Classic TV: Soundstage (1974)

It wasn't so long ago that we took a look at one of PBS' legendary music series, Soul!, which lasted 5 years.

In 1974, a small regional series was picked up for greater national distribution by PBS, and, coupled with Austin City Limits, posited the network as a go-to for a wide, diverse range of artists, as if that hadn't already been demonstrated with artists ranging from Stevie Wonder to Buffy Sainte-Marie having appeared on Sesame Street.

Soundstage, taped in Chicago, had two lengthy runs, the second of which ended last year. 21 seasons, stretched across a period of 44 years, though there was an 18 year gap from the time the first series ended in 1985 to its revival in 2003.

There was no visible MC. None was needed in the original series.

Three Dog Night's appearance was the finale of season 2 in 1975. Drummer Mickey McMeel left TDN the next year, cast as Turkey on The Krofft Supershow for 2 seasons (1976-8) on ABC, then moving over to The Krofft Superstar Hour on NBC, which lasted just a couple of months. On Supershow, McMeel was allowed to leave his drum kit to do some singing once in a while. Here, you can barely see him. Keyboard player Jimmy Greenspoon looked like he was dressed as Merlin the magician. I wonder if this was taped around Halloween. Paging Mike Doran.......

Edit, 5/27/22: Had to change the video, since the full episode now has been privatized. Here's "The Show Must Go On":



Oh, what fun.

Rating: A.