals who had honed their craft on the vaudeville circuit. Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Fanny Brice, Edgard Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and yet others had all started on vaudeville. Of course, radio would eventually produce its own variety show stars who had little or no connection to vaudeville, including Goodman Ace and Arthur Godfrey, among others.

Given their popularity on television, it was inevitable that variety shows would find their way to television. The first regularly scheduled variety show, Hour Glass, debuted on May 9, 1946 on NBC.Hour Glass would not last long, but it paved the way for more successful variety shows. Toast of the Town, hosted by newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan debuted on June 20, 1948 and ran until 1971. It was renamed The Ed Sullivan Show, by which it was informally known, in 1955. The Ed Sullivan Show was a variety show in the truest sense. For example, its most famous episode, aired on February 9, 1964, not only introduced the United States to The Beatles, but featured such diverse acts as the cast of Oliver, comedian and impressionist Frank Gorshin, singer Tessie O'Shea, the comedy team of McCall and Brill, and the acrobats Welly and the Four Fays. Toast of the Town was not the only successful variety show to emerge in the late Forties. Texaco Star Theatre, hosted by Milton Berle, Arthur Godfrey and His Friends The Arthur Murray Party, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Garry Moore Show, and others emerged in the late 1940s and saw a good deal of success.

The variety show would continue to see a good deal of success in the 1950s, with many of the shows that debuted in the late 1940s continuing through the decade. The 1950s also saw the debut of such successful variety shows as The Red Skelton Show, The Dinah Shore Show, The George Gobel Show, and others. An argument can be made the 1960s may have been the height of the variety show on television in the United States. The decade saw the debut of such hits as a new version of The Jackie Gleason Show, a new primetime version of The Garry Moore Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Dean Martin Show, The Carol Burnett Show,  The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Hee-Haw, and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.  From the Fifties into the Sixties, variety shows did evolve. More and more as time passed, variety shows began to only feature music and comedy sketches, doing away with such variety acts as acrobats and magicians.

At the start of the Seventies, it must not have seem possible that there would be a time when variety shows weren't airing on American television. While The Ed Sullivan Show and The Red Skelton Show were cancelled due to the Rural Purge (Red Skelton would move to NBC for one last season), there were still plenty of other variety shows on the air, including The Carol Burnett Show and The Dean Martin Show. For many, the success of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour may have signalled that the variety show was here to stay. As it turned out, it was not the case.

While The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour would be a hit, there would be fewer hit variety shows on American television than in previous decades. The Flip Wilson Show and The Muppet Show, proved to be hits, whle Donny & Marie, and Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters saw some success. The Mac Davis Show and Tony Orlando & Dawn both lasted about two seasons. Regardless, there were many more shows that lasted only a season. Some didn't even last that. Even having a big name host might not save a variety show from low ratings in the Seventies. Helen Reddy had topped the charts in the early to mid-Seventies, but The Helen Reddy Show only lasted eight episodes. Van Dyke and Company, starring the legendary Dick Van Dyke, only lasted for three months. Others had even briefer runs. The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour only lasted for five episodes. 

By the early 1980s, the writing was on the wall for variety shows. During the 1981-1982 season, only two variety shows aired. The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour only lasted for five episodes. Barbara Mandell and the Mandrell Sisters was still on the air and lasted the entire season, but it ended its run because of strain on Barbara Mandrell's vocal cords. The 1982-1983 season saw no variety shows on American network television, the first such season since 1948. While variety shows have aired on the American networks since, none have seen any real success.

It is difficult to say why variety shows fell out of vogue, but it seems likely that there were multiple reasons. Among the biggest reasons may have been changing music tastes in the American public. e sort of traditional American pop, sung by artists from Bing Crosby to Andy Williams, began to decline in popularity with the rise of rock 'n' roll in the Fifties. American music would diversify even more as the Sixties became the Seventies. Quite simply, it became increasingly difficult to find a musical performer who would appeal to a wide swathe of the American public the same way that erry Como, Bing Crosby, or Andy Williams had. As to rock and R&B  performers, they might make appearances on variety shows, but the vast majority apparently showed no interest in hosting one. The 1976 summer replacement series The Jacksons was an exception.

Another reason for the fall of the variety show may have been that American television itself began to diversify. It is perhaps no coincidence that the decline of the variety show took place at roughly the same time as the rise of cable television. From the beginning of network broadcasts in the mid to late Forties into the Eighties, many hen many communities in the United States had access to as few as two to three TV channels.  The Seventies and Eighties saw enormous growth for cable television and hence cable channels. Many households went from having access to only a few channels to many channels. This meant the networks had more competition than they ever had before. Through the Eighties, Nineties, and Naughts, the broadcast networks would gradually lose their audience to the numerous cable channels that had emerged. It's possible one of the victims of this phenomenon is that variety shows lost what remaining audience they had.

Yet another possible reason for the decline of variety shows could be considered entirely subjective. Quite simply, many of them were just plain bad. Pink Lady and Jeff is often counted among the worst shows of all time, but it was not alone receiving terrible reviews where variety shows are concerned. The Brady Bunch Variety Hour wasn't nearly as bas as Pink Lady and Jeff, but it didn't receive very good reviews either. The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour, hosted by two life-size puppets, received absolutely wretched reviews. While Jim Stafford had a string of novelty hits in the early to mid-Seventies, The Jim Stafford Show was largely panned. By the time many of these shows aired, the variety show was already going down. It seems possible that they may have actually hastened its demise.

The variety show would have an impact on sketch comedy shows, such as Saturday Night Live, In Living Color, and Culture Clash, as well as late night talk shows, but the format is pretty much extinct on American television. That is a shame, as the variety shows of old gave audiences, well, variety. One could tune into The Ed Sullivan Show and see musicians, comedians, and even acrobats and magicians. Unlike episodic and serial television shows, one could come into the middle of a variety show without worry of having missed something. Variety shows are now  a thing of the past, and it is sad that they became so.