The Jacksons Variety Show

Can anyone help me track down the CORRECT air dates for The Jacksons Variety Show. On every episode guide website I've been to, the air dates for season 2 are completely wrong. For example, on the Wikipedia page for the series, it says that the first episode of season 2 (the Redd Foxx episode) aired on January 19, 1977. However, various promotional photos with press releases have confirmed that it aired on January 26, 1977. There's even a promo for the episode on YouTube confirming it. I've also tracked down various press releases and newspapers to find the correct airdates for most of the episodes:

January 26, 1977: Redd Foxx episode
February 2, 1977: Carrol o' Connor episode
February 9, 1977: Tim Conway episode
February 16, 1977: pre-Empted for "Monte Carlo Circus Festival" (Lynda Carter episode possibly scheduled)
February 23, 1977: Dom DeLuise episode
March 2, 1977: Betty White episode
March 9, 1977: Giorgia Engel episode
March 16, 1977: pre-empted for "The Body Human: The Miracle Months"
March 23, 1977: John Byner episode pre-empted for "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" premiere.

So far, I have found absolutely NO press releases for the Lynda Carter episode, but I'm guessing it was either scheduled to air last or maybe on 2/16/77. I'm convinced that the Lynda Carter and John Byner episodes never even aired during the shows initial run.

It's also worth mentioning that all 12 episodes of the show aired on the German channel SAT1 between September 14, and October 12, 1993, most of the videos of the show that have circulated online are sourced from tapes of those SAT1 airings (you can tell by the rainbow balloon logo in the top left corner of the screen). I'm interested to know what order they aired the episodes in. If anybody knows more about the broadcast history and correct airdates for the show, I would greatly appreciate it!

Here are some links I used as sources:

https://www.atvaudio.com/ata_search.php?keywords=JACKSONS,+THE



https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/jacksons-michael-jackson-1977-cbs-tv-494489191

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1977-vintage-jackson-family-press-4737852705

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1977-cbs-press-release-tim-conway-51413537

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/michael-jackson-john-byner-mechanical-1822943006

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-t...son-dom-deluise-season-1-aired-128563335.html

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-t...net-jackson-betty-white-rebbie-128563341.html

Thank you for the thread! I want to find the full show, before it was in Internet way jack machine but it disappeared since

I find another one just here !

Michaelounet said:

I find another one just here

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MJ hated doing these shows but I'm so glad he did because it really showcases the raw talent he had.

My favorite is his performance of Blues Away. The arrangement is slightly different than the album version and finishes very funky.

These shows were really weird... but yeah, I love see him dance like Fred Astaire!

Michaelounet said:

These shows were really weird... but yeah, I love see him dance like Fred Astaire!

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Uhmmm NOT the right description of these shows at all I would like to say and sounds quite dismissive to me honestly "really weird" ?????
They are my most favorite MJ tv moments ever! These shows are ICONIC and a huge part of Michael's Legacy so describing them as weird is unfairly judgemental about something way bigger than just any AFRICAN AMERICAN show in the 1970's that was anywhere near the power and influence of the entire Jackson Family commited to entertaining the entire world on their backs, dancing and singing their hearts out for their fans!

You are of course welcome to your own opinion, I just wanted you to see much more than something you label of Michael's as very weird, but if you seriously don't see anything but really weird that's totally cool too!
I have to Agree to STRONGLY disagree with your negative choice of words you used here, you do not have to love everything he has ever done, that is not what I mean, but what I am saying is that there IS a level of respect that is due to him even if ppl like his work or not it is still the most important foundations of HIS work to me in my own opinion of course!

Byeeeee

No, it's not really about Michael, but more about the producers and their choices. There's a moment where women dressed in belly dancing outfits come on stage, and that sketch makes me uncomfortable. Another moment, they do a stereotypical Jamaican dance, included just because they're Black. I know it was supposed to be funny, but personally, it doesn't make me laugh; it makes me more uncomfortable.

Some of the moments with Michael are really cool, and even some of the sketches are funny! But most of the show leaves me with a feeling of unease. Michael himself didn't enjoy doing those shows, and personally, I wouldn't have liked doing them either. They made him and his brothers look like clowns, and the sisters were treated like that too. Some of the sketches are cute, but others are a bit silly, but it's not the first time the Jackson 5 (and later the Jacksons) have done this kind of TV show. I think what was good about it was that the sketches were perhaps a little less ridiculous and also shorter. They were segments of about twenty or thirty minutes, maybe an hour at most, interspersed with singing and dancing.

