Thursday, July 19, 2018

Forgotten TV: Operation Entertainment (1968)

ABC had trouble filling the 8:30 (ET) slot on Fridays in the late 60's until The Brady Bunch came along at the end of the decade. The 1967-8 season started with Hondo, which lasted half a season, in the slot.

In January 1968, Hondo was booted, and the replacement came from a more reliable supplier, that being game show mogul Chuck Barris.

Barris saw how Bob Hope was having success with his USO tours of Vietnam, so he and Bill Carruthers pitched the idea to ABC of a weekly variety show that visited various military bases around the country.

Unfortunately, Operation Entertainment, while it ran for parts of two seasons, isn't as well remembered as Barris' greater successes, including The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and, of course, the iconic 70's classic, The Gong Show, which has found new life as a summer series on ABC, now in its 2nd season.

While there was a guest host every week, Barris had his favorites, including Dating Game host Jim Lange and actor-comedian Tim Conway, who each had multiple appearances.

Edit, 5/29/24: We've picked up a clip of The Cowsills' cover of "Indian Lake":

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6 comments:

  1. Mike DoranJuly 20, 2018

    Back from checking:

    Off To See The Wizard ran the full season on ABC that year.

    Operation: Entertainment came on in the next hour, replacing the cancelled Hondo.

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  2. hobbyfanJuly 20, 2018

    Thanks for clarifying, Mike.

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  3. Danangme 69October 29, 2019

    I was at one of the shows at the Naval training center in Millington Tenn. in 1968. Kenny Rogers and the first edition headlined

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  4. UnknownOctober 14, 2021

    I am Scott Beldin. I as on the the episode which was hosted by Jimmy Dean. It was filmed at Norton Airbase in San Bernardino, CA.. My partner and I were The Volantes. A unicycle comedy act.

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  5. Bob Airhart aka 'Airbaja'October 24, 2021

    I'm Bob Airhart, I was 14 when this show ran, I saw every episode and was inspired by it. I thought to myself, "This is the greatest job ever! Entertaining the military folks, climbing around on all their cool equipment and see the country. In 1983 I was part of a two man comedy team call 'Ace N Airhart' we we asked to perform on the Battleship New Jersey with Bob Hope's Hollywood U.S.O. Shows, things clicked for us and we did hundreds of shows around the world for the next 13 years. I had the time of my life as you can imagine. Working with Bob Hope and his celebrity friends was other worldly. This show inspired that dream, God bless Chuck Barris for creating such a show and forgive him for 'The 99 cent Beauty Contest'! https://youtu.be/bvW-Eudqlrk

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  6. hobbyfanApril 20, 2023

    Scott, Bob, thank you for writing. Sorry it's taken me 18 months to answer. Barris' "$1.98 Beauty Show" 10 years after "Operation Entertainment" proved that not everything Chuckie touched was gold.

    Bob, do you still do a traveling act?

    ReplyDelete