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Dolly (TV Series)
''Dolly'' is an American variety show starring Dolly Parton that aired on ABC from September 27, 1987 to May 7, 1988. Guest stars included Tammy Wynette, Merle Haggard, Tyne Daly, Bruce Willis, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Petty, Juice Newton, Tom Selleck, the Neville Brothers, Dudley Moore, and Oprah Winfrey. Tyne Daly's appearance on the show, in which she sang a duet with Parton, directly led to Daly being cast in the lead role in the 1989 Broadway production of '' Gypsy''. Production On March 23, 1987, ABC-TV announced that it had signed Parton to star in a one-hour variety show set to begin airing in the fall. Banking on Parton's talent and appeal, ABC reportedly paid her (equivalent to $ in ) for a two-year contract. To bolster the odds they brought in veteran variety show writers Buddy Sheffield, John Aylesworth, Jack Burns and producer Nick Vanoff. Parton also hired then-relatively-unknown Brett Butler as one of the writers. Bruce Vilanch and Fannie Flagg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album debut in 1967 with ''Hello, I'm Dolly'', which led to success during the remainder of the 1960s (both as a solo artist and with a series of duet albums with Porter Wagoner), before her sales and chart peak came during the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. Parton's albums in the 1990s did not sell as well, but she achieved commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly Records. She has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Parton's music includes Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. She has had 25 singles reach no.1 on the '' Billboard'' country music charts, a record fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writer-performers in the comedy revue '' Beyond the Fringe'' from 1960 that created a boom in satiric comedy, and with a member of that team, Peter Cook, collaborated on the BBC television series '' Not Only... But Also''. As a popular double act, Moore’s buffoonery contrasted with Cook’s deadpan monologues. They jointly received the 1966 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance. They worked together on other projects until the mid 1970s, by which time Moore had settled in Los Angeles to concentrate on his film acting. His career as a comedy film actor was marked by hit films, particularly '' Bedazzled'' (1967), set in Swinging Sixties London (in which he co-starred with Cook) and Hollywood productions '' Foul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cher (TV Series)
''Cher'' was an American variety show that premiered on CBS in 1975, hosted by singer-actress Cher. The show had many famous musical guests. It followed a TV special featuring Elton John, Bette Midler, and Flip Wilson as guests. ''Cher'' premiered at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 16, 1975, and finished the season ranked first among variety shows and twenty-second among all programs, with a 21.3 average household share, also receiving the most fan mail of any CBS program at the time. The first season aired Sundays at 7:30 and the second aired at 8:00. Overview The show featured Cher interviewing various celebrity guests ranging from musicians to actors and pop culture figures. The series also featured sketches and comedic field reports. Cher would also perform her songs with a live band. David Geffen, with whom Cher had an affair while waiting for her divorce from Sonny Bono to be finalized, served as producer. With Sonny, Cher had co-starred in ''The Sonny & Cher Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' was an American variety show that starred American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was cancelled in May 1974, due to the couple's divorce, but the duo reunited in 1976 for the similarly formatted ''The Sonny & Cher Show'' (a title sporadically used during the run of the ''Comedy Hour''), which ran for two seasons, ending August 29, 1977. ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' (1971–1974) By 1971, Sonny & Cher had stopped producing hit singles as a duet act. Cher's first feature film, ''Chastity'', was not a success, and the duo decided to sing and tell jokes in nightclubs across the country. CBS head of programming Fred Silverman saw them one evening and offered them their own show. ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' was originally supposed to be a summer replacement series, but high ratings gave Silverman sufficient reason t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Carol Burnett Show
''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. In 1975, frequent guest star Tim Conway became a regular after Waggoner left the series. In 1977, Dick Van Dyke replaced Korman but it was agreed that he was not a match and he left after 10 episodes. The series originated in CBS Television City's Studio 33, and won 25 primetime Emmy Awards. In 2013, ''TV Guide'' ranked ''The Carol Burnett Show'' number 17 on its list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time, and in 2007 it was included on the list of ''Time''s 100 Best TV Shows of All Time. After the original run ended, material from 1972 to 1977 (seasons 6–10) was repackaged as a half-hour series known as ''Carol Burnett and Friends'', which has aired in various syndicated outlets more-or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen ratings, an audience measurement system of television viewership that for years has been the deciding factor in canceling or renewing television shows by television networks. As of May 2012, it is part of Nielsen Holdings. NMR began as a division of ACNielsen, a 1923-founded marketing research firm. In 1996, NMR was split off into an independent company, and in 1999, was purchased by the Dutch conglomerate VNU. In 2001, VNU also purchased ACNielsen, thereby bringing both companies under the same corporate umbrella. NMR is also a sister company to Nielsen//NetRatings, which measures Internet and digital media audiences. VNU was reorganized and renamed the Nielsen Company in 2007. History The Nielsen TV Ratings have been produced in the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fannie Flagg