All of this is just my opinion. I'm glad you enjoyed the sketches, and Michael, in my opinion, is still super cute in some of them, but that's all. And I don't disrespect Michael at all; it's the choices of the producers and writers that puzzle me.

Michaelounet said:

No, it's not really about Michael, but more about the producers and their choices. There's a moment where women dressed in belly dancing outfits come on stage, and that sketch makes me uncomfortable. Another moment, they do a stereotypical Jamaican dance, included just because they're Black. I know it was supposed to be funny, but personally, it doesn't make me laugh; it makes me more uncomfortable.

Some of the moments with Michael are really cool, and even some of the sketches are funny! But most of the show leaves me with a feeling of unease. Michael himself didn't enjoy doing those shows, and personally, I wouldn't have liked doing them either. They made him and his brothers look like clowns, and the sisters were treated like that too. Some of the sketches are cute, but others are a bit silly, but it's not the first time the Jackson 5 (and later the Jacksons) have done this kind of TV show. I think what was good about it was that the sketches were perhaps a little less ridiculous and also shorter. They were segments of about twenty or thirty minutes, maybe an hour at most, interspersed with singing and dancing.

All of this is just my opinion. I'm glad you enjoyed the sketches, and Michael, in my opinion, is still super cute in some of them, but that's all. And I don't respect Michael at all; it's the choices of the producers and writers that puzzle me.

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Thank you so very much for clearing this up for me, now I can see what you actually meant, and appreciate you sharing this so I can know you better!!!
I have to tell you that back in those days RACISM was that type of UGLY in the tv world and it was hell ngl!
What is the most incredible and facinating thing that happened here was this show BROKE DOWN THE BARRIERS for all people of color back then!
What makes me so happy to hear you say that the within the context of the episodes that producers and writers created for them made even you "uncomfortable and unease", because that means to me that you recognized the racism in your own opinion and you would never agree with it!
Very proud of you that you do not see COLOR like they did back then! Life was just so literally Black & White (pun intended lol)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your time @Michaelounet

Back then, seeing Black people on television meant breaking racial barriers. But I really want to emphasize that it's not just that. The way you portray them also matters. And yes, that's what made me uncomfortable. I didn't explain it well in my first message, and I'm sorry about that. Thank you for your comment; it's appreciated. The way we see things today isn't the same as it was 50 years ago!

Michaelounet said:

Back then, seeing Black people on television meant breaking racial barriers. But I really want to emphasize that it's not just that.

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Michaelounet said:

The way you portray them also matters. And yes, that's what made me uncomfortable.

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Michaelounet said:

I didn't explain it well in my first message, and I'm sorry about that.

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Michaelounet said:

Thank you for your comment; it's appreciated.

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Michaelounet said:

The way we see things today isn't the same as it was 50 years ago!

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And this comment right here is why I love your GENERATION so much!! I pray with all my heart that you guys NEVER suffer the pain and indignity of the RACISM our ancestors and the millions that suffered before that did not survive!
We have somehow lived through the worst and most horrific enslavement of a race of people who were not considered human as it was 60yrs ago! The more we understand that it is not just about the barriers and opening doors for the next generations to walk through, it is most vital that the WAYS that WE are portrayed on TV by them to US it really matters.

Your amazing thanks to you we caould have such a deep and thoughtful conversation about a subject that matters very much to US both!

Michaelounet said:

They made him and his brothers look like clowns

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They were supposed to. That was the whole point. Just like the writers of Only Fools and Horses made Trigger look like a clown. Just like The Two Ronnies looked like clowns during Four Candles.

Michaelounet said:

Back then, seeing Black people on television meant breaking racial barriers.

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Huh? There were plenty of shows with black people. One of the first TV shows I can ever remember is Diff'rent Strokes. By that point you'd already had The Bill Cosby Show and Love Thy Neighbour and a dozen others.

Not everything has to be "groundbreaking" just because MJ was involved.

