Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Forgotten TV: America Alive (1978)

In the summer of 1978, NBC decided they'd had enough of Chuck Barris' cult classic, The Gong Show, and experimented with a live, hour long talk-variety show, America Alive, which ended up having a short shelf life itself.

Producer Woody Fraser had worked on Mike Douglas' show, and was tasked as show-runner for this lunch hour entry, hosted by Jack Linkletter. However, viewers tuned Jack out again, even though it was his first series since The Rebus Game in the 60's. He just didn't have the charismatic appeal that his father, Art, had.

NBC was desperate for a hit of any kind in those days, but this wasn't it, despite the star power exhibited in this episode with Lucille Ball......



No rating. I didn't watch this enough to merit a fair rating.

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