Fannie Flagg (born Patricia Neal; September 21, 1944) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is best known as a semi-regular panelist on the 1973–1982 versions of the game show ''Match Game'' and for the 1987 novel '' Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe'', which was adapted into the 1991 motion picture '' Fried Green Tomatoes''. She was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay adaptation. Flagg lives in California and Alabama. Early life Born Patricia Neal in Birmingham, Alabama, Flagg is the only child of Marion Leona ( née LeGore) and William Hurbert Neal Jr. Aside from a brief period on the Gulf Coast near the town of Point Clear, Flagg spent her childhood in the Birmingham area. Encouraged by her father, Flagg became interested in writing and performing at an early age, writing her first stage play when she was only 10 years old. As a teen, she entered the Miss Alabama pageant, where she won a scholarship to a local acting school for one yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Vilanch
Bruce Gerald Vilanch (born November 23, 1948) is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winner. Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on ''Hollywood Squares'', as a celebrity participant; behind the scenes he was head writer for the show. In 2000, he performed off-Broadway in his self-penned one-man show, ''Bruce Vilanch: Almost Famous''. From 2000 to 2014, Vilanch was the head writer for the Oscars, after being an Oscar program co-writer for the previous ten years. He is a featured writer for the Tonys, Grammys, and Emmys. Early life and education Vilanch was born in New York City and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. When he was four days old, he was adopted by Jonas Vilanch, an optometrist, and his wife Henne, a housewife. Having her own theatrical aspirations, Vilanch's mother helped launch her son's show business career by getting him signed on with Lane Bryant's Charming Chub division as a chubby child model. Upon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brett Butler (actress)
Brett Butler (born January 30, 1958) is an American actress, writer, and stand-up comedian. She is best known for playing the title role in the ABC comedy series ''Grace Under Fire'' (1993–1998), for which she received two Golden Globe Awards nominations. Life and career Early life Butler was born Brett Anderson in Montgomery, Alabama, the eldest of five sisters. She was four years old when her father, Roland Decatur Anderson Jr., an oil company executive, moved the family to Houston, Texas. Her mother Carol left Roland, an abusive alcoholic, and moved with their children to Miami, Florida. Her mother battled depression, and the family was sometimes so poor that they ate Tootsie Rolls for dinner. Butler briefly attended the University of Georgia. Before experiencing success as a stand-up comic, she worked as a cocktail waitress. In 1978, at the age of 20, Butler married her first husband, Charles Michael Wilson, three months after their meeting. Wilson was abusive and in 198 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Burns
John Francis Burns (November 15, 1933 – January 27, 2020) was an American comedian, actor, voice actor, writer, and producer. During the 1960s, he was part of two comedy partnerships, first with George Carlin and later with Avery Schreiber. By the 1970s, he had transitioned to working behind the camera as a writer and producer on such comedy series as ''The Muppet Show'' and ''Hee Haw''. Biography Burns enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1952. It wasn't long before Burns realized a military life was not for him: "the first week of boot camp changed my mind." He served in Korea, rose to the rank of sergeant, and was discharged around 1954. Burns began his comedy career in 1959, when he partnered with George Carlin; both were working for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth, Texas. After successful performances at a Fort Worth beat coffeehouse, The Cellar, Burns and Carlin headed for California in February 1960 and continued to work together for two more years. An al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Aylesworth
John Bansley Aylesworth (August 18, 1928 – July 28, 2010) was a Canadian television writer, producer, comedian, and actor, best known as co-creator of the American country music television variety show ''Hee Haw'', which appeared on network television for two years and then ran for decades in first-run syndication. Early career at CBC The son of Fredrick and Marie Aylesworth, John Bansley Aylesworth was born on August 18, 1928, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and performed on radio as a child. He left high school before graduating and went into the advertising business, joining MacLaren Advertising as a writer, where he worked together with Frank Peppiatt. His wife recalled that they "were total cutups at the agency" and were approached by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation based on their reputation to write sketches for the late night variety program '' After Hours''. At this point they officially became the comedy team of Peppiatt and Aylesworth. Peppiatt & Aylesworth were Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddy Sheffield
Morris Taylor "Buddy" Sheffield is an American comedy writer, producer and composer. He is probably best known as Emmy-nominated head writer on Fox TV's breakthrough sketch comedy series, ''In Living Color'', having written such favorites as "Homey Claus", "Homeboy Shopping Network", "This Old Box" and "Men on Books". Sheffield, who is white and was raised in the rural south, won an NAACP Image Award for his work on the show. Prior to that he had spent 10 years writing for dozens of performers ranging from Dolly Parton to the Smothers Brothers. Sheffield co-created the teen hit '' Roundhouse'' on Nickelodeon in the 1990s, often cited as revolutionary for its frenetically paced staging and sophisticated satire involving real teen issues. Roundhouse was shot in real-time before a live audience and was described by one critic as "like seeing all the high points of a smash Broadway show in half an hour." Sheffield created the show with his former wife, Rita Hester, with whom he had f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