Michaelounet said:

The way we see things today isn't the same as it was 50 years ago!

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I think that's the most important thing. All of this stuff is with the benefit of hindsight. There was nothing "uncomfortable" about TV back then. People loved those shows. It seems to me like the Jacksons show was a perfectly normal variety show just like many others.

Wow!

Yes, it definitely broke down racial barriers because it was a step away from the racial segregation of the 60s. Michael wasn't the first Black person to be on MTV, but he was the first to achieve such phenomenal success.

There's a difference between being funny and being awkward and ridiculous, yeah! Michael himself said so; I suggest you refer to what he said in his book, Moonwalk, about how he felt at the time. The Jacksons didn't want to make people laugh or be clowns, they are singers at the base.

And finally, yes, it made me uncomfortable. Good for you if it didn't for you, but for me and others, especially at the time, it did. Many people also made fun of the artists who appeared on those shows.

Thanks everyone for the comments!

I can definitely understand why Michael hated the show, but at the same time, it had its high points. The silly sketches were of course the biggest issue. Like Michael said, they made The Jacksons look like clowns and that distorted their image and their identity. One week, he's wearing a fat suit, the next week he's dressed like Pinocchio, and so on. Michael himself didn't even think he was funny or see himself as a TV show host. And of course, the production value wasn't great as he pointed out. The sets were often small and had poor lighting. Worst of all, rushed production schedules meant that there was little time to perfect. This is apparent in many sketches where some of his siblings' moves look a little sloppy. And don't get me started on that "Good Times" performance (I'll have to look and see which episode it was).

At the same time, the show definitely shows Michael's raw talent (as many others have pointed out). He got to show off his tap-dancing skills in many episodes, and he really got those robot/popping and locking moves down packed (see the lockers skit from the Dom DeLuise episode)! I also really like that we got to see a glimpse of the Jackson sisters performing as a group! There was even talk after that of them recording an album together (of course that never happened). But the variety show gives a nice glimpse into that. And let's not forget that it gave Janet her first starring role in a television show, which caught the attention of Norman Lear and the rest is history! And speaking of live performances, the variety show offers some of the only known performances of strong deep cuts like "[You Were Made] Especially for Me", "What You Don't Know" and "I Can't Quit Your Love". The tracks were clearly pre-recorded and lip-synced, but it's still cool hearing those alternate recordings. I would love for them to release those recordings in an album one day!

Despite the silliness of some of the sketches, many of the performances were really well done. Some, dare I say, were a precursor to Michael's later work. For example, there's a Fred Astaire style performance on at least one episode that's quite similar to "Smooth Criminal"! Then there's the nicely done "Cisco Kid/I Shot the Sherrif" skit, which seems to be a favorite among fans. "Smooth Criminal" was in fact going to be a Western themed short film in the beginning, and the variety show skit is kind of similar to the "Smooth Criminal" short film concept. With some tweaking, I could see Michael doing a short film like that. The producer of the show described in an interview how upset Michael was that they were not able to build higher quality props in that performance. I don't like the way that dumb producer talks about Michael "changing his face" or whatever in that interview, but anyway it's a Television Academy interview that you can find on YouTube.

So yeah, I guess I just look at that show as being both bad and good in a way, but I try to focus on the good. Just like his first three adult albums (Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad) which were produced by a stupid person but had good songs on them. I wanted to post some information on the show's actual airdates because it struck me that the dates circulating in the fan community are WRONG! I was kind of surprised that the experts who have made timelines of Michael's career didn't catch that before. I'm still trying to uncover the rest of the mystery though. I know that there are two episodes that couldn't have aired during the show's first run, but I know they were shown in reruns on some channels. I wonder if the episodes were rerun in a different order (which may have led to the confusion).

Yeah, the singing and dancing parts are the best!

Nevertheless, it had somewhat harmful consequences on their sales of shows during this time. People no longer took them too seriously and they struggled to take up a more credible image.

Thank you for your thread and message! The show was both with superb scenes but also less good...

You're Welcome!

Oh, and the episode with that funny "Good Times" performance is the one with John Byner. It starts at 16:39!

The Jacksons - Good Times

Michaelounet said:

I find another one just here !

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Thanks for the link! All 12 episodes in one long video!

