As the 60's were drawing to a close, Welsh singer Tom Jones caught the attention of executives at both ITC and ABC, leading to a variety series, This is Tom Jones, which was a winter replacement series that launched in February 1969, and ran for three seasons total.
Jones, aided by musical director Jack Parnell, had the requisite dancers, and also was aided by frequent appearances by the Ace Trucking Company, an improv comedy group that included the still-active Fred Willard, and future Match Game icon Patti Deutsch. Willard was last seen doing a soda commercial with Michael McKean.
Following is a performance clip with Stevie Wonder joining Tom for a medley of hits. Tom Jones has his own YouTube channel, which is where we found this clip:
The early success of the series led ITC & ABC to add a series with Engelbert Humperdinck (previously reviewed) to the schedule, but both Engelbert & Jones were gone by the end of the 1970-71 season.
No rating.
Since you apparently don't stay up late …
ReplyDeleteFred Willard turns up roughly once or twice a week on Jimmy Kimmel Live, whenever Jimmy needs to do a comedy bit involving an official A-hole.
Fred will turn 80 in September - and he's definitely looking every bit of it.
He still gets the laughs, though, and the Kimmel audience welcomes him every time.
As do I.
Just so you know …
Well, I did imply he's still active.
ReplyDelete