Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Forgotten TV: Bobby Vinton's Rock 'n' Rollers (1978)

 The Bobby Vinton Show had ended its 3 year run. "The Polish Prince", whose half hour variety show had been packaged by Chuck Barris & Chris Bearde, and produced in Canada, returned to the US for a hour long primetime special for CBS right before Thanksgiving of 1978.

"Bobby Vinton's Rock 'n' Rollers", though, was packaged by Sid & Marty Krofft, their first sale to CBS since Far Out Space Nuts three years earlier. Having ceded control of ABC's Donny & Marie to the Osmond family, which moved the series to Utah, the Kroffts decided to create a similar show, but with Vinton at the front, with guests Fabian, Penny Marshall (Laverne & Shirley), Erik Estrada (CHiPs), and a reunion of Our Miss Brooks stars Eve Arden & Gale Gordon. The Kroffts were bent on making Estrada into a song & dance man, as he covered Dion's "The Wanderer", two months after he went ham on the premiere of the Krofft Superstar Hour.

Unfortunately, all we have is a network promo, queued by Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time), and narrated by Dick Tufeld (ex-Lost in Space, Hollywood Palace).


If Barris, fresh from The Gong Show, had packaged this, he'd have been tempted to bring along Gene Gene The Dancing Machine.

No rating, of course.

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