''Dinah!'' is a daytime
variety talk show
A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
that was hosted by singer and actress
Dinah Shore. The series was distributed by
20th Century Fox Television
20th Television, Inc. (formerly known as TCF Television Productions, Inc., 20th Century-Fox Television and 20th Century Fox Television) is the television studio arm of 20th Century Studios, owned by Disney Television Studios, a division of the Di ...
and premiered on October 21, 1974, in
syndication. In 1979, the show became known as ''Dinah and Friends'' and remained so until it ended its run in 1980. The show's announcer was
Johnny Gilbert.
Like other syndicated talk/entertainment shows of the day, such as ''
The Merv Griffin Show'' and ''
The Mike Douglas Show
''The Mike Douglas Show'' is an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland in 1961 before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went i ...
'', ''Dinah!'' was focused on celebrity interviews promoting recent motion pictures, books and other television programs. It was a popular forum for musical acts receiving national exposure performing short song sets followed by a sit-down interview with Shore. A highly successful vocalist and recording artist herself, Shore would usually sing at least one song on each program, either greeting the television viewing audience or saying goodbye to them at the end; she sometimes dueted with musical guests. Each episode was ninety minutes in length.
''Dinah!'' would often do entire 90-minute episodes devoted to one television series; for example, there was an episode saluting ''
The Waltons
''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural mountainous Western Virginia of the Appalachian Mountains / Allegheny Mountains / Blue Ridge Mountains chain, during the economic hardships and mass unemp ...
'' which featured the entire cast, including the child cast members, and the series creator
Earl Hamner Jr. During the show, Shore did a musical salute to the year 1935, which would have been in the time period in which ''The Waltons'' took place. Another series that was saluted was ''
M*A*S*H''. Again, the entire cast appeared,
Gary Burghoff ("
Radar O'Reilly") played the drums, and the musical salute was to 1951.
Production
Origins
The show was the successor to Shore's previous variety effort, ''Dinah's Place'', which aired from 1970 until 1974 on
NBC and was cancelled to make way for a network edition of the then-syndicated game show ''
Name That Tune''.
References
External links
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1974 American television series debuts
1980 American television series endings
1970s American television talk shows
1980s American television talk shows
1970s American variety television series
1980s American variety television series
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show winners
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Television series by 20th Century Fox Television
Dinah Shore
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