''The Midnight Special'' is an American late-night musical variety series originally broadcast on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by

Burt Sugarman Burton Roy Sugarman (born January 4, 1939) is an American film and television producer best known for creating and producing the iconic 1970s/early '80s variety series '' The Midnight Special'', which served as a showcase for popular musical group ...

. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981.Promotional site for the DVD re-issue
The 90-minute program followed the Friday night edition of '' The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Like its syndicated late-night cousin '' Don Kirshner's Rock Concert'', the show typically featured guest hosts, except for a period from July 1975 through March 1976 when singer Helen Reddy served as the regular host. Wolfman Jack served as the announcer and frequent guest host. The program's theme song, a traditional folk song called " Midnight Special", was performed by Johnny Rivers. ''The Midnight Special'' was noted for featuring musical acts performing live, which was unusual since most television appearances during the era showed performers lip-synching to prerecorded music. The series also occasionally aired vintage footage of older acts, such as

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...

. The program also featured occasional performances of comedians such as Richard Pryor, Andy Kaufman, and

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...

History

In 1972, producer

pitched the program as a means for NBC to capitalize on ''The Tonight Show''s large audience. At the time, none of the Big Three television networks had programming on after 1:00 am Eastern time, as common practice by most stations was to sign off after the final program. Despite a lack of competition in that timeslot, NBC initially rejected the idea. The rejection led Sugarman to buy the air time for the premiere on his own as a brokered show, convincing

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

to become the show's first sponsor. It premiered with ratings high enough for NBC to reconsider its decision, and the network subsequently bought the program. NBC also reasoned that the additional weekly hour and a half of programming would allow NBC to recoup some revenue lost as a result of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which banned the advertising of tobacco on television effective January 1, 1971.Tom Snyder on ''Later'', 1994
/ref> The program remained a part of NBC's late-night lineup until 1981. The pilot for the series aired on August 19, 1972. It was presented as a 90-minute special encouraging young people to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. Several months later, on February 2, 1973, it premiered as a weekly series. Within eight months of its premiere, ''The Midnight Special'' had proven that programming in the later time period was viable, and NBC would expand its programming in the time slot to five days a week with the addition of the talk show '' Tomorrow,'' hosted by Tom Snyder, the other four nights. ''The Midnight Special''s original time slot was from 1:00–2:30 a.m. in the Eastern and Pacific time zones (Midnight to 1:30 a.m.

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

). When '' The Tonight Show's'' run time was shortened from ninety to sixty minutes in September 1980, ''The Midnight Special'' was moved to 12:30 a.m. (ET/PT)/11:30 p.m. (CT/MT), maintaining its 90-minute run time. In 1978, at the height of the

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

craze, the set was changed to resemble a disco nightclub complete with a platform dance floor. Wolfman Jack stood behind an elevated DJ booth. By fall 1979, as the genre's popularity waned, the disco set was replaced.

Guest stars

Some notable guest stars and hosts included: *

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* AC/DC *

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* America *

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* New Birth * Badfinger * The Bay City Rollers * The Beach Boys * The Bee Gees * Chuck Berry * Blondie *

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* Bread *

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* James Brown *

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* The Chambers Brothers * Jerry Bell *

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* Lou Christie * Petula Clark * Jim Croce * Billy Crystal * Bo Diddley * The Doobie Brothers * Earth, Wind & Fire * Electric Light Orchestra *

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* Jose Feliciano * Fleetwood Mac * Flo & Eddie *

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* Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons * Marvin Gaye *

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* Andy Gibb * Lesley Gore * Gladys Knight & The Pips * Golden Earring *Goldstar *

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

* The Guess Who *

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* Janis Ian * Wolfman Jack * The Jackson 5 * Rick James * Billy Joel *

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* Journey * KC and the Sunshine Band * Andy Kaufman * B.B. King *

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* Kris Kristofferson *

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* Little Feat *

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* Steve Martin *

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* Van Morrison *

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* The New York Dolls *

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* Richard Pryor *

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* Helen Reddy *

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* Minnie Riperton *

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* Lynn Anderson * Rare Earth *

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* T. Rex * Rufus * Todd Rundgren * The Shadows of Knight * The Spinners * The Sylvers *

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* Sugarloaf * Donna Summer * Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers *

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* Thin Lizzy * Ike & Tina Turner Revue * Village People * War * Jennifer Warnes *

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* Barry White *

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* Gary Wright *

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had more appearances than any other band with seven. *:

were introduced in 1974 singing 'Let the Good Times Roll', when actually 'Lee' wasn't on stage; 'Shirley' was singing with Steeltown Records Founder and Hollywood Shuffle actor Lou 'Ludie' Washington. *:The show presented ''

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'', the last performance of

as Ziggy Stardust. It was broadcast on November 16, 1973, and was taped a month earlier from specially-commissioned performances at the

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Cancellation

The series was canceled by NBC at the request of Dick Ebersol as part of a deal for him to take over the then-ailing ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

''.Dick Ebersol
from the

Museum of Broadcast Communications The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum, the stated mission of which is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain through our arc ...

Because there was no time for NBC to develop a new show from scratch in light of the urgent ''SNL'' situation, ''The Midnight Special'' was replaced by '' SCTV'', a weekly Canadian sketch comedy series performed by members of the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

satellite of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

's The Second City improvisational troupe. That program, in turn, would later be replaced with another music show, ''

Friday Night Videos ''Friday Night Videos'' (later becoming ''Friday Night'' and then ''Late Friday'') is an American music video show that was broadcast on NBC from July 29, 1983 to May 24, 2002. It was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularit ...

,'' in 1983, also produced initially by Ebersol.

DVD release

In 2006, a DVD collection entitled ''Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special'' was made available by

Guthy-Renker Guthy-Renker ( ) is a California-based direct-response marketing company that sells health and beauty products directly to consumers through infomercials, television ads, direct mail, telemarketing, e-mail marketing, and the Internet. Many of ...

through television and radio

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s. In 2014, an 11-DVD collection entitled ''The Midnight Special'' was released by Star-Vista through standard retail channels.

References

Notes Bibliography * McNeil, Alexander M. (1980) ''Total Television'', New York: Penguin Books, Ltd.

External links