I'm beginning to think that maybe this was the order that the show was syndicated in because it makes more sense than the original broadcast order. For example, the last two episodes in that compilation (with Lynda Carter and Tim Conway) have brighter lighting during the "On the Wall" segments. Those two were probably the last two produced.

I've always wanted to find some prints of those episodes without the annoying logo in the top left corner. That logo, by the way, is from the German channel SAT1, which reran the show briefly in 1993 (interestingly enough). I've seen some old clips online that don't have the logo, but I have no idea where to find the full episodes.

Some years back, the official Jacksons YouTube channel uploaded the performance of "Show You the Way to Go" from the show! It got a ton of negative comments, including one from Sven Nelson, who criticized the terrible picture quality. Nevertheless, it was the only officially uploaded clip from the series. The video was pulled down shortly afterward, but I finally tracked it down!

URL:
Thumbnail:
https://periodismo.ull.es/wp-conten...elebran-sus-50-a-os-de-m-sica-en-tenerife.jpg

Michaelounet said:

Nevertheless, it had somewhat harmful consequences on their sales of shows during this time. People no longer took them too seriously and they struggled to take up a more credible image.

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The show had little if anything to do with that. The Jackson 5 were a kid/teen idol act. Very few had any success into adulthood (in music or acting). When Donny Osmond had a comeback in the late 1980s, his label sent out his single to radio stations without telling them who it really was at first. Also, Motown did not do as much promotion on the last few albums. That was before they even signed with Epic.

A lot of entertainers had variety shows (or 1 time only TV specials) in the 1960s and 1970s. They were all kind of similar, songs with comedy skits. John Denver had a show in the 1970s and he was popular. There was the Dean Martin Roasts with a lot of popular celebrities of the time, same with the game show Hollywood Squares.

DuranDuran said:

The show had little if anything to do with that. The Jackson 5 were a kid/teen idol act. Very few had any success into adulthood (in music or acting). When Donny Osmond had a comeback in the late 1980s, his label sent out his single to radio stations without telling them who it really was at first. Also, Motown did not do as much promotion on the last few albums. That was before they even signed with Epic.

A lot of entertainers had variety shows (or 1 time only TV specials) in the 1960s and 1970s. They were all kind of similar, songs with comedy skits. John Denver had a show in the 1970s and he was popular. There was the Dean Martin Roasts with a lot of popular celebrities of the time, same with the game show Hollywood Squares.

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That might be true, but as Michael stated in Moonwalk, the show didn't help any. It messed up their image and overexposed them because fans would not have to rush to buy their records if they could watch them on TV every week. The album Goin Places was their lowest selling album and sold even less than The Jacksons. Destiny sold much better which proved that they could still be successful as an adult group. Of course, Destiny was stronger than the first 2 albums, but I'm sure if they had a variety show on at the time, it would have made the public take them less seriously as an adult group. The variety show sort of slowed their growth.

Soldier of Love said:

That might be true, but as Michael stated in Moonwalk, the show didn't help any. It messed up their image and overexposed them because fans would not have to rush to buy their records if they could watch them on TV every week. The album Goin Places was their lowest selling album and sold even less than The Jacksons. Destiny sold much better which proved that they could still be successful as an adult group. Of course, Destiny was stronger than the first 2 albums, but I'm sure if they had a variety show on at the time, it would have made the public take them less seriously as an adult group. The variety show sort of slowed their growth.

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Cher had 2 different variety shows during that time, one with Sonny and the other solo. It didn't seem to hurt her career. The main reason The Jacksons show existed is because they were basically doing the same thing in Las Vegas, a family variety program except people watched it live instead of it being filmed for TV. The Jacksons show wasn't even that popular in the ratings for them to be overexposed. During the early 1970s they had a Saturday morning cartoon show during the J5s biggest period of popularity. They also had a special Going Back To Indiana, which was the exact same format as the later show. It even had comedians (Bill Cosby, Tom Smothers from the Smothers Brothers). The Beatles had a cartoon show in the 1960s. The Monkees had a sitcom and they were popular at the time and they were discovered by a new audience when MTV re-ran the show in the mid-1980s..

