Specials
5 Urgent, History-Referencing Rules for Seth MacFarlane's Variety Show
As part of network television’s pact to appease great-aunts and Satan, Fox will stage a new variety special, this one starring Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. The program, currently titled Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show, will run for 30 minutes without formal commercial breaks, instead opting to integrate “marketing messages throughout the program for Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system.” Spooky! Variety programming has a highly dubious past, but it’s rife with pointers for vaudevillian fledgling MacFarlane. Movieline investigates five cataclysmic variety specials and their lessons for MacFarlane after the jump.
Rosie Live
Lesson #1: Don’t wheel out a shaky legend. The whizzbang of a network variety special is too precious and demanding, and ultimately the legend (in this case, Liza Minnelli) comes off as strained, or as Butch Patrick in a pantsuit. Stick to age-old variety successes and stage all musical numbers with beaming, blushing, secretly tortured stars like Karen Carpenter and Kristy McNichol.
The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour
Lesson #2: Incessant slapstick is always depressing, even (or especially) in a variety format. Despite her stiletto heel pivots or sleepy beer bottle smashes, Jessica Simpson never approaches the finesse of her thespian mentor Moe Howard. Also, if your act starts lagging, don’t rip off your shirt. The Chippendales patronage doesn’t watch variety shows. As I understand it, they’re at Chippendales, wetnapping their foreheads and begging for Chadwick, who hasn’t actually worked there for some time.
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Posted 14 Oct 2009, 12:47 PM
I love all your Butch Patrick references.
ps Grampa is down in the basement working on a potion and feeding Spot
Posted 14 Oct 2009, 1:36 PM
If you say Colin Mochrie's name backwards, into a mirror, and five times in a row, it summons a polite Canadian Improv Demon.
Posted 06 Jan 2010, 6:20 AM
Great advice, this article is just great, especially for beginners. Are there any forums that you recommend I join ?
Posted 06 Jan 2010, 6:31 AM
Very interesting idea, i will keep visiting this blog very often. I need some time to think about this