Welcome back! Sorry for the two week hiatus, but I'm happy to be blogging again. For this week's Tuesday's Overlooked, I discuss the obscure 1977 television special Beatles Forever.
This special, which aired Thanksgiving night, November 24th, 1977, was a tribute program to the Beatles, as you can imagine, with a list of performers that was quite a unique mix. Ray Charles, Diahann Caroll, Anthony Newley, Mel Tillis, Bernadette Peters, and Paul Williams were the star performers, and the special was hosted by Tony Randall (who also performed). To my knowledge, the special only aired once, and it has a negative reputation, and I can understand why. Based on the clip below, the special has all the trappings of a bad 1970s variety special. However, having a fondness for such kitsch, I find it amusingly quaint.
I'll let you judge for yourself. Enjoy! If you want more, you can listen to the entire audio portion of the special courtesy of WFMU-FM's blog here.
Fun fact: this special aired exactly one week after the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.
Thanks!
5 comments:
This does seem remarkably dire!
Todd: you have said the late 70s was the Dark Ages of television. :)
Well...there were a few good series...and a whole lot of things as dire as this might've been...sponsored by ROLLING STONE, no less...
Small correction: the Star Wars Holiday Special aired in November of 1978, so one year later.
Thanks Joe! I appreciate the correction. I really do like getting these dates right, so thanks for the correction!
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