DuranDuran said:

Cher had 2 different variety shows during that time, one with Sonny and the other solo. It didn't seem to hurt her career. The main reason The Jacksons show existed is because they were basically doing the same thing in Las Vegas, a family variety program except people watched it live instead of it being filmed for TV. The Jacksons show wasn't even that popular in the ratings for them to be overexposed. During the early 1970s they had a Saturday morning cartoon show during the J5s biggest period of popularity. They also had a special Going Back To Indiana, which was the exact same format as the later show. It even had comedians (Bill Cosby, Tom Smothers from the Smothers Brothers). The Beatles had a cartoon show in the 1960s. The Monkees had a sitcom and they were popular at the time and they were discovered by a new audience when MTV re-ran the show in the mid-1980s..

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I think that the earlier cartoon and Goin' Back to Indiana special worked better because the two complemented their image at the time. They were still seen as a bubblegum boy band that appealed to a younger audience. A Saturday morning cartoon that would appeal to kids was a clever marketing strategy that complemented their kid friendly image. By the time they left Motown, they were ready to move on to making more mature music. They needed and adult image, and they needed to be taken SERIOUSLY as adult musicians. The variety show was anything but serious. What may have worked on their Vegas Show roughly two years earlier didn't translate as well to TV at such an important point in their careers. The silly sketches were the main issue. Not saying that the variety show killed their careers or anything, but it probably hurt their careers more than the cartoon did.

But, on the other hand, it wasn't just the show, but the music itself. It was time for something different after Goin' Places. And it was time for them to take control of their careers. This meant self-producing their albums and writing most of the songs themselves. That's what they did on Destiny and Triumph, which is why they're much stronger than the first two. They only wrote and produced a couple of songs on The Jacksons and Goin' Places. Destiny in particular put them back on the charts with the hit song Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground). Destiny and Triumph are typically regarded as their best albums by fans, and I agree. So, I guess it was a mixture of the show and the music itself.

DuranDuran said:

The show had little if anything to do with that. The Jackson 5 were a kid/teen idol act. Very few had any success into adulthood (in music or acting). When Donny Osmond had a comeback in the late 1980s, his label sent out his single to radio stations without telling them who it really was at first. Also, Motown did not do as much promotion on the last few albums. That was before they even signed with Epic.

A lot of entertainers had variety shows (or 1 time only TV specials) in the 1960s and 1970s. They were all kind of similar, songs with comedy skits. John Denver had a show in the 1970s and he was popular. There was the Dean Martin Roasts with a lot of popular celebrities of the time, same with the game show Hollywood Squares.

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I think that despite their teen/idol status, they were taken more seriously nonetheless because there is a difference between love songs and "silly" sketches.

Michaelounet said:

I think that despite their teen/idol status, they were taken more seriously nonetheless because there is a difference between love songs and "silly" sketches.

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Elvis Presley made over 30 movies, which most of them were considered silly by critics. Yet he was and still is taken seriously (just not as an actor). He was labeled "The King Of Rock & Roll" by the media (but Mike is called "self-proclaimed King Of Pop"). Also, in the late 1970s The Jacksons music was considered disco, which was not taken seriously by the music magazines, nor rock music fans. There was the whole "Disco Sucks!" thing and the anti-disco riot at the baseball game. The Beatles did comedy sketches on TV shows although they didn't have a show themselves other than the cartoon, unless you count Magical Mystery Tour. Their movies A Hard Day's Night & Help are pretty much comedies. None of that hurt their popularity or the critical opinions of their music. They thing that did hurt them (in certain areas of the US) was John Lennon's comments about Jesus & Christianity. They got death threats and their plane was shot at in Texas,

If anybody was overexposed, it was The Beatles in the 1960s, and they still kinda are today. It was not The Jacksons in the late 1970s from a few episodes of a TV comedy show. The Jacksons/J5 as a group has never got the same amount of media coverage of Elvis or The Beatles. Yet the popularity of the Fab 4 never died. It just got passed down to younger generations. The Beatles also never got the primarily negative coverage as Mike did in his solo years. And he got that long before the allegations too. So you could say Mike has never really been taken seriously by the mainstream media. He was by the Black media like Ebony. He was considered an "entertainer" or a "song & dance man" and not a "real musician". I remember readers of Rolling Stone voted that Mike had the "worst comeback" with the Bad album.